A valued former colleague has challenged me to comment on ATVOD (which I have done in the past, but deserves a revisit).
For those of you who aren't aware, the UK now has yet another regulatory media QUANGO (whatever happened to the 'bonfire of the QUANGOs ?), this time regulating 'on demand' content as if it were somehow different from scheduled, or any other content.
So, first of all, let me get down and personal:
1) The UK should not have accepted the ludicrous 'Television Without Frontiers' (later A/V Directive) legislation from Brussels that was a bind for scheduled broadcasters and Internet TV companies, but a boon to TV cowboys like Google/YouTube in the first place, and resulted in the setting up of this QUANGO, which I believe will still not regulate the totally unregulated ****** that is YouTube.
2) The Anti-competition authorities in the UK are a total joke, so will not regulate against monopolies such as the BBC, BSkyB and Google, each of which have more than 25% of market share (the definition of a monopoly when I did my Economics 'A' level), especially since these companies are very 'close' to the Condems in so many ways - i.e. a spouse in each camp. We have a totally corrupt Government totally in the pockets of Big Media (so what's new ?), but hey! Let's set up a QUANGO to stop anyone from competing with our benefactors...
3) What is OFCOM for if we need ATVOD ? Well, after all, why have one QUANGO when two will do in this age of austerity where 'fairness' is the buzzword and we need 'economies' ?
We live in a world where the power of the established media is such they can totally change political influence. There is nothing weaker than an incoming regime, and no one will bow lower than a new bunch of guys in power to the established media.
ATVOD is a government sponsored monster, like YouView, that is paid for by ordinary Britons, but exists to promote the self interest of very wealthy people by creating a barrier to market. In other words, I have little doubt that ATVOD exists to fulfil EU obligations and make sure that incumbent companies can tax or harangue competition out of existence by using spurious Government influence and regulation.
Let me suggest that, like all such institutions, the first aim of ATVOD is to make its own secretariat wealthy, the second aim is to benefit its benefactors (the Condems) and the final aim is to ensure that remains in the hands of major benefactors. The aim of censoring and making content more available and cheaper to ordinary Britons is... (sorry, rolling about the floor laughing too much to finish this sentence...).
"our role is to ensure that such video on demand services comply with their statutory obligations in relation to the 'editorial content' to which they provide access and the need to notify ATVOD of their intention to provide an On Demand Programme Service."
But I am being kind to these self-fulfilling parasites. They are irrelevant, in the same way as the EU is irrelevant in the world we live in today.
The reality is that the Yanks have arrived and will totally ignore our technocratic indulgences anyway. As we always do in the UK, we will kowtow to the US and let them get away with murder as we massacre our own media industry through QUANGOs like this.
Does that answer your question, Rob ?