Josie Clarke
The television watchdog Ofcom has fined MTV £255,000 for "widespread and persistent" breaches of broadcasting regulations.
It says MTV Networks Europe broadcast highly- offensive language and material before the watershed.
Ofcom found the music and entertainment channels TMF, MTV France, MTV UK and MTV Hits breached rules relating to protecting children from unsuitable material, observing the watershed and broadcasting offensive language before the watershed.
They also breached regulations stating that offensive material should be justified by the context and also by failing to supply recordings.
Ofcom concluded that "the likely audience would have expected to have been protected from the most offensive language and material in such programming".
An MTV spokesman said: "MTV Networks Europe takes this sanction and fine very seriously and has taken a series of steps to minimise as much as possible any breaches in the future.
"These include strengthening procedures regarding programmes for broadcast before the watershed, reviewing MTV's archive programming, increasing the number of staff involved in compliance and investing in a new channel management system."
Ofcom said it imposed a substantial fine on MTV Networks Europe "in light of the very serious nature of its persistent failure to ensure compliance with Ofcom's broadcasting code".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article