OFCOM

[one eyed jack]

I just think the reason r18 strength is not allowed to be broadcast is simply down to the politicians not being bothered to ok it...You can almost see them scoffing in their haughty manner..."Well its hardly of any importance what, what.."

Thats all its down to. Softcore is a palatable option. A compromise even.

I would love to see them talk about this on the House Of Lords channel. You would see many of them get up and walk away sipping their Pimms and G&T's scoffing..."This is a bloody travesty. Far more pressing concerns that a bunch of tarts getting thir..things out"

I think we only got R18 through as a compromise because britain knew it couldnt stem the tide for too long but the fact it hasnt fully accepted it beyond its set limitations means they still have the power to prosecute those without draining the resources to do so. Just to keep everyone in this business quaking in their boots.

[harmonyluvver]

I blame the churches, just coz no-one else has yet and its unfortunate but they still have plenty of power, I imagine Ofclot is made up of born agains and "God fearing" Xians or hypocrites as they are also known (be ab bastard all year and put a fiver in the collection plate at Xmas). Maybe the V neck sweater wearing, volvo driving middle class too (hyacinth bucket types). Though there is probably plenty of overlap between them and those mentioned further up.

[Jacques]

This is what you are up against:

Freedom of Information requests by Ofwatch

Letters of complaint resulting in the Playboy fine
Content board reports and decision papers concerning the R18 issue
Ofcom board meeting minutes relating to R18 issues
Commissioning documents and raw data concerning Ofcom's PIN research

All follow the same pattern - request, refusal, appeal, appeal refusal.
Why? Not in the public interest.

I currently have an appeal going through with the Information Comissioner which I expect to be refused (R18 research).

So much for transparent regulation.

[Jacques]

We got R18 because the High Court actually scrutinised the letter of the law and checked how the BBFC had been interpreting the law, they found that the BBFC had been acting unlawfully since the introduction of the VRA.

Thatcher and her cronies placed secular, scentific, human-rights-conforming, evidential requirements on the suppression of adult material in the VRA.

Ofcon choose to ignore secular, scentific, human-rights-conforming, evidential requirements in the same way as the BBFC did and the same will happen to ofcon just like the BBFC.

The question is who has the pot of gold to do it? The answer is the very same people that make a shit load of money from softcore. Until that market is dead i.e. the introduction of IPTV, it won't happen. But ofcon have pre-empted this they now get their hands on IPTV/internet regulation. Dark days of Angel Long in winceyette are ahead.

[Jacques]

SKY doesn't come into it. SKY is just a platform not a satellie. Broadcasters just buy "space" to transmit on the platform.

Section 177 of the Broadcasting Act allows for the Secretary of State to make a proscription order for a foreign satellite service, the effect of which is to make it a criminal offence to supply any equipment for use in connection with the operation of the service; to supply programme material or arrange for its supply; to place advertisements in the service; to publish any programme details of the service; and to supply or offer to supply any decoding equipment enabling the programmes to be received.

Also:

From the Ofcon Code (which MUST comply to all current Law):

1.25 BBFC R18-rated films or their equivalent must not be broadcast.

So they can get you both ways - either UK based or EU based. Except that the last channel to be proscribed was Xtasi in 2000 (for broadcsating scat I believe), one has been reccomended since but the letter has been sitting on a desk in Whitehall for the past seven years because they know the EU broadcaster will take them to the cleaners at the ECHR, something ofcon/DCMS cannot afford if they are to maintain their ban on R18.

Now as none of the EU channels have been proscribed in seven years they must comply with the Television Without Frontiers Directive else the DCMS would have acted to ban them.

It follows then that ofcon cannot have implemented the TWFD correctly and have thus created an isolated market excluding EU broadcasters and going against the stated objectives of the Directive., thus acting illegally.

This is why Melonfarmers gave them the name 'The Tellyban'.

[Emily Cartwright]

I'm always surprised when I encounter the kind of people who want people like us out of the way.

It's not just that they don't want us to make or watch our porn.

It's that they want us removed from the face of the planet.

They genuinely see it like, as long as you and I are alive, their children are not safe. Their pets are not safe. Their houses are 55% more likely to burn down. Crazy shit like that.

I've had emails from people (based in the UK, not in the US as you might assume) quoting the Bible at me, telling me I'm impure, that I deserve to rot in Hell for my sins, and so on. Friends of mine have had people turn up outside their houses waving placards and shouting slogans. I know of a guy who shot very low-key stuff, just nudity, all very classy, but because he shot some of it in his (enclosed, totally private) garden, one of his neighbours, who had presumably been spying on him, started a campaign publically accusing him of being a pedophile and making child porn.

So it's not just toffs in government dragging their heels, or the weight of money changing hands. I am of the firm belief that it's people like this that will not rest until we are stopped. That's why it's one step forward, two steps back. We get the right to have porn channels on TV, but then they impose harsher and harsher restrictions on them until you might as well be watching a Carry On film with all of Barbara Windsor's scenes edited out. You can make porn, sell it, buy it, own it and watch it but you can't send it through the mail. For every Ann Summer's that opens, peddling their shitty overpriced underwear and their shitty overpriced sex toys, five real adult stores shut down under the weight of council regulations. Every day that goes by, these people are trying to work out ways to prevent internet billing companies from being able to handle any sort of pornography. They want us out, preferably dead, and they won't stop until they'be gotten their way.

Religion and bigotry, basically.

Rant over !grin!