Lightbox Bows to Public Pressure on Programme Warnings

For the second time in as many weeks, Lightbox has bowed to public pressure from The Chief Censor to provide accurate warnings on their on-demand programmes.

Lightbox gave its consumers no warning of the sex scenes, violence, offensive language, nudity and disturbing content of the popular adult western series Deadwood when it was made available on demand on its site. Lightbox displayed a provisional R16 rating which states only that the official NZ rating is to be confirmed.

This is despite the fact that Deadwood had already received an official classification of R16 and that official labels and content warnings were supplied to Lightbox in March 2015.

The Chief Censor, Dr Andrew jack said, “This is not a minor issue or a casual oversight. Lightbox customers have the right to know what they and their families are watching before they click “Play Now.”

After media interest yesterday, Lightbox (a subsidiary of Spark) quickly posted accurate, official labels for Deadwood on their website overnight.

The Chief Censor was forced to go public last week after Lightbox issued a press release and published programme classifications that implied that Lightbox customers were still protected by official classifications. In fact, correspondence showed Lightbox had axed official classifications late last year.

It was revealed that Lightbox had mislead its customers by giving the ballet-themed drama series Flesh and Bone a "provisional R16 warning", adding "Official NZ rating to be confirmed". After media coverage, Lightbox promptly changed their label to make it clear the programme was not officially rated – but has yet to warn its customers of any of the programme’s contents.

The Chief Censor remains concerned that Lightbox customers who view Flesh and Bone are not warned about the programme's violence, sex scenes, sexual violence, offensive language and drug use.

“Teenage girls with an interest in ballet could click “Play Now” with no idea of what they are about to experience. Victims of sexual violence could, without warning, be re-traumatised by a strong scene of sexual abuse and its aftermath” Dr Jack said.

The Lightbox Chief Executive reportedly claimed that official ratings cost Lightbox "a great deal of money" and was also reported as saying that "If we can get the same outcome in a different way, then clearly we are going to want to not spend that cash."

The Censor said, “In the case of Deadwood, cost wasn’t an issue. Lightbox paid for the labels last year and then chose not to use them”.

“New Zealand viewers and their families deserve better. Our UMR research survey shows that 81% of New Zealanders rely on official classifications and labels to help decide what they and their families watch. Big, profitable companies like Lightbox and Spark should give their customers what they want and should have their customers’ best interests at heart.”

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