Four little words.

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I must immediately apologise for this DB (Dead Boring) post. Sometimes this 'teacher's' lessons are boring even if the subject is interesting.

Today's four little words are 'not appropiate for minors'. It is these words, with a few others, that appear as a marquee (horizontal scroll) message on the bottom of the screen in both English and German on Astra after 22:00 (23:00 CET) - I would welcome someone to tell me if such a message also appears on Hotbird.

The significance of this message is that it is a fundamental cornerstone of the old 'Television Without Frontiers' EU directive and more specifically that part of the directive that sought the protection of 'vunerable groups' in this case 'minors'.

Now if you have watched ETV long enough, you will recall that for atleast the first two years they preceeded the nightshow with a caption which was essentially the same message. But from the times they played around with a full 24/7 broadcasting they also played around with the relay of this message. First it was removed. Then it came back. Maybe because some 'teacher' reminded them of its requirement. Then it disappeared alltogether as if the pupil was playing truant to his classes. And of course we all know that if the pupil misses his classes then he will fail his exams.

But enough of the history lesson. The significance of the reappearance of the message is that the tv before 22:00(23:00) is by default suitable for minors. But what decides that ? Of course the removal of the nudity plays a big part. But any minor still tuning in before that time will still be exposed to graphic content be it SMSs or the channel's own visual promotion of it's services. The prudent would thus argue that even that content is not suitable for minors. But if who decides is prepared to allow that then there is an arguement to re-allow the nudity even if it is more toned down. And before you shout that it could hardly be toned down more than it was prior to the reinforcement of 'the rules' I believe that it can. Then the channel can reclaim its status of 'soft erotic'

But there is one big problem in the way of this. If you care to read the directive, and the one that is succeeding it, you will appreciate that it is no longer the country of origin of the broadcast that holds the key to the enforcement/interpretation of the rules. As no where are these rules actually written down. It is simply an interpretation of images that could cause harm to 'vunerable groups'. The country of prime focus of the service can object to the content if it feels its own citizens should be protected. So in the case of this tv it does not really matter what Austria thinks. The German market is much much bigger in the eyes of the channel and Germany only has to complain to the Austrian regulator and can enforce the 'rules'.

And that itself can explain why other channels can but ETV decide that it cannot. It therefore is not a question of whether common sense can prevail unless Germany is prepared to soften its stance. It is entirely a question of survival. Etv could not, in my opinion, survive without either the German/Astra market or the daytime broadcasts however tame they now are. They might not even survive if this is the only solution. I hope that I am wrong on both counts but only time will tell.