Virgin Media Community

[TomDownie]

Since the rebrand of the Sky channels there are several programmes in the early evening given a 15 rating and your passcode demanded to allow you to watch it. This sort of behaviour is why I will never pay extra for Sky channels. 

Can VM not dismiss this nonsense and allow viewing to take place like it used to be? As an adult and the only person at my address I refuse to enter codes to allow me to view a programme given an unjustified rating by a company like Sky. 

Come on Virgin, give us a way to bypass this stupidity.

[japitts]

This has come up a few times over the years, and unfortunately for yourself, it's a regulatory requirement.

You might want to have some light background reading at Ofcom website - what you consider as stupidity, is considered by the industry regulator as necessary to allow channels to broadcast age-restricted content during the day.

And VM are bound by Ofcom rules.

[Steve1701]

Hi,

I have to agree with you TomDownie it can be a little annoying, I live on my own and get annoyed at having to put a code in.

But as japitts says, it's Ofcom who are setting the standards, granted they do tend to be a little over-excessive with certain programs that most think doesn't need pre-watershed approval, but hey-ho, looks like with everything else we'll just have to learn to live with it. I suppose the alternative is simply, not to watch 😕

Annoying or not, we're stuck with it. (Unless VM move 12+ miles offshore) lol.

[TomDownie]

Thanks for the replies. 

That's it settled then, I will no longer watch any Sky channels imposing these restrictions. Not that there was ever a time when Sky nOne was worth watching anyway.

Why are Ofcom only setting these ratings on Sky "entertainment" channels if they set the standards? Personally, I think that it is Sky setting the ratings and Ofcom enforcing the pin entry.   

[cje85]

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@TomDownie wrote:

Thanks for the replies. 

That's it settled then, I will no longer watch any Sky channels imposing these restrictions. Not that there was ever a time when Sky nOne was worth watching anyway.

Why are Ofcom only setting these ratings on Sky "entertainment" channels if they set the standards? Personally, I think that it is Sky setting the ratings and Ofcom enforcing the pin entry.   

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Because Sky are the only broadcaster (so far) to take advantage of the new rules which allow 15 rated programmes to be shown before the watershed, with a mandatory PIN requirement. If other broadcasters decide to do it in future, they will be obliged to be PIN protected too. 

[japitts]

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@TomDownie wrote:

Why are Ofcom only setting these ratings on Sky "entertainment" channels if they set the standards? Personally, I think that it is Sky setting the ratings and Ofcom enforcing the pin entry.   

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AFAIK, it's only Sky that have thus far chosen to broadcast age-restricted content outside "watershed" hours.

Other broadcasters are free to do so, and if/when they do - that would also required Mandatory Daytime Protection PIN entry.

[TomDownie]

It's not just 15 rated programmes, it is PG rated ones too.

[Psychoman67]

This sounds like a version of them silly cookie pop-ups everytime you're browsing on internet.

It's a real pain, if they are showing multiple programs of series 1 after the other and at the end of each episode the pin request comes up FGS! If it's before the watershed, why not put it on after it then.

Really grinds my gears!