14-02-2010, 05:49
I expect when watching adult entertainment channels to see adult entertainment.
If that adult entertainment takes the form of sexual material, then I expect no restriction on the type of material depicted, providing it is legal and generally considered not harmful. This is the criteria the BBFC decided on after their major overhaul of the classification guidelines a few years ago, and I fail to see why it does not apply to television viewing. Anyone who finds an R18 DVD lying around can watch it by simply bunging it in a player. The BBFC have taken this into account, and concluded that the danger and potential harm posed by someone under the age of 18 doing this are not sufficiently proportionate to justify banning such material altogether.
With digital TV platforms, you can't just bung an adult channel on like you can an adult DVD or video. You need to know the PIN code, you need the adult section of the EPG to be visible through the digibox settings and, in the case of the subscription channels, you need access to a credit card or similar age verification payment system. Yet Ofcom consider that these obstacles are not sufficient to protect children, and that the harm posed to them by viewing such material DOES justify a complete ban. Why the discrepancy - does Ofcom know something about this that the BBFC don't? Why won't they reveal the criteria which they used to reach a different opinion than the BBFC?
Why do I frequently see in the Ofcom Bulletins that broadcasts on various channels which have attracted multiple complaints, sometimes in the hundreds, do not even warrant a written response before being noted as not upheld, yet upheld complaints about the adult channels often come about due to 1 or 2 complaints.
Exactly what benefit do broadcasters of the 900 channels receive from being in the adult section of the EPG? Ofcom frequently respond to complaints about them in the Bulletin by saying that being in the adult section of the EPG does not offer any concession on the guidelines by which channels not in the adult section abide by. So why bother with it at all?
And why should harder material be restricted to those who can afford it? If, as is frequently claimed, the use of credit cards is as much an age verification process as a payment method, then what's to stop a channel with PIN protection charging a token 10p a month to verify age, then broadcasting harder material for free supported by income from, say, a Babe style phone operation?
But yeah, basically - expectations? I expect as an adult to be allowed to watch whatever I want, within the confines of the law. I don't expect a self-appointed body to apply a far heavier set of restrictions than the law without some serious, academic research showing that such controls are both necessary and proportionate.
If that adult entertainment takes the form of sexual material, then I expect no restriction on the type of material depicted, providing it is legal and generally considered not harmful. This is the criteria the BBFC decided on after their major overhaul of the classification guidelines a few years ago, and I fail to see why it does not apply to television viewing. Anyone who finds an R18 DVD lying around can watch it by simply bunging it in a player. The BBFC have taken this into account, and concluded that the danger and potential harm posed by someone under the age of 18 doing this are not sufficiently proportionate to justify banning such material altogether.
With digital TV platforms, you can't just bung an adult channel on like you can an adult DVD or video. You need to know the PIN code, you need the adult section of the EPG to be visible through the digibox settings and, in the case of the subscription channels, you need access to a credit card or similar age verification payment system. Yet Ofcom consider that these obstacles are not sufficient to protect children, and that the harm posed to them by viewing such material DOES justify a complete ban. Why the discrepancy - does Ofcom know something about this that the BBFC don't? Why won't they reveal the criteria which they used to reach a different opinion than the BBFC?
Why do I frequently see in the Ofcom Bulletins that broadcasts on various channels which have attracted multiple complaints, sometimes in the hundreds, do not even warrant a written response before being noted as not upheld, yet upheld complaints about the adult channels often come about due to 1 or 2 complaints.
Exactly what benefit do broadcasters of the 900 channels receive from being in the adult section of the EPG? Ofcom frequently respond to complaints about them in the Bulletin by saying that being in the adult section of the EPG does not offer any concession on the guidelines by which channels not in the adult section abide by. So why bother with it at all?
And why should harder material be restricted to those who can afford it? If, as is frequently claimed, the use of credit cards is as much an age verification process as a payment method, then what's to stop a channel with PIN protection charging a token 10p a month to verify age, then broadcasting harder material for free supported by income from, say, a Babe style phone operation?
But yeah, basically - expectations? I expect as an adult to be allowed to watch whatever I want, within the confines of the law. I don't expect a self-appointed body to apply a far heavier set of restrictions than the law without some serious, academic research showing that such controls are both necessary and proportionate.