This is from the Ofcom site
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadca...standards/
To summarise:
Procedures for investigating breaches of content standards for television and radio :
Time limits on making a complaint
1.13 Complainants should submit their complaint to Ofcom within 20 working days of the broadcast of the relevant programme or of the occurrence of the matter complained of. Ordinarily, Ofcom will not accept a complaint which is made after this deadline.
1.14 Where a complaint is submitted later than 20 working days after broadcast, complainants should explain why the complaint was not submitted earlier. Ofcom will then consider all relevant factors (including the complainant's explanation for the delay in submitting the complaint and the limited time periods during which broadcasters are required to keep recordings)(-12-) in deciding whether or not Ofcom should investigate the complaint despite the delay in its submission.
1.15 Where a complainant has previously complained directly to the broadcaster, the complainant should wait to see if he/she is satisfied with the broadcaster's response (in accordance with the broadcaster's own complaints procedures) before referring it to Ofcom.(-13-) If not, the complainant should refer his/her complaint to Ofcom (with the broadcaster's response) as soon as possible, and in any event within 20 working days of the final response or determination by the relevant broadcaster under its procedures. If the complainant has not received a response to, or a determination of, his/her complaint from the broadcaster, the complainant should submit it to Ofcom within 20 working days of the time by which he/she could reasonably have expected a response or determination by the broadcaster under its procedures.
1.16 Where a complainant submits a complaint simultaneously to the broadcaster and to Ofcom, Ofcom will not normally proceed to consider the complaint until the broadcaster has first had an opportunity to resolve the complaint itself under its procedures. In such a case, the complainant should inform Ofcom when he/she has received the broadcaster's response or determination, and confirm whether he/she wishes to proceed with his/her complaint. (Time will start to run from the date of the broadcaster's response/determination as set out in paragraph 1.15 above).
Points to note.
The official time limit for complaints is 20 working days. In other words 4 weeks.
Ofcom (in 1.13) categorically states that it will not accept complaints after this.
And then (in 1.14) details circumstances when it will! So, nice to see the usual double standards applying.
However, for the most part, complaints must be submitted within a month.
So, suggestions for moving forward. Allow any posting of any slip, provided that it happened more than, say, 6 weeks before the date of posting. If anyone posts about a slip before that deadline, warn them the first time and then ban them if they do it again.
I'm not sure what the copyright position is, but on a channel that is Free To Air or Free To View, I don't see how they would legally be able to demand removal of specific clips. They could potentially demand ALL clips be removed - which would clearly shut down any publicity or goodwill they get from the forum, but not SPECIFIC clips.
Also, consider this, if we have a bank of slips here, posted after 6 weeks, and it turns out Ofcom got NO complaints about them then it would suggest that offense is not being caused. A good argument for the channels who can say "well we accidentally broadcast clip A, B, C, . . . . X, and Y and you got no complaints, so the one complaint you got about clip Z cannot possibly demostrate 'widespread harm or offence'."
It even offeres the chance to test whether Ofcom or others use this forum to find things to complain about - you could let a clip through early once in a while and see if that then gets complained about! Which again allows the channels to go to Ofcom and say that the people complaining about these clips clearly weren't watching the original broadcast, they just get information from the net.