The Registrar received a complaint from a viewer in regard to the broadcast at 18:30 of promotional 
material for a film that broadcast after the watershed which, for subscription broadcasters, is 20:00. The complainant stated that she had no problem with M-Net advertising its new show, but had a problem with children being exposed to its themes. The promo said something to the effect of: “don’t tell what Daddy did last night”. This is irresponsible advertising, and led to questions that she did not want to discuss with a 5-year-old. This promo had been shown daily – ranging in time from17.30 till 21.00. The complainant first saw it on Thursday 10 April, and saw it again frequently thereafter. M-Net argued that the material did not fall foul of either clauses 18.1 or 21 of the Broadcasting Code.
The Tribunal held that although it did not expect members of the public to set out their complaints as if they were state prosecutors with legal training, the complaint lacked sufficient allegations to justify a finding that there had been a contravention of the Code. The complaint was, accordingly, struck from the Role on the basis that it was too vague and had not brought the facts within the ambit of the said two clauses. This meant that another complainant might now be able to bring the material under the clauses referred to above. It would, however, be unfair for the Tribunal to widen the scope of the complaint and then expect the respondent to answer to such a complaint that would in that case have been constructed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal noted that M-Net had decided to rather move the promo to a timeslot after the commencement of the subscription watershed, which commences at 20:00. The Tribunal regarded this decision as prudent in the circumstances.
The complaint in its present form was dismissed.