Ofcom - Current Investigations

Offcom doesn't care about what we see. They just want to hold on to something that they can enforce, in order to have some control. I firmly believe that.

Regarding explicit material on regular TV:

A year ago, on ITV or some channel like that, I watched a program about how to have sex. In the program, a woman had a very small camera placed inside of her vagina, and they actually showed the man's penis enter into her, and ejaculate inside of her. Because we, the camera, were inside of her, we saw everything! I think it was on at 9pm. What the hell does that tell you?

It's all about control and making fines for no reason, in order to get more money.

(06-07-2010 16:19 )IanG Wrote:  Well that's easily done isn't it? If every freeview slot started with "Warning: do not subscribe to this channel if you are unable to stop your children accessing it and if you feel they may be harmed or that you may be offended by explicit R18-strength consensual adult sexual activity including fellatio, cunnilingus, penetration, mastrubation and ejaculation".

In most EU countries (the one's that care about such piffle) they place age ratings and/or content symbols on-screen so you know what's what as you flick through the channels.

How can any tosser claim to be offended by a babe channel when there's a clear red '18' rating staring them in the face? How could you be in any doubt what's on a subscription adult channel with the warning above (and they'd repeat the warning when you applied to access the channel)?

Exactly. A simple BBFC type 18 marker displayed constantly would make it harder for a complainant to claim that they thought they were watching a weather forecast and would not take up much screen space.

Quote:I had to sign a disclaimer the first time I subscribed to one of the so-called adult channels back in the old ITC days - pity it didn't deliver what I expected...but that's another story...

Didn't realise people had to sign disclaimers. Obviously that would make it impossible for someone to claim they had been offended.

Now that applied to encrypted subscription channels, and these days offense rules do not apply to subscription channels, but there is no reason why free-to-view babe channels could not be made opt-in. At the moment they are opt-out. Any new out-of-the-box Sky system has adult channels accessible, PIN protection off, and an easily guessable PIN number.

Sky could easily reduce offence to their viewers, if they could be bothered. It's a fair question why they do not bother.

1. Ship new Sky boxes with Adult channels locked. (Almost £0 cost).
2. Use random PIN numbers and post them separately. (£5 per box).
3. Use a different PIN for Adult channels. (Few £000 to design firmware changes, then £0 per box).

(07-07-2010 14:22 )mrmann Wrote:  Offcom doesn't care about what we see. They just want to hold on to something that they can enforce, in order to have some control. I firmly believe that.

Regarding explicit material on regular TV:

A year ago, on ITV or some channel like that, I watched a program about how to have sex. In the program, a woman had a very small camera placed inside of her vagina, and they actually showed the man's penis enter into her, and ejaculate inside of her. Because we, the camera, were inside of her, we saw everything! I think it was on at 9pm. What the hell does that tell you?

It's all about control and making fines for no reason, in order to get more money.

That sounds like Five's, A Girls Guide to 21st Century Sex. It's been repeated a few times since its first outing. The degree of censorship (i.e. pixilation/blurring) was a hot topic at melonfarmers for fairly obvious reasons...like no R18-type content for instance...

eccles, I thought all equpiment was going to be supplied with parental controls set on by default? It seems like the most obvious and logical approach to my mind to provide that elusive adequate protection Ofcom are supposed to be providing to members of the public...

Further to your piece about the AITA and the manipulation of the 'adult' market, I think $ky have had a significant role in creating the current situation too.

I'm not sure what the issue is exactly but I don't think the BSkyB Board/shareholders want porn on their platform. It may be they feel it will drive 'wholesome' customers away? It may be it offends the majority shareholder's religious beliefs? I do seem to recall some rumours and speculation way back when that $ky weren't happy to have R18 on their box.

It could be the $ky box is shipped in an 'unsafe' mode to justify Ofcom's protestations? Who knows. This, like the rest of it, STINKS.

Why doesnt some of the adult channels in this country set up channels abroad broadcasting on the eurobird sattelite which can be received with a sky box here.You could then purchase your subscription from abroad and surely ofcom couldnt do nothing about that.Maybe this has been tried before and blocked i dont know.Your thoughts guys.

(08-07-2010 12:33 )nylonlovver Wrote:  Why doesnt some of the adult channels in this country set up channels abroad broadcasting on the eurobird sattelite which can be received with a sky box here.You could then purchase your subscription from abroad and surely ofcom couldnt do nothing about that.Maybe this has been tried before and blocked i dont know.Your thoughts guys.

Because Sky have enough marketing muscle to keep the 28degree slot to themselves and their mates.

ah but 28.2degree slot also has a 28.5degree satellite in there, which isn't part of $ky but which they rent transponders off of. So nylonlover is correct that they could just use 28.5degree east and work out some method of ensuring the uplink was not from the UK (that is the critical bit as I understand it). So if they had their uplink from say Germany, then they'd be governed by that countries local laws.
As it stands, you have to remember $ky bought a big chunk of the european main satellite companies out a few years back. They show plenty of R18/hardcore content on their european platform. So I don't believe it relates to their board not wanting to show this stuff...
But the problem isn't the uplink or indeed anything else - its that the $ky box is set up to support the $ky UK platform. The EPG can't be used without paying for it (lots apparently), and whilst you can add extra channels outside the EPG, they're difficult to work with and you can't record them. So $ky can dictate quite a bit here, which is perfectly valid seeing as they've put in the £100's of millions of investment into the platform and technology. It only needs $ky to decide they want to do this, and a way will be found - regulator or not, they have money to get things moved (albeit perhaps slowly) over to their needs.

If sky did move to lets say the 19.2 degree slot then the possibility of joining forces with the adult stations with Germany I think could prove to be profitable. Just imagine we'd have access to sexysat tv and also eurotic tv as well as the existing uk babe channels and so would the Germans. Probably to bypass the ofcom regualtions you would probably only be able to watch the German channels by manually scanning them into the other channels section on the sky box and guess what ofcom would be powerless to this as its not illegal to pick up a signal from another country.

(02-09-2010 21:08 )Scottishbloke Wrote:  If sky did move to lets say the 19.2 degree slot then the possibility of joining forces with the adult stations with Germany I think could prove to be profitable. Just imagine we'd have access to sexysat tv and also eurotic tv as well as the existing uk babe channels and so would the Germans. Probably to bypass the ofcom regualtions you would probably only be able to watch the German channels by manually scanning them into the other channels section on the sky box and guess what ofcom would be powerless to this as its not illegal to pick up a signal from another country.

Your sky box woud'nt work with Sexysat or Eurotic on 19.2E. To the best of my knowledge, all of the sky boxes only work on channels with a Symbol Rate of 27500. both of these channels use 22000. Dump your digibox, get a proper system and prepare to be dazzled! you can still watch all the babe channels which are not encrypted.

Just for the record if you install a european dish and point it at 19.2 degrees you can access the channels via the other channels using your sky box believe me because thats what I did at my old address, all you need to do is punch in the codes on the add channels section. FACT. Here is a link also for proof. http://www.pirmasoft.com/astra/e_digital_tv.htm