Sky Comedy aired f-bomb at 5.30pm by mistake

Sky has landed itself in hot water after broadcasting the f-bomb in an episode of Veep that went out at 5.30pm.

A viewer complained to watchdogs Ofcom over bad language in the episode of the political sitcom which aired on Sky Comedy on November 30.

However, the broadcaster has avoided official censure after tightening up its procedures, asserting that it is now ‘extremely confident such an occurrence will not be repeated in future’.

The Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy, created by Armando Iannucci, should have subject to PIN protection to ensure only adults who had input their code - or had turned the family-friendly function off - could view the programme.

But a series of bungles worthy of Selina Meyer’s hapless aides meant everyone tuning in heard the expletive.

The chaos started with an announcement trailing the wrong programme, with viewers told: ‘With very strong language and adult humour now, it’s Dane Cook: Vicious Circle. Oh god!’

The about 40 seconds of Veep played, without the pre-programme PIN request, including the f-bomb, before the transmission was halted.

Ofcom asked Sky to explain what had happened, and the broadcaster  blamed a rare combination of a  ‘hardware fail leading to a loss of connection’ and incorrect data in its programme database.

The broadcaster said it had been using the same daytime PIN process on Sky Cinema for years, and over thousands of programmes, without incident. Nonetheless it has now added extra processes to try to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again.

In publishing its ruling today, Ofcom noted that whatever the reason - and despite the bad language warning (albeit for the wrong programme) -  ‘it would have still been possible for any children to have watched content containing the most offensive language’.

But added: ‘Taking into account the action taken by the Licensee to ensure compliance in the future, including the use of additional measures within its broadcast system which we understand should prevent this type of incident from reoccurring, Ofcom’s decision is that this matter is resolved.’

Published: 10 May 2021