(18-09-2011 06:21 )rockey Wrote: give ofcom some teeth i have wall to wall qvc tv, scam channels with no audience ....poker, god channels,phychic tv, the horror channel, men and movies , true movies reality tv scanky american cheap braindead greedy banal rubbish and more rubbish get rid of the whole lot instead of ofcom protecting this monopoly of this weak crap that in a real marketplace would not survive a week if they opened it up to real competition......the whole of european tv has been infiltrated by scammers buying up descent tv channels and replacing them with infomerials trying to push you into pay tv
Seems a strange sentiment, but I know exactly what you mean. Ofcom rolled over and begged when ITV asked for permission to cut Childrens TV and did the same when they cut Regional News and Regional Production. This is the same ITV that sanctioned waste of space Teletext for closing down its service without permission.
Late at night ITV now uses its precious Public Service Broadcaster licence and guaranteed universal transmission rights to broadcast ... QVC.
James Hunt has announed an enquiry into whether the BBC News position is too domimant. Doh! Theres a reason people dont watch ITV News, let alone (try not to laugh while reading this) Channel 5 News.
It is LAW that broadcasters should carry 50% European made content within 5 years of starting up. The only exception is foreign language channels. Ofcom lets Sky 1 off with a note from its Mum. Apparently it is a small channel and sourcing UK material is difficult.
Meanwhile a generation grows up thinking that big school is called High School, it is normal to have a "Senior Prom" when leaving, drive by shootings are normal and racial segregation is normal. Oh, and you should have a Spanish maid. Just because we share a language, it does not mean that American "culture" is the same as British. But a generation is growing up thinking armed police, bribery, drugs and so on is normal because broadcasters are lazy cheapscates and Ofcom has consistently failed to do the difficult bits of its job for years.
Reading Ofcom Bulletins its quite clear that there are radio stations blatantly pushing businesses of guests, lawyers, jewelers etc. These are not accidental grey areas but blatant breaches that any TV/radio presenter should know about. These are only ever picked up if a member of the public reports them. Then Ofcom accept unbelievable excuses such as it was a one off. They SHOULD check previous recordings. They SHOULD keep the station on a watch list. They SHOULD fine the station 10x the equivalent advertising revenue, or ban it from having paid adverts for a while. Do they? No, they give a mild telling off.
You can bet other radio stations think they can do the same and get away with it.
"But theres no money involved" Ofcom say. Not so. The radio station gets a guest speaker, and thats worth money.
Then there are the disgusting "religious" TV channels that charge money to send a prayer.
Ones that constantly exhort viewers to send money to help build a place of worship, but dont have accounts, and who break advertising rules by requesting money 60.24.7 through scrolling banners and speech.
Then there are the ones that ask for money to run the TV station. Thats actually permitted, but they have a suspicious lack of transparency and I would be curious to know what % wages goes to relatives.
Or the "healers" who sell some sort of anti-cancer yoghurt and tell people to use it instead of proper tested medicine.
Or the religious channels that describe another sect as Un-[religion] and point out tracts of their Holy works calling for unbelievers to be killed.
Or religious channels that say disobedient wives should be beaten, but only "with a stick the thickness of a mans finger" and only after a warning.
These are not minor accidental errors or one offs. There are vulnerable people out there who will send every penny they have and make their children go without. There are people who will committ violence. But time and again Ofcom accepts feeble excuses and passively waits for someone to report their own favourite TV/radio station.
Meanwhile they descend on Babe channels for mild content that is 100% legal in the local newsagent, or DVD and on the internet.
Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells