Election laws kept Jon Oliver's Brexit episode from airing in the UK until after the referendum

[Recursion]

http://2paragraphs.com/2016/06/john-oliver-censored-in-britain-on-brexit-a-difference-maker/

John Oliver treated the British plan to exit the EU the way Henry VIII treated his wives. The HBO comedian's charged attack on the BREXIT plan (below) characterized the potential Brit exit from the EU as a fool's errand, a minefield, and a likely disaster that was popular for all the wrong reasons -- sort of like Donald Trump. Here's the thing: Oliver's program, which is popular in his native Britain, didn't air in its normal time slot this week. So most Brits who voted to exit the EU yesterday hadn't seen it.

The normal time for Oliver's show on the Sky Atlantic network is Monday after Game of Thrones. But Sky, citing rules on the media restrictions when it comes elections and referendums, delayed showing Oliver's rancorous takedown of Brexit this week. Oliver said Britain would be "absolutely crazy" to leave the EU, but most Brits didn't hear that opinion until after the vote. In fact, many believe the airing of Oliver's program on Thursday night, after the Brexit vote, is what led Brits to "frantically Google" the EU after the vote was over. Could Oliver's rant, if seen, have made a difference? We'll never know.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. No, we know the answer: No. Oliver's viewing figures are tiny in the UK

because he's on Sky Atlantic, a subscription channel. We can say it has a viewership of under 700,000, because that's what you need to get into the weekly top 30 for 'Other' channels in the publicly available viewing figures: http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/ . I suspect it's well below that - More4, a free-to-air channel, couldn't keep enough viewer interest in 'The Daily Show' to keep it going.

"In fact, many believe the airing of Oliver's program on Thursday night, after the Brexit vote, is what led Brits to "frantically Google" the EU after the vote was over."

Only people who have no idea what people in Britain watch would think that. I suspect that means the person who wrote the paragraph, and the first person they talked to, in the office or on social media. The idea that people who watch a niche show that aims at people with an interest in politics, hidden on a subscription channel, would be the ones who are googling simple questions on the EU is pretty dumb.