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The 1998 Annual Report of the BBFC has just been published. Marking his retirement after 24 years, the outgoing Director, James Ferman, writes that the most important achievement has been the formulation of a clear set of principles and policies; the key issue of his term is said to be violence, particularly sexual violence. The principles and procedures have now been codified into the "Classification Guidelines" (see Appendix 1 of the Report). The BBFC has also increased its commitment to transparency, by publishing press releases explaining "controversial or highprofile" decisions. A new "Advisory...

The Independent Television Commission (ITC) which regulates the private sector of British broadcasting has published its annual Performance Review examining the performance of the regional Channel 3 companies, Channels 4 and 5 and public teletext services during 1998. The Review assesses the compliance of the companies with their licence obligations; these include diversity and quality and so it is able to take a broad overview of the standard of commercial television. In its overall assessment of Channel 3, the Commission noted that whilst its total share of terrestrial audience had fallen from...

The British minister for Trade and Industry decided in April to block the proposed take-over by broadcaster BSkyB of the leading English football club, Manchester United. This followed a report and advice from the competition authorities, i.e. the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the Director General of Fair Trading, both stating that the merger would operate against the public interest and therefore should be prohibited. The major basis for the decision was that the Commission had concluded that the merger would reduce competition for the broadcasting rights to matches in the English Premier...

On the eve of the historic election in Scotland (May 6) for the devolved Scottish Parliament, the Scottish National Party has included an item on broadcasting in their election manifesto: "The current government refuses to allow Scots control over broadcasting. The SNP will continue to campaign for the devolution of broadcasting legislation but in the meantime will establish a Broadcasting Committee of the Parliament to support Scottish broadcasters, monitor and analyse broadcasting output and examine broadcasting in Scotland and those responsible for it furth (outside) of Scotland." The manifesto...

The Independent Television Commission and the Office of Telecommunications, which regulate respectively commercial broadcasting and telecommunications services in the UK, have launched a joint investigation into the «bundling» of cable television and telecommunications services. «Bundling» refers to the offering to consumers of services as a joint package rather than individually. In the UK, the availability of cheap telecommunications services has become a major selling point for cable television. It follows an earlier investigation of «bundling» of channels in cable television in which groups...