Thursday 8 March 2012

OfCom: We can't stop Freeview porn!

Incredible admission by OfCom, our 'super-regulator' of the broadcast industries: two porn stations carried on the Freeview system (and thus free-to-air, available to anyone of any age) are beyond its jurisdiction. The Dutch-run porn channels don't fall within UK control they say, in an interesting echo of the political fix that allowed Murdoch's News Corp to stretch credibility by claiming to be based in mighty Luxembourg (a tax haven, conveniently, with a smaller population than Leeds) and thus avoid the regulations that apply to 'terrestrial' broadcasters BBC, ITV, C4 + C5.
Very useful article/issue/case study for the European dimension to UK regulation, which I've blogged on previously. Read http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/07/freeview-porn-ofcom-action for more.

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