Legal Constraints

Video Recordings Act

The Video Recordings Act (1984) was a law set in place that limited the sales of recorded videos.
The exact law is commercial video recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry
a classification that has been agreed upon by an authority designated by the Home Office.

Copyright Law
The Copyright Act is what keeps control of what the owners of work can do and what others can
do too. There are many things the Copyright Act allows and disallows, including: the owners may
copy and issue the work, rent or lend the work and make an adaptation of the work. Others arent
allowed to: copy the work and make a profit on and use the work in any way to their benefit. They
can do this, however, with the permission of the owner.
The purpose of this law in the TV industry is to protect the ideas of various channels from losing
money on their creations, and to allow new ideas to be adapted from these creations to increase
income further. If Copyright is broken, then a letter will be received from the owners demanding
that they desist. If it continues further then, depending on the level of the infringement, the
infringer could be fined (possibly more than 100,000) or sent to jail.
An example of this happening in the TV industry is the show New Girl, which was sued for having
similarities with an already in progress script on a different show called Square One. In return,
the creators of Square One asked for credit in New Girl along with other compensation.

Films Act
The films act 1985 is a consolidation to the multiple changes that were made to the
Cinematographic Acts 1909. This covered the exhibition of films, specifically: the grant, renewal
and transfer of licences for showing films for conditions such as Sunday openings. This helps the
film industry as it makes sure that the filmmakers are being paid for their work fairly when its
being viewed and to those who exhibit the film.

Ethical Issues
When it comes to adult content such as strong language, a watershed is used. This is a set time
of the day in which stronger content is allowed to be aired. In the UK this begins at 9:00pm and
finishes at 5:30am. This adult content is gently transitioned to and 18+ programmes dont begin
until 10:00pm. Equal opportunities are incredibly important to almost every job so that everyone
has an equal chance to work and training. This is promoted by Ofcom which make sure that
everyone of all genders, races and disabilities get jobs.
They have produced a booklet to help television channels make sure they have equal
opportunities as well as the benefits to doing this. These benefits include: making it easier to find
new talent, a broader mix of people providing new opportunities for creativity, creating a more
inclusive place to work, a more positive corporate identity and a better reputation as a socially
responsible business.
This Is England 86 is a spin-off miniseries of the film This Is England, and aired on Channel 4.
This show was surrounded with a lot of controversy due to the aggressive use of strong language

that were mostly racist terms, as well as the violence in some scenes including a character
threatening children and a shop keeper. The show was eventually given an 18 certificate by the
BBFC, though it was heavily debated on whether it could be considered for 15. The key factors that
lead to this overruling were: the violence towards vulnerable characters, the unexpected and
shocking timing of the violence and language, how distressing it is to see through the eyes of
someone confused about all the happenings and the overall strong and racist language used
throughout.

Representation of Gender
According to a study made by The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, in
which they looked at 100 top grossing films and womens representations in them. Only 12% of
the films had a clearly identifiable female protagonist, 29% of major characters were female, 85%
of female characters had pro-social goals and only 5% were portrayed as leaders. This gives
women quite a negative image, with them mostly being below men in standards.
In most programmes, genders are very stereotypical with life styles and mannerisms that would
what people expect them to be like. In most cases, men were portrayed as strong and leaders
whilst women were considered to be there for the family. Most action programmes have men as
lead roles whilst most dating related shows are women lead roles. Examples of this are Arrow
and New Girl.

However, in some cases, some TV programmes use countertypes, which are the opposites of
stereotypes. These countertypes are mostly positive spins on the norm and sometimes end up
being the new stereotype. Two examples are Jessica Jones and The Big Bang Theory.

Nowadays, many TV channels are much better with representing all genders in every way
possible. Whatever their sexuailty, more and more lead roles are having a much larger variety. You
can find any gender playing any character, which is having a far more positive impact upon the
industry.

Representation of Religious Beliefs

Religion is represented in two main ways. Through specific characters on TV shows or through
religious broadcasts. In the case of religious broadcasting there are specific laws, which include:
they arent allowed to seek recruits to their beliefs, exploit the susceptibilities of their audience
or include any abusive treatment towards other peoples beliefs.
Coverage of popular religion has increased since the early 1980s. Lately, the religion of Islam has
been treated quite negatively, through outputs like news, due to the various terrorist attacks
throughout the years. There has also been some negative press on Christianity as well, due to
some churches views on homosexuality and alleged immoral behaviour of some of the clergy.
Media Body

Role and Importance

Cases

British Academy of
Film and Television
Arts (BAFTA)

They are an independent

film, television and games
organisation that are based
on promoting the art forms
of the moving image. They
were formed in 1947 and
their goal involved making
sure to recognise those who
contributed outstanding and
creative work to the media
industry.

Television, Radio
and
Telecommunications
Office for
Communication
(Ofcom)

A corporation that are based

on regulating the content on
television by designing set
rules that broadcasters must
abide by if they wish to air.
They were created in 2001
when the Queen announced
it during her Speech to
Parliament, that this body
were to be a super
regulator that would replace
many smaller existing ones.
Similar to Ofcom, but are a
regulatory system for
advertising; taking in
complaints about certain

BAFTA have an awards evening every

year with multiple categories in all
sectors. Examples are most artistic
(gaming), best scripted comedy (TV)
and best leading actor (film). Within
TV, every genre of programme has the
chance to nominated, be it a crime
drama, chat show or documentary.
2015s awards had a huge variety of
categories and nominations that went
to presenters (Graham Norton),
production teams (Saturday Night
Takeaway) and Actors/Actresses
(Georgina Campbell) and many more.
As of recently, shows that are shown
on subscription services are being
nominated too. An example is the
Netflix exclusive Orange Is The New
Black was nominated for the award
for International in 2015.
In August 2015, Ofcom handled a case
involving Skys failure to comply with
rules about cancellation and
termination arrangements. Many
people complained that they didnt
correctly follow the regulations GC9.3
and GC22. Full article here. Below this
table there a few more examples that
Ofcom handled.

Advertising
Standards Authority
(ASA)

In 2012, the ASA removed an advert

from Virgin Media which had
misleading information on their fibre
optic cables. Their ad told people that

adverts from viewers and

making decisions on whether
or not the ad is revoked from
broadcasting.

British Interactive
Multimedia
Association (BIMA)

BIMA is an organisation that

are there to help support
British media, share the
knowledge on making
content and prepare the next
generation of content
makers.

they had connected their street to the

new cabling, however there was small
print saying how the service was only
available in Virgin Media cabled
streets. ASA banned the ad and told
Virgin Media to ensure they did not in
future state or imply that consumers
were likely to be able to obtain their
services if that was not the case. Full
article here.
One case is Tigo Honduras, which
launched an insurance product that
BIMA helped increase the subscribers
for. They launched in 2010 and, after
being approaching BIMA, their
subscriber count increased by 8% after
one year. They also helped set up a call
centre with 100 agents, as well as a
team of 40 field agents that educate
consumers. Full article here.

Each of the regulatory bodies (ASA and Ofcom) may face multiple issues when it comes to:
consumer choice, freedom of information, taste and decency and censorship.
In the case of censorship, the ASA and Ofcom may have to make difficult decisions on what
content may/may not be appropriate and should be censored/taken down. It can also be difficult
to sieve through various complaints to find genuine ones, and act on them without offending
some people further. There is also the need to have good reasoning toward taking down content
as it may dramatically affect the company.
When it comes to consumer choice, ASA have a better system. This is because they take in viewer
feedback to help regulate adverts. However, this can be problematic as the complaints they get
may not be justifiable when it comes to removing content entirely. They also have made it clear
that the ASA doesnt have power when it comes to issues related to financial adverts such as
credit cards etc. as well as political issues, of which the ASA refer to Ofcom instead. Meanwhile,
Ofcom is quite independent on their regulation strategies. Instead of taking in individual feedback
Ofcom has multiple guides when it comes to problems may be suffering from, though they wont
solve all issues.
The ASA do allow people to see the rules and cases that they have dealt with on their respective
websites, however there are a few cases that have limited view for the public, due to ASA not
being held under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Ofcom, on the other hand, does follow
this act due to it being a public authority and allows all information they have to be viewed by the
public.
In the sense of taste and decency, both bodies receive complaints from the public about issues
that arent really against any law set in place. In regards to ASA they sometimes receive complaints
on subjects like the moral issues of an advert. In 2014 they received 5525 complaints on an advert

about betting on the outcome of Oscar Pistoriuss trial, on the grounds of it being offensive to
trivialize a murder trial. It can be hard to judge if ads are in bad taste though, as is the case of a
Sainsburys advert based in WW1, which wasnt removed though heavily debated if it were
distasteful to use an atrocious event in history to advertise a supermarket.
Another case of a broadcast being removed for legal reasons is a TV show titled The Great Global
Warming Swindle, which was aired on Channel 4 in March of 2007. The show was about how
Man-made Global Warming is a lie and the biggest scam of the modern times. It received 265
complaints, one of which was a 176-page document that was written by a large group of scientists.
On 21st of July 2008, Ofcom took down the show from broadcast, but for different reasons. The
programme had unfairly treated multiple people including Sir David King, the IPPC and Professor
Carl Wunsch, as well as breaching several parts of the Broadcasting Code regarding impartiality
during the fifth part of the show.