The UK is expected to be one of the first countries to ban certain music videos on the television before the watershed. Excessively raunchy videos will not be permitted to played on UK television before 9pm. Certain groups are calling for some music videos to be banned from airplay before this time, videos include Rihanna and Britney Spears. Their recent video involved a lingerie pillow fight for their popular song S & M.

The UK government have stated that they will take into consideration the wishes of certain groups, although consultation with music channels would have to occur in order for this to happen.

Whilst some groups are calling for this ban to take place, opposition groups have suggested that this is not required. Music channels already have in place certain regulation that checks whether certain videos are relevant for the time that will be played. Infact in most cases the S & M video that appears to have caused most debate has not been played in full on any UK music channel due to its raunchy nature. The full video has been made available online to music lovers; many other countries have also banned the video from being played on their TV networks.

Record companies are believed to be objecting to the call for certain videos to be banned before the watershed. A spokesperson for one record company stated that the request for this to happen was going beyond the means of the governments control. They continued by stating that too much regulation within the UK would mean that artists would begin to focus on different countries to promote their music. This call has come as the UK has reached the £1 billion mark in relation to online music downloads.

Music videos are already subject to certain regulations, before they are aired they are regulated by an external board which deems whether they are acceptable or not. Failure to pass these checks means that the videos will not be permitted to be played on any music channels within the world.

Many artists spend large amounts of money on their videos and such a ruling may mean that the way videos are directed may change considerably.