Another Ofcom rap over Sex And The City

Comedy Central has been put on notice by broadcast regulator Ofcom after repeatedly airing the f-word before the 9pm watershed.

The broadcaster has landed in hot water after screening an episode of Sex And The City which contained four instances of the word at 8.30pm.

A viewer complained to Ofcom about swearing in the episode broadcast on Comedy Central Extra at 8.30pm on April 7 – in violation of rules which say that: 'The most offensive language must not be broadcast before the watershed.'

The broadcaster 'apologised unreservedly', assured Ofcom that it understood the severity of the situation, and said it had retrained staff about the 'serious consequences that can arise from incidents such as this'.

However, Comedy Central made similar promises after airing the very same episode before the watershed in 2013, again landing it trouble with the watchdog.

At that time is promised that the version of the episode had been deleted from its systems and that it had implemented training which was supposed to stop it happening again.

In today's ruling about the repeat offence, Ofcom 'noted that in its response, the licensee made no reference to the previous incident on 29 June 2013 nor offer any explanation for this repeated compliance failure.

'We are concerned that, despite the measures previously taken by the licensee, the same version of this episode was again broadcast before the watershed on the same channel in breach of the code.

'Ofcom therefore puts the licensee on notice that further breaches of the code in this area will lead to Ofcom considering further regulatory action.'

Last month, Comedy Central's main channel was censured for showing an episode of Two And A Half Men with 'strong sexual themes' at 6.30pm. The storyline of Four Balls, Two Bats and One Mitt revolved around one of the main characters wanting a threesome.

The broadcaster said after that breach that it had tightened up its procedures and was 'confident' that such an error wouldn't be repeated.

Published: 16 Jun 2014