Harder softcore

[Paul Tavener]

What do people think of the more explicit softcore content that has become available on some of the UK domestic channels such as XplicitXXX in the last year or so? Does anybody know why only some channels show this content?

[Heathray]

Personally I find it only slightly more entertaining than the badly edited stuff shown on TAC and TVX. Problem with Xplicit is the poor class of girls, also poor makeup, costumes and production values.

TAC seem tamer now than a couple of years ago. Some of the Viv Thomas produced shows could be shown on Sky movies, never mind subscription channels. No offence to Viv, his R18 stuff is superb, as is his photography.

However Xplicit are going to do themselves much harm if they continue to repeat shows 3 times a night. They have been running the same 4 or five series of progs for weeks now with no fresh material.

Also their lack of films and a smattering of US and European will deter viewers, me includeD who have cancelled my subs!

One of my theories is TAC and TVX have access to a stack of hardcore if the laws are relaxed, the Spice Platinum shows many of the TAC shows uncut...

I am slightly baffled though as to why the other channels haven't repsonded?. Maybe they are letting Xplicit test the waters before re-editing their large backlog of materials.

[Paul Tavener]

I would agree Xplicit shows a huge number of repeats which is not good and I may well cancel my subscription as well unless things change soon.

I am certain that TAC at least, has a large amount of hardcore content available as they are owned by the same company that owns Spice Platinum. No doubt TVX could also draw on a substantial amount of hardcore.

I supose TAC might still be concerned about the ITC repremand in 2002 for showing "unacceptably explicit anatomical details" (trust the ITC to come up with some suitably obscure wording)... but what about TVX, Tantalise and all the other channels?

It must be blatently clear to everyone by now what's going on. Ofcom must be aware as they had to investigate Xplicit recently over a different issue and they have taken no action. Xplicit have been broadcasting the more explicit content since at least last November so I would have thought all the other broadcasters would have realised as well. It doesn't make any sense.

[angus young]

Paul - Do you happen to know if Ofcom have to receive at least one complaint before investigating a particular programme or channel?
The reason I ask is because the ITC often relied on 'staff monitoring' and in several cases issued reprimands without having received a single complaint from the public.
I'd be interested to know who funds Ofcom and exactly how much it costs if as I suspect it's the taxpayer.
It seems to me that the amount of complaints they receive are absolutely derisory - In many cases you are literally talking about one in a million viewers.
With all surveys showing that the watershed is widely respected by broadcasters I can't be the only one who wonders what is the point of having such an organisation at all.

[Cosine]

I'm curious as to how precisely they're more explicit than the others - what is 'harder softcore' exactly?

Cheers, Mike.

[Cjm]

I would imagine harder softcore is the odd glimpse of penetration or a quick flash of a hardon or close up of pussy etc.

[Paul Tavener]

Close ups - with a clitorus half the size of you screen, ejaculate and more recently very explicit cunnilingus. It was only in 2002 that TAC were serverely repremanded for this kind of thing by the ITC now its on every night on some channels (but not others which is rather odd).

[Paul Tavener]

I don?t think Ofcom need a complaint to carry out an investigation, but they can?t monitor much of the 40,000 hours of TV that goes out every week in the UK. If the viewers aren?t bothered enough to complain it is likely Ofcom simply won?t find out.

Ofcom costs ?144 million a year, funded from the tax payer and broadcasting license fees and similar. This includes regulation of TV, radio and all telecoms. I guess some regulation is necessary - otherwise all our channels would get bought up by some mega US conglomerate - but it does seem a bit OTT price wise. I might forgive them if they deregulate R18 content on TV later this year (which they probably will).

[Jock]

I thought that broadcasters could show everything contained in ‘18’ certificate videos - Yes? I seem to remember an article some time ago by D. Taylor (of Melon Farmers fame) in What Satellite magazine, detailing a relaxation in what could be shown in this category, which would mean that it could be shown by UK broadcasters - Yes ??

I don’t have access to these channels (No Sky), and wouldn’t subscribe to softcore channels anyway (there is plenty FTA hardcore on other satellites), but I am curious about the current situation.

[angus young]

Thanks for that interesting reply Paul. Ofcom seems like an outrageous waste of money to me - each complaint must cost an average of several thousand pounds.
Of course they can't check every minute of each channels output but surely if you or I were in their position you would specifically monitor those stations that by their very nature push the boundaries i.e. late night adult channels.
It therefore seems inconceivable that they are unaware that a couple of channels are apparently regularly showing stronger images than those which got The Adult Channel a slap on the wrist in 2002.
Perhaps they are turning the other cheek with a view to officially sanctioning harder content later this year.