Ofcom today issued the results of its inquiry into whether Channel 4 breached the Broadcast Code with respect to the Celebrity Big Brother / Shilpa Shetty matter. (We heart Shilpa here at OfcomWatch)

The full document is here. [70-page .pdf]

Basically, the outcome is that Ofcom found Channel 4 in breach and the sanction is that Channel 4 will be required to air Ofcom’s findings in a manner to be determined by Ofcom. It’s interesting, just skimming through the Ofcom decision will probably leave most people concluding that it’s an odd thing for a public body to be making legal decisions concerning these matters. I’m sure it’s a task Ofcom do not enjoy.

Meanwhile, the press reports that Gordon Brown is considering whether to privatise the state-owned Channel 4.

For me, it leaves some interesting questions:

1. Do these and other types of broadcast content adjudications simply waste Ofcom’s time? Should Parliament consider trimming back the types of content-related complaints people can submit to Ofcom? As we’ve said before, if this material were aired instead on YouTube Ofcom would have no power to intervene whatsoever.

2. Did Ofcom treat this CBB / Shetty matter differently from other broadcast adjudications? I think so — there have been other broadcasts of equally bad material that received only minimal attention from Ofcom. On the one hand, heightened scrutiny may be merited in this case because CBB has such an enormous social impact. On the other hand, if impact drives Ofcom’s decisions in these matters, it may fall prey to letter writing campaigns and … politics.

3. With so much state involvement in broadcasting (both the BBC and Channel 4 are state-owned) Ofcom’s ability to really hit hard is limited. In some cases Ofcom would literally be punishing the government and taxpayers, not the producers that make the programmes. Thus, it’s not surprising that Channel 4 was not fined in this case.