Ofcom Discussion

Well those channels gone from Sky Epg now withing hours

(17-10-2013 16:12 )HannahsPet Wrote:  Well those channels gone from Sky Epg now withing hours

A sad loss, but it does create an opportunity for 4 new operators.

EU Reconsidering what they should and should not regulate.

(Clear as mud)
("Barriers to entry remain high" might imply a need for continued regulation) DigitalTVEurope

Quote:EC expert advice calls for reduced regulation
Fewer telecom markets should be regulated at EU level, and there is no need for renewed EU-level regulation of broadcasting, according to an expert advice report presented to the European Commission. However, it notes that the the particularities of broadcasting market means that it cannot be considered to be “effectively competitive”.

Regarding the broadcasting market, the report said that where while ex-ante regulation remains justified in some member states – notably where a large number of end users rely on the terrestrial platform and there is a need to “restrict the transmission prices payable by public service broadcasters to levels consistent with a competitive market”, the EC’s decision to remove broadcasting from its list of regulated markets in 2007 stands and there is “no need for re-insertion”. For cable networks, it said that must carry rules were usually appropriate to deal with the need for broadcasters to access platforms.

However, the report highlighted a number of reservations about broadcasting, which unlike other EC-deregulated markets remains regulated at national level by 14 member states.

The report said that pay TV and free-to-air broadcasting could be considered as two separate markets, with little or no substitution between them, a fact that “has not been included in the current version of the Recommendation”.

According to the report’s authors, 12 EU member states consider the terrestrial platform to be a “separate market” to other platforms as it is ubiquitous and seen as a free-to-view service. Access remains regulated in most states, which do not believe that infrastructure competition between transmission platforms is effective.

Barriers to entry remain high due to lack of competition in the transmission infrastructure market, and the report concluded that although broadcasting had been removed from the list of regulated markets, “it seems difficult to conclude that the [broadcasting market] is in general effectively competitive across the EU”.

It concluded that “the [broadcasting market] does not seem to be effectively competitive across the EU, and the special feature of this market has not yet been fully grasped by the Recommendation.”

Just remind me the babe channels are supposed to be out of view for kids to view and any naughtiness they might see, but it is ok for a main stream channel to broadcast hardcore sex though pixelated in a slot that some younger people might see, lets see how many complaints are received by Ofcom and what actions are taken.

(22-10-2013 19:40 )matt38 Wrote:  Just remind me the babe channels are supposed to be out of view for kids to view and any naughtiness they might see, but it is ok for a main stream channel to broadcast hardcore sex though pixelated in a slot that some younger people might see, lets see how many complaints are received by Ofcom and what actions are taken.

Give us a clue, which show? I assume you don't mean Holby City.

It was the documentary on Ch4 last night about porn addictions, 3 lads going to America to see how porn is made and talking to performers, pixelated shots of bj, blokes wanking and fucking all before 11.

TV content regulation is supposed to do things, now that channel scarcity is not an issue. Young people are supposed to be protected from harm (absolute rule) and all viewers are to be protected from offence (subject to context - time of day, viewer expectations).

The BBFC has similar but different rules. Provided it is legal, as decided by the BBFC, some kind of certificate can be issued. Practices deemed to be harmful or abusive are banned, but that's about all.

In what book is a video showing Mexican drug dealers beheading a woman acceptable for general viewing, with no paywall or age verification, any time of day, on any device from any location, while vanilla images of everyday consensual sex, as practiced by 99% of the adult population, are banned?

Ofcom are fiddling while Rome burns, playing music while wider Titanic censorship sinks having hit the free speech iceberg.

I think Ofcom should look into Shoplifters and Proud and Pickpockets and Proud that will be on channel 5, surely glorifying crime should be an offence under their rules!

(17-10-2013 21:24 )eccles Wrote:  

(17-10-2013 16:12 )HannahsPet Wrote:  Well those channels gone from Sky Epg now withing hours

A sad loss, but it does create an opportunity for 4 new operators.

I can't imagine a single potential operator getting involved at present, let alone four.

Bad enough having to deal with the neo-puritan jobsworths at Ofcom let alone become embroiled in a prolonged game of prisoner's dilemma with rival channels, where every move is scrutinized, every garment pored over for potential non-compliance.

In the short term the few have won, but in the long-run their Pyrrhic victories will only embolden professional moralizers, flush with success, to interfere more and more.

Think the outfit (or lack of it) that Lady GaGa wore on X Factor tonight managed to show the best pre TV watershed Camel Toe ever as she ran over to Sharon Osbourne lol!

It probably put the Babechannels to shame Roll on the complaints to Ofcom!