Ofcom - Current Investigations

(01-07-2011 22:58 )Winston Wolfe Wrote:  [snip] ... For a start, you can probably count on one hand the amount of members in this section who fully understand the situation. I'm one, Gold Plated Pension appears to be another (with maybe 2 or 3 others). [snip]

Off you go then, Winston. Educate us all, would you, because I for one would sincerley like to know what the situation is.

(01-07-2011 23:29 )StanTheMan Wrote:  

(01-07-2011 22:58 )Winston Wolfe Wrote:  [snip] ... For a start, you can probably count on one hand the amount of members in this section who fully understand the situation. I'm one, Gold Plated Pension appears to be another (with maybe 2 or 3 others). [snip]

Off you go then, Winston. Educate us all, would you, because I for one would sincerley like to know what the situation is.

I, too, would be grateful if you could give us your version of the situation.

Latest list of completed investigations have been published. With the exception of Chatgirl TV and Storm all other broadcasters tend to get a mention.

Red Light 1, Red Light 1 (Channel 911), 3 April 2011 23:53 to 01:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Bang Babes, Red Light 1 (Channel 911), 10 April 2011, 00:00 to 01:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Red Light, Red Light 1 (Channel 911), 13 April 2011, 22:00 to 23:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Red Light2, Red Light 2 (Channel 902), 2 April 2011, 00:05 to 01:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Xplicit, Red Light 2 (Channel 902), 12 April 2011, 22:12 to 23:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Xplicit, Red Light 2 (Channel 902), 13 April 2011, 00:11 to 01:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
100% Horny, Red Light 3 (Channel 948), 6 April 2011, 22:00 to 23:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Red Light 3, Red Light 3 (Channel 948), 10 April 2011, 22:10 to 23:00: Breach of BCAP Rule 4.2
Red Light, Red Light 1 (Channel 911), 9 April 2011, 21:00 to 21:35: Breach of BCAP Code Rule 32.3
Red Light, Red Light 1 (Channel 911), 13 April 2011, 21:03 to 21:45 Breach of BCAP Code Rule 32.3

Just so you know what rules have been breached.

Rule 4.2 of the BCAP Code provides that: “Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards.”

Rule 32.3 of the BCAP Code states: “Relevant timing restrictions must be applied to advertisements that, through their content, might harm or distress children of particular ages or that are otherwise unsuitable for them.”

RLC broadcast utilising licenses owned by Playboy TV and Just4Us and are subject to their compliance requirements.

Playboy TV and Just4Us have numerous previous 'In Breach' findings against them so Ofc@m further stated,

In light of the serious and repeated Code breaches recorded in this finding, and other breach findings recently recorded against Playboy complied material, Playboy TV and Just4us Limited are put on notice that these present contraventions of the BCAP Code are being considered by Ofcom for statutory sanction.

As these contraventions were before the implementation of the revised complaint/penalty guidelines any financial penalty or revocation of licenses (the only two penalty options available for such breaches) will be dealt with by the Broadcasting Sanctions Committee.


Asian Babes, Live XXXBabes, 14 March 2011, 00:00
Breach of BCAP Code Rule 4.2
Northern Birds SportXXX1, 12 March 2011, 21:30 to 22:00 and 13 March 2011, 01:00 to 01.20
Breach of BCAP Code Rule 4.2

In relation to Asian Babes Ofc@m were not satified with the quality of the 'As Broadcast' recording supplied and requested a better quality recording be supplied.

Condition 11 of the Television Licensable Content Service (TLCS) licence states: “… the Licensee shall:

make and retain or arrange for the retention of a recording in sound and vision of every programme included in the Licensed Service for a period of 60 days from the date of its inclusion therein;1 and, in addition, the TLCS Guidance Notes for Licence Applicants (Paragraph 76) requires the Licensee to ensure:

“recordings must be of a standard and in a format which allows Ofcom to view the material as broadcast”

Given that the recordings were not in Ofcom‟s view of broadcast quality, Ofcom also sought comments relating to the quality of the recordings with respect to the requirements set out in the TLCS Guidance Notes and requested that the Licensee provide further recordings which were of broadcast quality.

We all know how poor the broadcast quality is of Asian Babes so maybe Ofc@m can assist in getting poor broadcast quality improved on all channels.

The licensee of these channels SEL have just been hit with a £90,000 fine and Ofc@m are not proposing to issue further sanctions but will put these breaches on file. Meaning any further breaches will result in revocation of all licenses.


Elite Nights, Elite TV 2 (Channel 914), 19 March 2011, 00:27 to 00:46: Breach of BCAP Code Rule 4.2
Elite Nights, Elite TV 2 (Channel 914), 10 April 2011, 22:17 to 22:50 Breach of BCAP Code Rule 4.2

Elite TV must feel somewhat relieved in that Ofc@m state that they are not proposing any regulatory penalty at this time but that these breaches will be held on file. Reading between the lines this means that once they have processed all the breaches against RLC and issued a financial penalty against Playboy TV and Just4us Limited (putting RLC out of business) then they will concentrate again on Elite TV (pro-active monitoring of this broadcaster will continue during this period).

Even one of the Babestation channels gets fitted up.

Get Lucky TV, 10 April 2011, 22:00 to 22:20
Breach of BCAP Code Rule 4.2


An 'In Breach' finding was also made against they who cannot be mentioned.


So expect some serious financial penalties to be issued that will more than likely put some broadcasters out of business.

There are still some complaints/pro-active monitoring investigations to be completed.

Without even going to my crystal ball expect to see a total eradication of babe shows on the FTA EPG within 6 months.

So the situation is that Ofc@m want one of three things to happen to these broadcasters,
Be fully compliant with all demands made by Ofc@m that the shows become so tame they go out of business due to a lack of income.
Encrypt the broadcast service to take them out of general viewing thereby imposing a substantial cost on them from Sky and a restrictive audience, that they either go out of business or they have to become subscription funded thereby surviving on a restricted audience.
Get an oversea's licence, similar to Babestation, that takes all responsibility for compliance and content away from the regulator. The loss of licence income to the regulator is minimal compared to the cost of investigations. Any complainants will be sent a 'Not our problem' response, and the minister will be told they are compliant with TWF directive etc......

Of course this is all theoretical boll#cks as no one knows the ultimate aim of the regulator, we need a mole.

Full decision.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binarie...obb185.pdf

Latest guidance issued by the regulator.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binarie...idance.pdf

Just read it, what a croc of shit, FFS they are babe channels at the end of the day, also reading through the so-called breaches I can't recall seeing a show as explicit as anything noted, ofcom have made these channels sound like hard core porn, my advice too is for the channels to all to get an oversea's licence similar to what Babestation have or else I have no doubt the majority of them will go bust. Babeworld TV went that way due to the tameness of their show's and so will the rest unless they change their licence with immediate effect.

I agree, the channels really do need to think about pulling their fingers out, if there's an option that can make life easier for them (even if it's only short term) they should do it quickly before this bad situation gets worse.
How easy do you think it would be for a channel to get an oversea's licence? Didn't Elite try to get one for 914?

good points scottishbloke and does explain why bs doesnt really draw any attention from ofcom. shows elite's strategy of being tame for now is working since they havent got any serious penalties.

seems rlc will get a big fine as that what ofcom has done in the past with channels that have broken their advertising rules, but with playboy in charge of the channels they wont go out of business.

think eventually the channels will get either oversea licences and therefore dont come under ofcom or go completely online with just the paytv adult channels left,

with the amount of time the legal system takes to do things with appeals etc, will be a while yet before big changes happen.

the main thing for now is the channels stop sniping each other and join forces to sort things out

Having read GP Pensions post I'm even more convinced that the bureaucrats are picking off the channels one by one with the firm intention of eradicating the babe channels completely. This strategy is often employed by various gov't departments, in my experience professionally, and can often be very difficult to derail.

Open direct challenge is both risky and potentially expensive. I fear Rammys analysis might well be accurate.

(04-07-2011 20:50 )Renfrew169 Wrote:  Having read GP Pensions post I'm even more convinced that the bureaucrats are picking off the channels one by one with the firm intention of eradicating the babe channels completely. This strategy is often employed by various gov't departments, in my experience professionally, and can often be very difficult to derail.

Open direct challenge is both risky and potentially expensive. I fear Rammys analysis might well be accurate.

i am not arguing the fact ,but why? if they do bring down all the babe channels what will they do then ,make redundancies themselves ,forgive me but if i am mistaken i havent heard of a babe channel being reported by the general public for some time ,ofcom just seem to be nit picking at them for trivial stuff now like advertising ,i just dont know hat to make of it all

Worrying that the rules refer to "serious" offence.

As for understanding what Ofcom are up to, getting inside their heads is serious mindfuck territory. Are they poodles doing what the Minister wants? Anyone know Jeremy Hunts views? I didnt even know he was a self made millionaire. We keep hearing about how high tax rates will drive talent out of the UK - Andrew Lloyd-Webber recently said people he wants to work with will leave - but what about the leisure scene? There would be outrage across the Arts and Broadcasters if gay bars and cabarets were closed down, surely some millionaire slimeballs in Finance want full on strip bars and exlicit TV after a hard day pressing buttons.
[/rant]
Back to the point - are Ofcom doing what their master says, or are they a loose cannon? They sang the same song under Labour.
Why are they doing this?
Do they think they will earn brownie points and get to keep their jobs in a cuts culture? Surely not an issue as they have already cut over 20% of their staff and streamlined the rules.
Is it so they get brownie points for whatever job they go for after Ofcom? Does hammering small channels that noone admits watching go down well when applying to the BBC, Channel 4, the Royal Opera, or for senior NHS jobs? I just dont know.

Yes like or loathe Babestation they have now been on the air since 2002, they have an oversea's licence, never get any hassle from ofcom and are the most successful so logic should tell you that in order for the rest to survive the wrath they all follow suit which I think they'll all do at some point or another. As far as ofcom trying to save job cuts as a reason to victimise these channel, that argument too also makes sense but surely it's only a matter of time before the government actually finds out how corrupt they are. We don't live in a democracy for no reason. I hope for better times ahead once the channels have ridden out this storm.