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NEWS | Wednesday, 14 May 2008 Teletubi bleeped to oblivion Franica Pulis It’s curtains for Teletubi, as One TV has decided to abide by the Broadcasting Authority’s imposed rules and fines, and cut short transmission of the popular, if controversial, satirical TV programme.
On Monday the BA imposed a penalty of €1,164 (Lm500) on the Labour-owned station, suspended for six months from the day of decision. MaltaToday sought the reaction of One TV managing director Dr Michael Vella Haber: “We will do what the BA tells us. Currently we are receiving one fine after the other. We cannot sustain every penalty, or else it won’t be financially viable.” Dr Vella Haber added that the station had no option but to stop the programme. “However, we will not kill the Teletubi characters. We just need to find a way forward with the BA. Maybe we will manage with a different approach. We thought it the time had come when such programmes were accepted; however, the BA is not of the same opinion. It is a sad situation.” Asked about the option of taking the BA to court, Vella Haber replied that this was “time-consuming”. “It would be better if we discussed it with the BA. I think it’s more decent. Although I don’t think ‘decent’ is the right word, as they are labelling Teletubi as ‘indecent’!” he added, laughing it off. Sander Agius of Zoo, the company that produces Teletubi, reasons differently about taking this case to court. “We are thinking about court, but not fighting it alone as Zoo or One TV. Currently there is no organisation with which to fight such situations. We are fighting alone against a single situation,” Agius said on Reporter, which will be broadcast next week. With regard to the petition started on the social network Hi5, and featured yesterday on Labour electronic paper maltastar.com, Vella Haber argues that such initiatives are useless. “The BA will not change its decision because of a petition. Personally, I feel that no petition will be of any effect. We have a good relationship with the BA. We should not bypass the authority... I assume they have received a number of complaints, because I have received them myself.” Apart from the penalty the BA also issued two guidelines about “double-entendre” (doppju sens) and bleeping. Zoo actor Daniel Chircop’s first reaction when contacted on Monday was, “We cannot change the format of the programme, otherwise it would not be the same any longer. This is their way of stopping us.” On being informed what the guidelines were, as One TV had not yet informed the Zoo team about the BA’s decision by that time, he started laughing with regard to the bleeping part as it states: “The authority informs the station it is not ready to accept vulgar and obscene words and the bleeping should cover completely all the word’s syllables, and the words said should not be heard to be offensive.” As for double entendre, the BA only accepts it as long as it done humorously, in a satirical context and as long the programme is classified for adults only… something which Teletubi has been doing from its inception. In last Sunday’s article on Illum, Chircop wondered what the new guidelines might include. He could only think about the prohibition of words like “sorm” (arse). However, the BA’s guidelines do not specify which words are unacceptable, leaving it up to producers and/or prudish spectators to decide what is offensive or not. Any comments? |
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