By: Scott
Are Ofcom Lost?
I have posted before (on my Informationoverlord Blog) on the subject of Channel 4 (and E4’s) quite blatant disregard for Ofcom’s Rules on the Amount and Distribution of Advertising with its broadcasts of the excellent (if Silly) US drama Lost; and watching tonight it seems that the Channel has no intention of changing its policy to have 3 ad breaks during the programme (shouldn’t have more than 2) and to follow the annoying American practice of going for the first ad break BEFORE the credits after the ‘previously on’ intro piece. Even worse the episode broadcast on Channel 4 tonight actually had its third and final break with less than 3 minutes of the actual episode left.
Are Ofcom planning to do anything about this, or are they just waiting until the series ends ??
Sep 29th 2005
Scott,
Ofcom are indeed “Lost” mainly because so many of their staff come from the telecoms and broadcasting industry backgrounds that they seem to have none of the instinctive wish of civil servants or orderly administrative types to enforce the rules simply for the sake of good order.
Key to the mindset of Ofcom seems to be that the government has given them more to do than they can possibly cope with and consequently they only seemed motivated to act where they receive a very large number of complaints indeed or where a poltician makes a fuss. A starting point is for you to file a complaint with Ofcom and to encourage any friends who feel the same way to also do so.
But those of us who feel passionately about the misuse of 084 and 087 numbers by uk telecoms operators know to our cost that complaining to Ofcom often doesn’t do any good. Unfortunately Ofcom seems to have been given quite another agenda by its political masters or its acquiantances in the communications industries it regulates that often make it convenient for it to ignore its supposed primary duty of care to both uk citizens and uk consumers!
Sep 29th 2005
This post has been removed by the author.