Broadcasting R18 on UK TV?

[Paul Tavener]

Anyone who has ever watched soft-core porn on UK subscription TV will undoubtedly be aware that the Independent Television Commission (ITC) force all broadcasters to censor their output to meet a strict set of guidelines that the ITC have decided upon.

What you may not be aware of is the very real possibility that such censorship could become a thing of the past when Ofcom (the new ?light touch? regulator) take over from the ITC (the old heavy touch regulator) at the end of this year.

I am running a campaign is to ensure that Ofcom?s new guidelines permit UK adult service providers to broadcast BBFC R18 classified material (hard-core) on subscription channels and to rid us of the unwanted censorship of what we choose to watch of our own volition.

The new communications act, which will provide Ofcom with its regulatory powers, will be broadly speaking, deregulatory in nature and will force a total rethink of broadcasting regulation in the UK. Ofcom will be holding a public consultation about ?general principles? early this summer. They want to know what the public want, before they formally take over responsibility from the ITC in December and set the new guidelines.

If there was ever going to be a time to change the rules then this is it. There is unlikely to be such an opportunity again. If Ofcom see there is no support for change, they may simply assume that the current status quo is acceptable and opt to carry on with the existing arrangements. This is where you could make a big difference. All that is needed is for a few people to write to Ofcom this summer in support of a change.

If you live in the UK and have any interest in freeing British subscription TV from censorship, e-mail me at censorfreetv@hotmail.com and I will send you more details about the arguments, counter arguments and background information to help you produce a targeted letter that cuts right to the heart of this matter. I will let you know when Ofcom formally announce their public consultation and I can provide example letters or give further advice if you wish. I have personally written to the ITC about this issue on four occasions since last December and I am not alone, but more help is needed.

I do not represent any organisation, I am acting independently as an individual member of the public and I will not supply your e-mail address to any one else.

If you are happy for the ITC to arbitrarily select what you can and can?t watch as they see fit then simply do nothing and you will not be disappointed. But if you want to decide what you watch in your own home and believe freedom of expression is important please write to me.

censorfreetv@hotmail.com

[magoo]

Might be worth the mods duplicating Mr Taverners post to the other forum in order to give this noble cause maximum coverage. Assuming its not o/t of course. Even if it is o/t you could just add the words Teresa May to the text and that would render it instantly on topic.

Its a nice idea but.......and this is the problem.....we are in Britain. Any regulatory body who allowed porn on tv (even subscription tv) would be an instant target for front page headlines in the Daily Mail and The Sun and various other tawdry rags. So who is prepared to take a job as head of Ofcom knowing that the whole of Fleet Street and therefor all of Westminster (who rely on Fleet Street to get them votes) will be dead against them?

Still we can dream.

On the other hand we can splash out a couple of hundred quid to get an 80cm dish and CI or CA receiver that gives access to all the European hardcore channels. While we wait for this country to cast off its victorian immorality and persecution of its citizens regarding all matters sexual.

[Paul Tavener]

Magoo,

I think you might be surprised. After all who would have thought they could possibly permit hard-core for sale in the UK? Then there was the 2000 VAC decision and now we have hard-core on R18 on sale in sex shops. And who would have thought that HM Customs and Excise would change their policy on hard-core? And who would have thought that DCMS would give up proscribing foreign satellite channels?

Many big changes appear to be impossibly difficult right up until some one in authority changes their mind and suddenly there is a big shift in policy and everyone is left wondering why it didn?t happen years ago. The current ITC policy banning R18 is becoming more and more difficult to justify and I think the big regulatory shake up, which is about to hit the UK, could push it over the edge.

The daily mail and others will have their rants, it will be head line news for a few days or a week or so and then everyone will forget about it. According to a recent BSC/ITC survey 76% of the population are in favour of permitting ?particularly explicit? sex on subscription TV.

[KJ]

If Jonathon Edwards (no TV background?, contemplated missing out on the event for which he trained because it was on a Sunday) is a representative of the rest of the Ofcom panel, I think the battle will be long and difficult.

[marcusallen]

It will indeed be a battle, the length to be determined, but I have no doubt whatsoever that in the long run, we will win.
As Paul said above, contemplated changes were unthinkable a short while ago - but they happened.
The statistic of 76% in favour roughly equates to the percentage of users of the internet i.e. material of a sexual nature.
What we need are bodies/voices/action.

[Wink Wink]

Wonder how many people out there still belong to the "Mary Whitehouse School of Thought" no sex on TV even if it's mild?

Thought we belonged to a European Union, a Union that allows our European neighbours to show H/C sex on TV but still allows the British Government to ban the showing of H/C sex.

What are the objections to the showing of H/C sex on British TV?

The sooner they relax the ban on showing H/C the better in my view

[Paul Tavener]

I hate to say it, but there are some very worrying aspects to the content board. I have written to Ofcom recently asking why they feel they need to have a fundamentalist Christian, a Jew, a Sikh and a Quaker on the content board and why they are all over 50 years old bar two.

However I believe the main Ofcom board will have authority over the content board so all is not lost, but we need people who are prepared to do battle with pen and paper to support the cause. I have no religious axe to grind here but it looks very suspicious.

[Paul Tavener]

The arguments for banning hardcore have disintegrated and everybody knows it, its just a matter of time before something happens. The whole saga reminds me of the story of the emperor?s new clothes.

[woodgnome]

floella benjamin!!! i'm losing the will to live...

i saw her in an interview a year or two ago - don't ask me what about, as i can't remember - but i do recall the overriding impression as being that of a humorless prig!

more board info:

[One Eyed Jack]

Sign me up man. Win or lose I wanna be down for the cause. Up the revelution!!!!!