Satellite X News

South Africa's Independent Communications Authority will take legal action against TopTV should the pay-TV broadcaster continue with its plan to launch three porn television channels within the next few weeks.

On Digital Media, the company that owns TopTV, said last month it would go ahead with the launch of the channels early this month despite Icasa's objections.

It argued that the TV censor had not responded to its application in the required three months and TopTV was therefore legally entitled to go ahead.

However, Icasa last week maintained that it was illegal for TopTV to proceed with the launch until the regulator had finalised the application process.

If TopTV goes ahead with the launch we will have no option but to obtain an interdict to stop them. We are waiting for their response to our queries, Icasa spokesman Paseka Maleka said. He added a public hearing on the issue would be held within the next two weeks. Icasa would rule on whether or not it would grant TopTV's application for the three new channels by the end of the month.

Update: Court prevents porn starting before the TV censor has finished deliberating

17th January 2012. See article from mybroadband.co.za

The South Gauteng High Court has granted the  Independent Communications Authority of South Africa an urgent interdict to stop a satellite TV operator rom going ahead with its proposed porn channels. The company must now wait on the deliberation by the TV censor.

TopTV wants to introduce a standalone porn package of channels Adult XXX, Private Spice and Playboy Europe.

The TV censor's public hearings into the licence application by On-Digital Media, owner of Top TV, have now begun in Sandton, Johannesburg, where the year-old operator was not represented despite being invited to respond and make presentations.

The misleadingly named Freedom of Expression Institute, African Christian Democratic Party and the Film and Publication Board have all opposed the launch.

Freedom of expression is not a pre-eminent right, and especially not when it infringes on children's rights to be protected from harm, spouted Pearl Kupe, on behalf of the Christian Action Network: Putting in pin-blocking functions presents very little challenge to the increasingly techno-savvy generation, and I know this being a mother.

The African Christian Democratic Party said it was impossible to build a strong nation with dysfunctional families, and producers and distributors of pornography had shown contempt for family values.

Freedom of Expression Institute's executive director, Elston Seppie, said the right to freedom of expression was about balance, ...BUT...the right of children, women and family values should take precedence.

Update: Inevitably Banned

28th January 2012. See article from xbiz.com

TopTV has lost its bid to provide South Africa with its first-ever paid adult satellite programming.

South Africa's TV censor, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has refused to allow the company to broadcast softcore Playboy Europe, and hardcore Private Spice and Adult XXX channels.

ICASA spokesperson, Paseka Maleka said the censor would release the reasons for the denial wihtin the next 30 days.

In a letter to Reuters, ICASA said, We advise that the Council of the Authority ... decided, after careful consideration, to refuse On Digital Media (Pty) Ltd's application for the authorization of (the proposed) video channels.

The European hardcore satellite service, Dolly Buster TV has ended.

The company behind the service has now ceased trading.

Dolly Buster TV previously offered 5 hardcore channels broadcasting from the Hotbird Satellite.

The softcore UK adult TV station, Television X, is about to make British broadcasting history by being the first to broadcast in 3D.

The Society 3D will be broadcast on 13th and 14th of January on Television X and its sister channel Red Hot TV to subscribing Sky customers with a 3D TV.

Those who have a 3D TV can watch the interlaced side-by-side version which uses state of the art technology to create the 3D images.

In this one-off 3D special, Television X follows a submissive Angel Long as she is initiated into the sex-mad world of The Society. The landmark film has been produced by Kaizen XXX, which employed many techniques in order to make the 3D effects really impressive.

For the opening image, which shows Angel blowing smoke rings into the viewers face, to the final, closing 'pop' shot, I aimed to make this film an iconic piece of porn history, said Andy P from the production house.

We are really excited about bringing an intensely erotic experience to our customers across the UK and Ireland, said Head of Programming for Television X Chris Ratcliff: The UK has never seen anything like this!

And for once, being totally softcore may be an advantage. Viewers won't have to be worried about being poked in the eye by a long hard dick.

New player in South Africa's pay-TV market, TopTV, has announced that it had made an application to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) for permission to launch three adult content channels.

The latest bid to get porn on to South African television screens follows leading pay-TV broadcaster MultiChoice who some while ago, decided to can its foray into adult TV after widespread objections from the public.

Icasa spokesman Paseka Maleka said depending on the nature of the submissions, it may hold public hearings before it decides whether to give TopTV the go-ahead. Maleka said such a public hearing would most likely be held next month , but could not say when the process would be finalised.

TopTV last week announced its intention to launch porn channels, while distancing itself from a company called African Satellite Installations, which had indicated that French porn channel PSatTV would soon be available in SA via the TopTV satellite.

TopTV's holding company, On-Digital Media , said the porn channels would be separate from its bouquets and would carry a strictly enforced adult restriction. They would only be accessible as a secure, encrypted and separate subscription package on the pay-TV platform. Potential subscribers would need to provide proof that they were over the age of 18, and viewing of the channels would require a unique, four-digit PIN code.

A spokesman said content for all three channels would be provided by Playboy TV, with one being a soft porn channel and the other two having more raunchy content. It would cost R199 a month.

Update: The Inevitable Nutter Boycott

14th December 2011. See article from mybroadband.co.za

Some Christian organisations plan to boycott TopTV after it announced it would launch 24-hour pornography channels next year, said the Family Policy Institute.

The institute's director Errol Naidoo said:

The Christian denominations and church affiliations support the view that the broadcasting of hardcore pornography on television degrades and objectifies women [strange, this is done so much more effectively by some religions] and exposes children to harmful content.

Millions of Christians will be encouraged to join the mass boycott of TopTV by not paying their subscription fees and cancelling their contracts with the pay channel.

TopTV's advertisers and sponsors would also be targeted by the boycott, said Naidoo.

About six Christian organisations have affiliated themselves with the boycott, including the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa and the Methodist Church of South Africa.

Interesting news from South Africa over the promise of the country's first hardcore satellite porn channels.

Porn Satellite Television (PSat) promises 24/7 hardcore adult television and says it will launch this January. The channel will be broadcast on the Astra 4A satellite, which is also utilized by the mainstream channel, TopTV.

As a separate service, PSat subscribers will have to pay R99 a month for special equipment needed to access the channel.

According to iAfrica.com, PSat originated in France and is broadcast from outside of South Africa.

There was previously there was a mainstream service suggesting that it could  branch into porn, but the authorities were not having any of it, and the idea stayed on the drawing board. Perhaps this new idea has more of a 'Red Hit Dutch' feel to the service.

Update: You can't broadcast porn...we want to do that

9th December 2011.  See article from business.avn.com

It did not take long for TopTV to express its opposition to the planned rollout of a 24/7 porn channel on the same Astra 4A satellite from which it broadcasts to South African subscribers.

TopTV is claiming that the PSat service is illegal because it has not received permission to broadcast porn from South Africa's TV censor, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). TopTV said it is considering a lawsuit based on the alleged illegality of the planned January launch. An PSat spokesperson, John Solomon, countered that TopTv does not have grounds for a lawsuit because PSat, which is an already existing French channel that wants to expand into South Africa, does not need to get permission from ICASA.

An ICASA spokesperson concurred that Solomon needs to get additional approval before its decoders can be distributed to the public.

But TopTV may have another reason for objecting to TopTV. According to iol.ca.za, the network has itself applied to ICASA for permission to launch three Playboy subscription channels to its lineu

The TopTv application has already been publicly opposed by the country's censorship board, the Film and Production Board, whose spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamase, said, We definitely will oppose the application in a manner similar to the way we did with MultiChoice when they wanted to launch a 24-hour pornography channel.

Playboy TV UK managing director Jeremy Yates has said that the TV watershed is a nonsense and called for a change in the way adult broadcasting is regulated. Speaking at an industry event he said that it will be a bit odd to regulate TV when the open internet comes to the small screen.

Earlier in the month, Playboy TV was fined £110,000 by Ofcom for airing adult sex chat advertisements that were slightly too sexy for Ofcom's prudish view on what should be allowed on free to air TV.

Playboy currently operates a number of video on-demand services, but the broadcaster still relies heavily on its portfolio of softcore TV channels to reach the audience.

UK adult TV is censored down to naff softcore, but it has still found a valuable niche. It is now more or less glorified advertising for either premium rate phone chat, or else hardcore services on the internet.

Yates feels that because adult broadcasters such as Playboy are so tightly regulated, they are losing ground to the internet, where there is an anything goes mentality. He said that the TV watershed at 9pm is a nonsense, largely because there is no watershed on the internet. I'd like to see a change that allows us to compete with the internet. If someone who is a responsible adult who wants to watch our content at 5pm in the afternoon, why shouldn't they?

He suggested adult content shown during the day could be given a second PIN number on digital TV to increase security, but accepted that gaining approval for such a scheme will be hard. I'll keep banging the drum anyway, Yates added.