There is research evidence that television viewers would welcome more guidance, especially in the form of labelling, on the content of programming that is inappropriate for young children or might be offensive to older children or adults. Currently all we have in the UK are the 9 pm watershed - which will be increasingly irrelevant in the age of podcasting, IPTV, and the BBC’s integrated Media Player (iMP) - and oral warnings - which can easily be missed.

All countries are grappling with this issue. In the Netherlands, there are two watersheds on television, 8 pm amd 10 pm, and the Dutch also have the NICAM system which is a common age-related classification system for television programmes, cinema films, DVDs and mobile content. Films shown on Hungarian television are classified on an age basis and this classification is shown in a coloured circle at the bottom of the screen. Neighbouring Poland also carries age-related pictograms on television films, but these are triangles at the top of the screen.

Now the BBC is trialling a labelling system known as the ‘G’ system. I was at the BBC’s Media Centre earlier this week to discuss the system with the Corporation’s Advisor, Editorial Policy, Rachel Hermer, who showed me a presentation recently made to the Ofcom Content Board.

The BBC system is different from the other labelling systems mentioned because it uses the electronic programme guide (EPG) rather than the screening of the actual programme and it is uses text descriptors rather than the blunter instrument of age-grading (although it could be combined with an age grade). It is known as the ‘G’ system because it gives guidance (rather than a warning) to viewers who want further information about programmes which they or their children might not want to watch or about which they might want to be forewarned of the use of strong language or the depiction of sex or violence. Early research suggests that viewers want the guidance text on the same page as the general description of the programme, both because they do not want to have to make an extra click and because they wish to relate the guidance to the actual nature of the programme. Viewers will be able to password protect access to programmes by blocking any programme to which a ‘G’ descriptor is attached.

The ‘G’ system is being trialled in conjunction with the BBC’s integrated Media Player (iMP) using some 5,000 selected viewers and an outside research agency. The trial has just begun - a little later than originally planned - and will last three months, so a report will be completed in mid February 2006. The BBC will share this report with the industry and Ofcom.

I welcome this initiative. It responds positively to viewers’ wish for more information and guidance on programming that might be judged problematic. It anticipates the world of television on demand and like developments. It avoids cluttering the screen with symbols during the actual transmission of the programmes. It is more sophisticated that systems which are based simply on age, allowing households to make judgements appropriate to their own values. Potentially it could apply to radio programmes and Internet content as well. Although the BBC is pioneering the system, the corporation would like it to be come an industry-wide initiative and will share all their data and thinking.