BRITAIN’S TV REGULATOR RAPS CHANNEL FOR UNSUITABLE SEXY AD

Britain’s Channel 4 was taken to task by OFCOM, the country’s broadcast regulator, for airing a humorous, steamy ad immediately following a rape scene in the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last December. “The effect was to cut from the face of the screaming woman in the film’s rape scene to the face […]

TARANTINO EXPLODES DURING U.K. TV INTERVIEW

Director Quentin Tarantino is apparently taking no more questions regarding a possible link between violent movies and violent acts. Appearing on Britain’s Channel 4 Thursday night Tarantino acknowledged that he enjoyed making films depicting violence but maintained, “It’s a movie. It’s a fantasy. It’s not real life.” But when Channel 4 anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy followed […]

FILM PROMPTS RIOTS, MURDER OF U.S. AMBASSADOR

U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three members of his staff were killed early today (Wednesday) in Benghazi, Libya by protesters angered over a two-hour film, Innocence of Muslims, ridiculing the Islamic religion in general and its Prophet Muhammad in particular. The State Department did not immediately confirmed the death of the ambassador, but news reports […]

U.K. NETWORK BUYING UP ALL DIGITAL BILLBOARDS IN LONDON SUBWAYS

In a first-of-its-kind deal, the British television network Channel 4 will become the exclusive advertiser on all 1,460 digital signs in the London subway system on New Year’s Eve. The ads, appearing on the CBS Outdoor screens, will be changed at regular intervals, and will feature the stars of game and comedy shows celebrating the […]

BRITISH MUSIC RETAILER LAUNCHES VIDEO-ON-DEMAND SERVICE

HMV, Britain’s largest music and video retailer, is launching a beta version of its video-on-demand rental service today (Thursday) in the hope of offsetting slumping in-store sales. The retail chain said that it is partnering with FilmFlex, a joint venture between Sony Pictures TV and Disney that operates as a middleman — it calls itself […]

U.K. AD AUTHORITY BANS COMMERCIALS FOR THE MECHANIC

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has ordered that ads for the R-rated (in the U.S.) movie The Mechanic, starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster, be pulled from all channels because of a “stream of violent imagery” that they display. Britain’s Press Association described the objectionable scenes this way: “A man being speared through the calf, a […]

U.K. REGULATOR DECRIES DAYTIME AIRING OF SEXY MUSIC VIDEOS

British television regulator OFCOM said today (Tuesday) that it is planning to call together all U.K. cable channels that air music videos to discuss their noncompliance with rules barring sexually explicit material from airing during the pre-“watershed” 9:00 p.m. hour. The regulator acted after ruling that the music channel WTF-TV breached the broadcasting code when […]

GILLIAN ANDERSON SHUNS HOLLYWOOD FOR LONDON

In order to find substantial roles in films and TV, Gillian Anderson says that she has focused her career on the U.K. In an interview with the BBC magazine Radio Times, the former X-Files star said that in Britain, “There’s a broader understanding of my capability,” whereas in Hollywood, she said, she had sometimes thought […]

TV DOCUMENTARY IMAGINES PRINCE HARRY KIDNAPPED BY TALIBAN

Plans by Britain’s Channel 4 to air what was described as a “dramatized documentary” on Oct. 21 about what might happen if Prince Harry were ever kidnapped by Arab terrorists have touched off an angry debate in the U.K. At Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles and his two sons, Prince William and […]

FORMER TABLOID EXEC SAYS EDITOR LISTENED TO ILLEGAL PHONE HACKS

Britain’s hackergate scandal took a new twist today with the revelation that former editor Andy Coulson not only was aware that his News of the World reporters were listening to the voice mail of politicians and celebrities when he was editing the tabloid, but that he himself monitored them as well. According to Britain’s Guardian […]