BRITISH TV REGULATOR WARNS ABOUT SEXY CLOTHES, DANCES

OFCOM, Britain’s TV watchdog, has warned broadcasters about showing “sexualized clothing and dance routines” before the 9:00 p.m. watershed hour, when children are likely to be watching. “It is important to note that in pre-watershed content, OFCOM would not expect to see singers and dancers wearing clothing that does not adequately cover their bodies (in [...]

BRITISH TV REGULATOR PROBES NEWS CORP HACKING

OFCOM, Britain’s equivalent to the FCC, has notified Parliament that it plans to look into the question of whether News Corp remains a “fit and proper” licensee for BSkyB. Noting that News Corp’s 39.1-percent stake in BSkyB gives it “material influence” over the company, the largest commercial broadcaster in Britain, OFCOM said it has been [...]

PROMOS FOR U.K. LESBIAN REALITY SHOW TO BE INVESTIGATED

British TV regulator OFCOM is investigating complaints about promos for a new Channel 5 reality series set in a lesbian bar in London’s West End, the London Sun reported today (Thursday). The newspaper said that the promos for Candy Bar Girls “featured close-up images suggesting sexual activity.” In one, for example, a woman is seen [...]

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 [...]

U.K. REGULATOR OFCOM SCORES THE DAILY MAIL

In an unprecedented ruling on Wednesday, OFCOM, Britain’s television regulator, reprimanded the Daily Mail, which had spearheaded a drive to censure ITV’s The X Factor for a dance routine presented during last December’s season finale. The newspaper had published photos taken during the performance, which featured Rihanna and Christina Aguilera, stating editorially, “Critics called on [...]

“VULGAR” MEXICAN STEREOTYPES ALLOWED BY U.K. WATCHDOG

OFCOM, the British television watchdog, has refused to reprimand the BBC for an episode of its car-talk comedy show Top Gear in which host Richard Hammond joked that cars reflect the characteristics of their countries. Mexican cars, he said, were like a “lazy, feckless, flatulent oaf with a moustache, leaning against a fence asleep, looking [...]

BBC SOAP DRAWS THOUSANDS OF COMPLAINTS

Thousands of fans of Britain’s long-running soap EastEnders have filed complaints with the BBC, which has carried it for 26 years, with OFCOM, the British TV watchdog, and on Facebook and Twitter, about its current storyline. On Friday, one of the principal characters discovers that her baby has died of sudden infant death syndrome and [...]

BRITISH CABINET MINISTER DECLARES WAR ON MURDOCH, RETREATS

Britain’s business secretary Vince Cable was under fire today (Wednesday) after he reportedly told two newspaper reporters posing as constituents that he had “declared war on [News Corp chairman Rupert] Murdoch and intended to block him from acquiring complete ownership of satellite operator BSkyB. Cable, the British cabinet officer who oversees broadcast watchdog OFCOM, told [...]

U.K. GOVERNMENT ENTERS FRAY OVER MURDOCH’S BSKYB GRAB

Amid growing complaints that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is gaining far too much control over the British media, Vince Cable, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron’s government, has stepped in and ordered media regulator OFCOM to investigate the “plurality issues” raised by Murdoch’s efforts to buy the 61 percent of satellite operator BSkyB that [...]

BRITAIN’S MEDIA REGULATOR’S BUDGET IS SLASHED

As part of an overall austerity policy aimed at reducing the country’s massive debt, the British government will slash the budget of OFCOM, the U.K. television regulator by 28 percent. Plans announced on Thursday call for a 20-percent reduction of OFCOM’s payroll as 170 of its 870-member workforce are let go. In a message to [...]

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