The British film censorship board hikes its prices once again and expects you to be grateful for it.
Ahh, the British Board of Film Classification – the gift that keeps on giving, at least if we are to believe the self-serving press releases and customer updates. We’ve already discussed the questionable generosity of the BBFC in piloting a scheme where it ‘only’ charged 50% of the regular fee for films that had been released in the same version theatrically within the last six months.
Now, the BBFC has announced the latest increase to its fees, to become active from January 1st. Generous to a fault, the Board is only raising physical submission fees by 6% instead of the 7.9% (RPI-1%) that their industry agreement allows. But VOD costs are increasing by 8.9% and that, I suspect, is where the money is there days anyway. What this means is that packaged media costs will rise from £8.65 to £9.17, which seems an odd way of showing support for physical media – something the Board has boasted it does. There is a 25% discount for identical versions of previously classified cinema releases – but unless a distributor is looking for a change of rating, this still seems an excessive and unnecessary cost given that the film has already been viewed and approved. And we should note that even the most minor of changes that might come about through a 4K restoration will make a print a ‘different’ version, even if the actual content is the same. Given that major studios often submit films several times in exactly the same versions – and are charged the full whack each time – I wouldn’t be too confident about the fact that a film played British cinemas back in 1973 means you’ll get a discount if you submit it today. However, if you are releasing a film made after August 1st 1989 and no new viewing is required, you can pay ‘just’ £162 for the privilege of using the same certificate that the film already has. It’s literally money for nothing for the BBFC.
Bonus materials on discs also have a 25% discount. Very good. Except that the BBFC claims jurisdiction over a lot of extra content that it has no legal justification for – commentary tracks that are not video recordings, talking head interviews that would be exempt from classification under Video Recordings Act legislation and so on. At least the cost of certifying a physical product now also includes a VOD certificate – charging for both physical and digital would surely have been untenable even for a board with a notorious level of overreach. Oh, and it is still trying to maintain control over the disc packaging at £32.40 a time – I thought that bird had flown a long time ago, but no, there it is, still in the price list just in case anyone is foolish enough to fall for it.
Given that Netflix gets to use an algorithm to apply BBFC ratings to its content – something that surely flies in the face of the claims of ‘trusted BBFC expertise’ that we are told justifies the existence of a statutory home video ratings board – we have to ask (again) why Blu-ray distributors, most of whom have far less of a public reach and casual viewership than any huge streaming platform, still have to fork out through the nose simply to release rare, niche, cult movies for the handful of people who are interested in them; people who probably don’t even look at the BBFC ratings or content warnings other than as an irritating blot on the cover artwork. Why can’t they self-certify based on BBFC standards? Make no mistake – the Board could make this happen if it wanted to.
The BBFC is a relic of a different world – one we may be stuck with, perhaps, but still… it seems insulting for it to claim to be the friend of the little man even as it bleeds him dry.
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here’s a question, are the rating’s done by algorithm also recommending what to cut? because if not and there just automatically applying rating’s to streamed content then it’s even more unfair.
I’m pretty sure that no Netflix programming has been cut to conform with BBFC standards – or to secure a lower rating. That’s the sort of micro-second nuance that surely requires an in-person ‘trusted expert’. Of course, by law Netflix doesn’t need to entertain the BBFC at all. Funny what compromises are possible when it comes to extending your power.
MGM’s channel via Amazon Prime U.K showed the most full uncut version of Death Wish II, even more ‘uncut’ than the notorious versions of the past. Apparently, streaming services also showed a more complete version of Porky’s that hadn’t seen the light of day. Neither of which were given to the BBFC for their outmoded approval.