Frequently Asked Questions:
Is it legal to buy hardcore?
 How do I set up a system to receive Euro satellite hardcore?

From Silicon

New planning regulations will allow householders to use a wider range of antennas and satellite dishes to access digital and broadband services.

The changes will help to meet the government's aim of expanding access to digital television and broadband internet - and will help householders to install digital TV and broadband technologies.

The revised regulations will continue to protect the environment from inappropriate development, particularly in designated areas where there are greater restrictions on the position of antennas.

Current planning regulations are inadequate because there are different and inconsistent regulations for each type of technology.

The amended permitted development regulations will take account of the wide variety of antenna technology now available, and will subject all types of microwave antenna - whether they are satellite dishes, mesh antennas and wireless antennas - to the same permitted development regulations.

Housing and planning minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement: "The planning system needs to adapt to take account of changing technology. People want to get access to wireless broadband services and digital and satellite TV. These changes remove some of the red tape around new technology by updating the planning rules, whilst keeping protections for the local environment."

There will still be restrictions on the number, size and location of antennas - under the revised planning regulations, houses under 15 metres in height will be allowed two antennas.

From Grapevine Jobs, Thanks to Tim

Playboy TV UK

Compliance Viewer

Free-to-air Compliance Viewer required, short-term contract

Playboy TV is looking for a person experienced in viewing programmes for television broadcast for compliance with Ofcom regulations, ideally with an understanding of the rules applied to late-night erotica.

The ideal candidate will be available immediately to work for about one month, although this may be extended.

Applicants will need to be comfortable watching material aimed at an adult audience.

Please send your CV, availability and current salary details (or expectations) to Richard Ings, Head of Programming, Playboy TV. Please do not submit CVs if you do not have relevant experience.

Apply here

Oh goody we will soon be able to see the bobbing foreheads of beautiful girls and high production value plant pots blocking the view.

From AVN

Private Media Group announced today the signing of a binding letter of intent with RHF Productions Ltd. that calls for the distribution of a new Private adult television channel in the United Kingdom.

The channel will be launched in January 2006 and replace the Private Blue channel which was established in the UK in 2000. The new channel will primarily be available as a pay-per-view channel via the BSkyB Digital Satellite platform. The BskyB platform currently carries more than 7.4 million subscribers.

Private CEO Berth Milton said, Our Private Blue channel, a reference in adult entertainment in the UK since its launch in 2000, now enters a new phase offering viewers – new and old- the latest trends as well as our renowned theme blockbusters. The Private Blue channel will benefit from RHF Productions’ extensive editing and packaging skills together with the marketing opportunities available to the company.

Peter Farrell, editorial director of RHF Productions, added, This is the coming together of two industry experts that share the vision of quality and service; and we look forward to working together with the Private team, confident that customers throughout the UK will be delighted with the results. [Think again! How about treating your long suffering customers with a little more respect. We want to see hardcore fucking not fucking plant pots]

From the bgafd forum

TVX, or TV Tame, as it should be known, goes to extraordinary lengths (no puns intended) to cover up the sight of a penis even after encryption. Gay TV show semi erect penises on their pre-pin protected preview?  Both stations are run by the same parent company so why different levels of censorship?

From Digital Spy

Hustler TV has signed a distribution agreement to launch into Europe.

Adult channel distributor Total Media will be responsible for securing carriage deals with various cable and satellite across the continent. The UK is expected to be a key target market.

Michael H. Klein, President of Hustler TV, said: Hustler TV is already one of the top adult television networks in North America and we believe that Total Media will bring us even greater success in Europe.

As observed by Shaun

Sky have just introduced new parental controls for their Sky+ box. This might be considered a "good thing", in some ways. BUT:

On Sky+, if you want to play back any 15, or 18 rated recording before the watershed, you now HAVE to enter your PIN number. There is NO option to prevent that, in the settings. It is IMPOSED on you, EVEN if there are no children in the house. One person at Sky arrogantly said it is here to stay, and there is nothing you can do about it.!

HOWEVER in their wisdom, they have in fact made parental control HARDER than it was before.

How on earth do I ALLOW my 15 year old son, to watch 15 rated movies, in the day, which he is old enough to do, in our absence, WITHOUT having to give him my one and only PIN number which would ALSO allow him to watch 18 rated movies, including adult programmes if I had subscribed to any of them, and recorded them ?

Currently I don't have this flexibility. I have to give him ALL or NOTHING.

In the past, I could simply apply restriction to 18 rated content in the parental control menu, and this would prevent playback and viewing of 18 rated content at any time, but allow 15 rated content.

Clearly the idiots at Sky and elsewhere, have not thought this one through. It makes me wonder if they are really fit to be in charge of a service such as this ?

From The Hindu

Continuing its campaign against pornography on television, the government today said it has banned transmission of four channels. The channels that were found to be violating provisions on content are - BlueKiss, BlueKiss Express, BlueKiss Promo and TBL-XXX.

... some cable operators and DTH network were reportedly transmitting satellite channels which are telecasting programmes that are against good taste and decency and likely to adversely affect public morality. The central government has prohibited their transmission, a press release said.

An order prohibiting transmission and retransmission of the television channels has been forwarded to India Broadcasting Foundation and all cable operators and MSOs, the release added.

This order has been sent to all Chief Secretaries, Director General of Police of all states and Union Territories and also district magistrates of all districts who are authorised officers to implement this decision under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995.

It is good to know that a contributor from the law industry reckons that Ofcom have no legal justification for maintaining a ban on hardcore.

Based on an article from Legal Week by Jason Chess, a partner at media and technology specialists Wiggin & Co.

The speed of technological change coupled with an uncertain regulatory regime have created opportunities and obstacles for providers of electronic content. The changes currently playing themselves out in the electronic content retail industry — companies that offer consumers films, TV, radio and web content — are truly seismic.

Not only is the entire business landscape transfiguring itself into something completely new as the result of technological change but, at the same time, a radical revision of the main regulatory code of the regulator is underway.

The availability of broadband opens the way for a viable content retail business in addition to the existing feeds from satellite, cable and a resurgent digital terrestrial offering.

The technical possibilities are one thing. Getting consumers to kit themselves out, log on and hand over credit card details to enjoy high speed connectivity is, of course, another. That is where content matters. As the pioneers of cable TV discovered, it is no good spending billions on installing advanced distribution technology between you and the viewers if you have nothing that they really want to watch. Although there are ABC1 households for whom The Blue Planet is a good enough reason, no-one is under any illusion that the really big money-spinners are pornography, gambling and sport.

In the area of pornography, the crucial business determinant of statutory regulation is currently unclear. My clients know what their customers want — and know they can provide it at a profitable rate — but the business security of an objective regulatory regime is not there yet. This represents risk — and they are already feeling the pain. The frustrating thing is that OFCOM is actually very understanding of the issues; it is just that they are taking a frightfully long time to get the new Broadcast Code agreed and issued. In the meantime, the industry labours under the rules of the old ‘legacy’ regulator, the ITC.

Taking ‘adult content’, there is a highly lucrative television market for this, currently supplied by a number of channels distributed via satellite, cable and DTT. These channels currently operate under the old ITC Programme Code, which provides that only ‘soft’ adult content may be broadcast, broadly equivalent to ‘18’-rated film content. There is guidance as to which acts and parts of the human anatomy may or may not be shown, how closely and in what circumstances.

So the OFCOM-licensed television broadcaster is placed at a massive disadvantage by this regulatory stance because ‘R18’ content (i.e. ‘hard’ adult content) may be hired from licensed sex shops and of course, is on tap on the internet. The viewer, therefore, has a choice of ‘hard’ adult content at about £2-£3 per night from the local adult shop or the web, or else a bit of (comparatively) demure slap-and-tickle from the pay-per-view menu of a television platform provider for £7 or so. It will come as no surprise that broadcasters are missing out on a major revenue stream due to a regulatory inconsistency and view this as unfair.

Consider the incongruity. The BBFC is quite happy, apparently, to trust adults to hire R18 VHS tapes or DVDs and to take responsibility for keeping their contents away from the eyes of children. This is despite the fact that these are unencrypted and can be inserted into playback machines at any time of the day or night. On the other hand, broadcasters, who only accept orders from adults possessing those credit cards only issued to the over-18s, who confine their broadcasts to the hours after 22.00, and who encrypt their services only to be unlocked by inserting a special PIN number, are limited to only showing the tamer class of content.

Neither does this irregular regulatory playing field have any convincing legal basis. The relevant European law is that nothing should be broadcast that adversely affects the moral development of minors. The protection of minors having been accomplished (by the sort of steps described above) there is (other than the obscenity laws) no restriction upon what consenting and informed adults elect to watch, as anyone who may have stumbled upon some of the late night European services will know.

OFCOM asked for input on this issue and received a variety of responses. There was opposition to the broadcast of R18 material in principle from some contributors, but the average viewer seems less concerned with clearly identified, labelled and segregated adult content confined to its own place on the navigation tools than with some of the ‘challenging’ material broadcast on some mainstream terrestrial channels. OFCOM understands this and, could it but get the new regulations issued, it is expected that this would be reflected.

OFCOM for its part struck the right note in the preamble to its draft code, "broadcasting and freedom of expression are intrinsically linked", it said. From this comes their ‘light touch’ guiding regulatory principle. This is all eminently good sense but the media industry needs OFCOM to stick to it and to get the regulations into effect promptly.

Thanks to Paul

sex.tv have indeed sold their channels to Satisfaction Channel TV.

Here is a part of a letter from the new owners.

We would like to inform You that starting from the next 1st of May 2005, our Company will own the following channels: Sex.tv, Sexgay.tv and Sexplus.tv taking over the former estate “Sunset Trading and Licensing B.V.”

Starting from the date above mentioned, the services and the card You bought is under responsibility of our Company as well as the schedules of each channels, the number of movies broadcast and the quality of the same movies.

If You have any problems or require further information, please contact the following phone number +39.081.19560159

I am a great fan of the idea of multiple channels for watching porn. If you subscribe to a single channel and there happens to be an unappealing scene on when you want to watch then it can be very boring. Much better to have a few channels to hop through. I am wondering if this may also be a massive competitive advantage to channels on Sky that may have to be PIN protected per channel making channel hopping impossibly slow

From Caledonianguy on The Melon Farmers' Forum

Is their some ‘consolidation’ in the HC Mainland European channel market at the moment?

I notice that both Satisfaction Channel TV & Sex.tv are advertising 10 channel packages, featuring some (all?) of the same channels – also, the email address given for Sex.tv is now info@sct. – have SCT taken over Sex.tv?

Also, according to lyngsat, the web address for Don’t Panic TV is www.dontpanic.tv - if you follow this link, you end up at the Spice Platinum site???

Anyone know what’s going on?

I tried to search for the proscription order on the Parliament website and can find nothing. It is a poor state of UK democracy when orders are passed that can incur severe punishment yet they are not published where the British people can find them

From Ofwatch

After further investigation with the DCMS it has now been confirmed that the service known as Extasi is officially proscribed:

Thank you for your email of 29 April. The Proscription Order for the
satellite channel known as Extasi TV was laid in both houses of parliament
on 7 February and it came into force on 21 February.

Natasha McGill (on behalf of the DCMS)

It would seem that Ofcom are a little out of touch. Perhaps they want to distance themselves from the activities of the DCMS and do not want to be seen as working too closely with them.

One is a bit stuck when a country with repressive cultural values demands that censorship comply with said cultural values. Hopefully the Turks can tune in to the more civilised Greek broadcasts.

Turkey's broadcasting watchdog banned four adult television channels Friday, saying their erotic programming flouted Turkish cultural values. The channels, Adult Channel, Exotica TV, Playboy TV and Rouge TV, are available at night via Turkey's only satellite broadcaster, Digiturk.

In a statement, the Radio and Television High Council, cited a license requirement that programming be in the public service and ... in line with the national, moral, humane, spiritual and cultural values of the Turkish people.

Full rundown of latest information about hardcore on UK satellite on Ofwatch

R18 ping pong between the Ofcom boards

The Ofcom content board and the Ofcom executive board have recently held detailed discussions over R18 broadcasting, Adult services and the Premium subscription watershed. No final decision has yet been made but a provisional decision must have been made by now. The draft code is scheduled for further discussion between the boards before it is finalised and published.

The notes and agenda from these board meetings don't usually reveal much however it is interesting to see the tense that has been used when referring to R18 content: "Under the current Broadcasting Code the transmission of such material on television was prohibited." Shouldn't that have been "is" prohibited?

Code publication update

Our latest information concerning the date of the publication for the new broadcast code is that Ofcom plans to publish it in "June". This was the view of Graham Howell (secretary to corporation) in a recent response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Unfortunately Ofcom do not consider that it is in the public interest to release the discussion papers that were the subject of debate at the recent board meetings. These papers will be published later, presumably when the code is published.

  Extasi Not Proscribed?

Paul Taverner mentioned in his interview with Tim Suter and Matt Peacock of  Ofcom

When discussing proscription orders Tim said Of course Xtasi hasn’t been proscribed, we have put the paperwork into the secretary of state, but it hasn’t yet been proscribed. I was surprised to say the least. More surprising still this was later confirmed by Matt – we have passed this to DCMS, I understand that they have begun the process from their side but that this is not complete..

I tried searching through the Hansard website and could find no mention of recent proscription orders.

A phone call to the DCMS suggested that Extasi had been proscribed but in fact this was subject to confirmation...and the confirmation hasn't been received yet.

  Sky Fazed

No suggestions yet that there will be any porn though

From What Satellite

A new TV channel aimed at gay men will launch on Sky Digital this September. Called Faze TV, it will have a £5 million programming budget and its schedule will include fashion, news, music, sport, drama serials and films. Gay channels have launched successfully in the US and France in the past 12 months, said boss David Bouchiertold. The proposition is perfect for extending the appeal of multichannel television to an important niche audience.

  DigiBox Upgrade to Block Channels

From Digital Spy

Sky have commenced downloading an upgrade to the Sky digibox software.

The update includes features like the ability to block specific channels at all times or only after 8pm (e.g. due to adult content).

Viewers will be able to tell whether their box has been upgraded or not by checking the colour of the audio icon on any one of the radio stations. If the update has taken place the icon in the Now and Next banner will be white instead of blue.

  Sex Sells On UK Satellite

Based on an article from Media Week

For most UK adult TV channels, subscriptions account for more than 90% of total revenue, but media owners want to change the mindset of advertisers. Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell may have sold its magazines but it is still very much in the sex TV market with Television X – The Fantasy Channel, Red Hot and Gay TV.

The company's managing director of TV operations, Paul Dunthorne, claims Television X has 350,000 subscribers for its three channels, but admits his team has not really bothered chasing high-profile advertising in the past. The rewards have not been great enough to make it worthwhile spending time trying to persuade agencies and clients which have made up their mind about this sector. But consumer attitudes to adult channels are changing, somaybe advertisers will respond

The Financial Times estimates that adult broadcasting in the UK is worth more than £200m, with satellite broadcasters now hosting more than 20 adult channels. Amanda Kiss, founder of the misleadingly named Xplicit XXX, says advertisers can appear on the channel for as little as £25 per 10-second spot. Like most adult broadcasters, she is reluctant to talk numbers when asked for viewing and subscription figures, but she says Xplicit's audience is split 70% men and 30% women and couples aged between 25 and 40.

Playboy TV claims it has around 100,000 people subscribing to its package of channels, including Spice and The Adult Channel. Playboy TV itself has managed to attract advertisers such as Bacardi because of the global strength of the Playboy brand. Cost per 10-second spot is around £100 while, for The Adult Channel, it is £60 between 11pm and 1.30am, falling to £27 at 3am.

Gerry Zierler, managing director of media sales house Zierler Media, which sells time on Playboy TV's channels, says the media owner is investing in a marketing campaign to promote its product to the UK advertising industry. We're trying to make this whole market respectable. These channels are licensed by Ofcom and this is a well-policed area.

Adult media owners are hoping the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, due to be published around May, will allow more hardcore (R18) sex action to be shown to boost subscriber numbers. The result of this, however, could be that mainstream advertisers distance themselves further.

From Digital Spy

There have been changes to the line up of the of the softcore Red Hot Channels on Sky Digital.

Red Hot Only 18 has moved from channel number 976 to 982 replacing Red Hot Euro. Red Hot Rears (labelled as Red Hot R in the EPG) is now available on 976.

Red Hot UK Talent on 981 has became Red Hot Climax while Red Hot Films on 983 has been renamed Red Hot Movies.

From AVN

The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has shut down porn services that were being beamed into Australia via satellite from Luxembourg and Vanuatu, Daily Variety reported today.

According to the report, the FreeXTV and Backroom feeds provided by Luxembourg-based Canal Europe Audiovisual and Sexz.TV from Vanautu-registered Magnetic Enterprises breached the license for narrowcasting TV services by broadcasting X-rated material.

The Broadcasting Act enables the ABA to enforce its licensing provisions against foreign persons who broadcast from outside the country, the report said.

Thanks to Nick

Argentinean porn channel Venus is to replace Sexy Hot, part of the TV Cabo Portuguese pay-TV package on April 1st. The package which broadcasts from Hispasat 1C/1D at 30.0°W is widely available unofficially across Europe.

From The Melon Farmers' Forum

jerky:
Has anyone else noticed the change in some of the output by Playboy. The Mating Game last night for example obvious felatio and penetration maybe the adult service providers are as fed up as us at the lack of proper guidance from ofcom we shall have to see

malcolm:
The Playboy material shown is a repeat of the first series and as far as I can tell has not been re-edited...They have at long last started repeating the stronger Sandy Provocateur series. I wonder why they have waited so long.....fear of losing another £25000 might be a reason!

Cappy:
Hey I watched some last night and I found some very very good stuff:

• TAC was iffy
• TVX was angular shots covering the insertion etc
• PBTV Mating game offered some H/C which was quite pleasent
• Private Girls drifted into H/C now and again

The material seems to have improved, only slightly mind I will watch the sandy sunday to see if it is of the same strength as when it was first transmitted

In response to the UK Government's proscription of Extasi, the channel has been shut down by SCT. It has been replaced by a channel called Ultra Plus. More details on the content of the new channel when they become available. The new channel is packaged together with SCT and Luxuria for a single subscription and viewing card.

From Ofwatch

Another tick of the Ofcom 4 season clock?

The notes of the Ofcom board's 50th meeting suggest that as we previously guessed the publication date for the new programme code has slipped from 'Spring' into 'Summer'.

The Broadcasting Code consultation raised a number of issues which will be considered in detail by the Policy Executive, Content Board and Main Board respectively, in accordance with the previously agreed work plan. The Board commented on a batch of papers covering particular sections of the Code. The full Code will be brought to the Board for approval in due course and is due to be published in early summer.

Two 24 hour hardcore satellite channels are now transmitting from EuroBird at 28.5 degrees. This is the same satellite as used by Sky Digital so Sky viewers can receive it without a change to their dish. Unfortunately it uses a different encryption system so needs a new European receiver that has a slot for a Cam (PC card reader). One would then need to purchase a Transglobal Cam (Usually about £70 and a viewing card as priced below). I think most receivers can be daisy chained together but I am not sure on the details of doing that. Perhaps a reader can help out with the details of a dual receiver setup.

Both channels are available Eurobird 12.511 GHz vertical and are encrypted in DreamCrypt (Which may be decoded by a Transglobal Cam. The annual subscription cost is 89 Euro and that will decode both channels.

In addition there is a softcore live sex channel, eUrotic TV, on the same transponder. It will be interesting to see if it is any more adventurous than UK channels as it does not have to comply with the heavy handed regulation from Ofcom

It is currently being reported on various satellite websites eg www.satcodx1.com that the recently proscribed Extasi has now changed name to Xtasi. It is a little early to say but the name change technique has been used in the past to effectively unban the channel and make the Government restart the proscription process again.

There is speculation that the increased PIN facilities and the optional removal of adult channels from the EPG may be supporting changes required by Ofcom to allow hardcore programming.

From Digital Spy

New Sky digibox software is to be released later this month according to information posted by a member of the Digital Spy forums.

The download will be rolled out to digiboxes from March 14th onwards and is thought to include the following features:

• Blocking of specific channels at all times or only after 8pm (e.g. due to adult content) by using a PIN.
• An option to highlight channels which offer audio description or subtitles.
• Subtitles able to be turned on or off from the Search And Scan Banner.
• Now and Next listings for the radio stations.
• The ability to set the interactive symbol (red dot) to automatically disappear after 30 seconds. However when viewers change channels it will reappear but only for another 30 seconds.

Another download is also scheduled for a later date but no timescale has been given. This will include slight modifications to the EPG background, a facility to remove the adult channels from the pay-per-view listings via a menu and changes to the radio area of the EPG.

It seems that an en-masse all the UK softcore channels are cancelling their live shows. This seems to be at short notice as some channels are still using live shows in their promotions. The live shows were notable for 'accidently' showing more detailed shots than are usually allowed through on the pre-editted films.

The best guess must surely be some tightening of tolerances to near zero by the rights abusers at Ofcom. As usual no transparency is afforded to the long suffering viewers and they will again be ripped off by the system that fails to provide what is promised.

The Melon Farmers recommend that no viewers should subscribe to any UK adult channel at the moment. This situation is unlikely to change until at least the summer when new content guidelines will be published

From band3 on the Melon Farmers Discussions 27-Feb-2005

Regarding cancellation of Live Shows... I see TelevisionX are cancelling theirs as well next week... Odd? I saw one episode (friend lent me a tape) it it really seemed big budget and quite professional (although not very erotic). Live studio audience, guests, interviews, competitions, film clips, adult toy demonstrations/reviews etc.
 
Some other TelevisionX programming I have been shown is VERY soft. The worst I have seen so far. I keep hearing that RedHot is televisionX "cast offs"... not from what I've seen now. More like the "harder" content is put on RedHot because they need to keep getting customers to come back with PPV whereas the poor bastards on TVX are tied in for 12mths so have to put up with the softest shite available.

From malcom  26-Feb-2005

Actually both The Adult Channel's SXTV and Spice extreme were better than Wednesday's very poor shows. If you watched enough of the show last night you will have learned that both live shows are now dead shows. Last nights effort was the last for a while.
 
Let's face it the shows may not be "erotic" or H/C as we want it to be. But they are or were the only games in town when it came to showing female anatomy. Nothing else I have seen between all three channels comes even close to being as daring.
 
How long the shows will remain off air seems unclear. The following statements were made during the shows……..
 
Angel: I need a break. some film shoots to do. we will be back with a new look in a month or two.
   
Lolly: It will be a few weeks. I don't know how long for but we will be back better than ever.
 
What goes on behind the scenes? Maybe it’s a deal with Ofcom to avoid more £25000 fines. perhaps they have been told by Ofcom to take it of the air until the new code is finalized or else pay up for going beyond what the Ofcom bully boys and girls will allow.
 
What ever the situation is some poor buggers have probably signed up for a 12 months contract on the basis of being able to see live shows and now there is none for an undefined amount of time.....Nice one PB group. Nice one...Looking after the subscribers in the usual way by implying a channel is harder than it really and enticing new subscribers to a show that will not be there after they have committed to the 12 months terms and conditions.

Thanks to all on the Melon Farmers Discussions

Ofcom and the ITC before them have continually tolerated the dishonest advertising of the UK softcore satellite channels. Considering that Ofcom are supposed to represent the consumer as well as the broadcaster they are doing a piss poor job. Channels are allowed to name themselves XXX when they are nothing of the sort. Printed adverts and on screen previews are both allowed to suggest that hardcore material is hidden behind encryption when it is not.

It has been suggested on the forum that this could easily be rectified by a cooling off period. All subscribers should be allowed to change their minds once they see what material is actually on offer. A cooling off time of say a week or even a night may be sufficient to curb the dishonest advertising. No doubt it would be acceptable to specify a small charge to avoid any misuse of the cooling off period.

Other sectors such as insurance have implemented this protection due to the high pressure selling techniques. Surely where dishonest selling techniques have become common the consumer could be afforded the same protection.

Thanks to Kit on the Melon Farmers Discussions

I've spotted that the InXWorld package (X-Dream TV & the two Free-XTV channels) have started to advertise 'Your Choice'. They are currently running an advert on the channel to encourage viewers to send videos to them (the usual 'Your Choice' advert but with 'InXWorld' in the address). I'm guessing that there must be a good chance that they will show a lot more UK-based stuff if they have tied up a deal with 'Your Choice'. This package has also recently started to show 'Relish' titles. It is certainly a welcome change from the US Anabolic-type programmes that it usually shows.

The In X World Package has ceased transmissions in North America. No explanation, no refunds, nothing. 

Thanks to Rainman on the Melon Farmers Discussions

The current published Ofcom guidelines only define the prohibition on hardcore material in terms of '18' material is acceptable, 'R18' material is not. It is therefore useful to receive specific BBFC definitions of what is 18 and what is R18.

Given that Ofcom recently fined Playboy TV such a disproportionate for breaching the guidelines then it is interesting to wonder why other transgressions are not punished for tellycore. Presumably there is an unpublished document that allows material slightly beyond the 18 guidelines provided below.

Further clarification has been received from Peter Johnson, Senior BBFC Examiner: The situation remains as follows: extreme close ups of genitalia; shots offering a view up a distended vagina or anus; clearly unassimilated shots of oral-genital or oral-anal contact (especially shots showing clear sight of contact of lips or tongue with anus, labia, clitoris, penis or scrotum); and clear sight of real, sustained masturbation are restricted to the 'R18' category and must be cut to obtain an '18'.

The shameful Broadcasting Minister Andrew McIntosh at the Department of Censorship, Media and Shite banned/proscribed  Extasi without any attempt to justify the harm that would otherwise be caused. He didn't even make any attempt to explain what material is considered for banning. Perhaps the following discussion on the Melon Farmers Discussions may shed some light

Caledoniaguy:

Perhaps this will help you decide how trustworthy Ofcom are:- Extasi is operated by the same company responsible for SCT, which, AFAIK, is the longest running of any of the current mainland European hardcore channels; this, to me at least, suggests that they are a reputable company. How likely is it that they would jeopardise their business by broadcasting illegal material? Also, given that Extasi has been broadcasting for a while now, why hasn’t the licensing Government, or any other EU member state, or EU authority taken any action against them if the channel is so bad/dangerous/illegal/in contravention of the TWF etc. As I said, how many people can actually receive Extasi? How many people have even heard of the channel?

Malcolm:

Just read on the bgafd forum from a poster: The violence on the channel is face slapping / choking / s&m / scat - all perfectly legal in the licensed country. I've watched lots of it and never seen anything morally corrupting.

Well not sure what he means by that. .If it is strangulation type scenes then that would in my eyes be unacceptable and I would agree with it's proscription on those grounds only.

As for scat it beats me why anyone would want to watch it but each to his own. Ofcom could argue a case for !harm” regarding scat. After all it is hardly the most healthy thing to do shitting over each other. Any encouragement of that could be regarded as potentially harmful health wise.

If the proscribed channel shows anything of that nature then yes it needs to go……Even if someone were just to copy it someone could die…..Another problem with the showing of violence is you cannot be sure it is not for real. You cannot know that some poor drug dependent sod hungry for a fix will do anything to pay for that fix.

I haven't given up on the acceptance of R18s on satellite in June but I guess there will now be some pretty poor, softer than soft, dross on UK adult TV until then. I can only suggest that we don't spend anything on any adult TV service that does not supply full strength hardcore. Surely the way forward is get the adult companies to go to court on behalf of our wallets and demand our right to legal hardcore. The human rights abusers at Ofcom are surely skating on thin ice and just need a shove to tip them under.

From a posting by Malcolm on the Melon Farmers Discussions

The Adult Channel  is running scared of Ofcom as they have made several cuts in the repeat of last Fridays SXTV live show. In view of what the repressive ITC mentality twats at Ofcom have done with Playboy and Playboy just rolling over and saying sorry sir I will do my 100 lines and lick your boots sir. I think we can expect the recent more liberal showings (Not that they could even be considered hardcore) to go into reverse.

We now know for sure Playboy won't be challenging Ofcom in the courts. We will have waited another 3 months at least for the Ofcom snail brigade to confirm their first conclusion that "The softcore status quo WILL remain"
 
I new something had gone wrong last Friday when on the one and a half hour Lolly show she was telling callers that they can look but she is not allowed to pull anything.

Only about two minutes of that show was worth watching. On the The Adult Channel side there were several camera angle mistakes (which have now been censored) The mistakes were very very brief. Nothing more really than has gone on in S/C shows even way back in 1999. To censor them (about a minute in total) is much ado about nothing . It just shows the influence the ITC mentality bully boys/girls have got over our supposedly free nation.

What a state of affairs, hardcore is what thousands of customers want, it is perfectly legal and yet a few crap rules from the dark ages can be still used to inflict softcore shite on the few people willing to pay for it. If Ofcom want to continue to use old rules they should at least attempt to justify their censorship as demanded by the European Convention of Human Rights. It is simple human rights rights abuse to provide no more justification than 'rules is rules guv'

Edited from a more detailed statement from Ofcom

Playboy TV UK/Benelux Limited fined £25,000 for showing R18 version material (and taking into account breaches of the Programme Code in relation to encrypted and unencrypted promotional material transmitted before 21:00)

On 1 May 2004 at 00:08, Playboy TV UK broadcast under encryption, R18 version material which is prohibited under the Code. It showed extremely graphic images of real sexual activity including close-ups of genital penetration.

The Sanctions Committee regards the admitted breaches of the Code as serious given the breaches were in relation to material that carries an absolute prohibition. The material, though not extreme in nature, was not a borderline example of what could or could not be broadcast in the UK, but a very clear breach of the relevant provisions of the Code.

Playboy TV UK admitted it was of a standard that is prohibited under the Code for transmission at any time, whether encrypted or not. According to Playboy TV UK the compliance failure was the result of human error. However, the Committee believed it also indicated a failure in Playboy TV UK’s management to institute adequate training and operational procedures necessary to avoid such breaches of the Code.

The Committee took into account as aggravating the seriousness of the Code breaches, the fact that these breaches occurred on just one of several separate occasions over a period of three days (from 30 April to 2 May 2004) when Playboy TV UK committed other breaches of the Code. On 30 April, it had broadcast images in prewatershed promotional and other material, which though encrypted, were of an 18 standard (equivalent to BBFC 18 certificate standard), in breach of the Code which provides that this material should only be broadcast after 10pm. On 2 May, Playboy TV UK also broadcast promotional material on a free to air (unencrypted) basis at 20:21 which was more explicit than would be acceptable under the Code.

The free to air material was, in particular, insufficiently protective of the interests of children. Any broadcaster licensed to transmit adult encrypted material which is restricted to subscribers but has free to air promotions, has an obligation to ensure that no sexually explicit material is shown even inadvertently in free to air promotions. For the avoidance of doubt, Ofcom wishes to make it clear that any such infringement is not to be tolerated.

Ofcom took into account as mitigating the breaches Playboy TV UK’s frank admission that it had breached the Code and the contrition it expressed and the fact that all but one of the breaches occurred under encryption. The Committee also noted Playboy TV UK’s acceptance that it was appropriate to consider a financial penalty in respect of these breaches.

So exactly what is the justification for this ban. Why is there no description of exactly what material is to be banned. Human rights demands that we know exactly what is illegal and why. It strikes me that until the Government fully justify their decision then it is Government that is breaking the law, not Extasi. Shame on Broadcasting Minister Andrew McIntosh.

The following is a Government press release

The Government is to take steps to restrict access to supposedly violent pornographic broadcasts by the satellite TV channel Extasi TV, Broadcasting Minister Andrew McIntosh announced today.

An Order has been laid to proscribe the service in the United Kingdom under section 177 of the Broadcasting Act 1990. Activities that will be banned include the supply of dedicated equipment such as decoding cards or programme material; the publication of advertisements for or information about Extasi TV, such as listings; and advertising goods or services on Extasi TV. The restrictions will come into effect on the 21st February if no objections from Parliament are received.

Extasi is a television service broadcast from outside the United Kingdom but received in this country by means of a satellite. Its programming contains frequent episodes of violent pornography.

Andrew McIntosh said: I was notified by Ofcom that the content of satellite channel Extasi TV is unacceptable and should be the subject of a proscription order. Under the requirements of the Act, I have viewed material from the channel and consider that a proscription order would be in the public interest, in particular to ensure that children are not exposed such potentially harmful material.

The proscription will come into effect 14 days after the Order is made.

Notes to Editors

1. The Order to proscribe is laid under Section 177 of the 1990 Broadcasting Act. It can be accessed at: www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/archive_2005/proscription_order.htm

2. Under section 177 of the Act, the Government can "proscribe" (i.e. declare a foreign satellite service as unacceptable) if the following conditions are met:

• Ofcom has notified the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport that it considers that the service is unacceptable;
• the Secretary of State considers that the Order would be in the public interest; and compatible with the United Kingdom's international obligations.

3. The main relevant international obligation is the EU Television Without Frontiers (TVWF) Directive.   Article 22.1 of TVWF deals with the protection of children from broadcasts that might seriously harm their physical, mental or moral development, in particular programmes that involve pornography or serious violence.   It says that such broadcasts should not be made.

4. Ofcom's and the Government's view is that Extasi TV broadcasts regularly infringe the standards set out in Article 22.1.

5. Article 2.2 of the Directive gives Member States the power to suspend retransmission of a service which "manifestly, gravely and seriously" breaches Article 22.1. Certain conditions must be met:

• the broadcaster must have been guilty of such breaches three times in twelve months;
• the Member State must have notified the European Commission and the broadcaster of its intention to suspend retransmission if such an infringement occurs again; and
• consultations with the transmitting State and the European Commission must have taken place but have failed to produce an amicable settlement after 15 days.

6. The Government is also satisfied that the Order is compatible with the ECHR.

7. Once the Order comes into effect it will become an offence under section 178 of the 1990 Act to do a range of acts in the United that would support Extasi TV, including the following:

a) supply any equipment or other goods for use in connection with the operation or day-today running of the Extasi TV service;
b) supply, or offer to supply, programme material to be included in it;
c) arrange for, or invite, any other person to supply programme material to be included in it;
d) advertise goods or services by means of Extasi TV;
e) publish the times or other details of Extasi programmes or other material calculated to promote the service;
f) supply or offer to supply any decoding equipment which is dedicated or adapted to be used primarily for the purpose of enabling the reception of Extasi TV.

Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6271
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200

Thanks to Paul at Ofwatch for keeping an eye on the Melon Farmers Discussions

Playboy circumvent Ofcom via web

Reports coming in suggest that Playboy TV are now providing streamed hardcore content via the internet at playboy tv (note, you will need to temporarily disable any popup blockers to see this). After £10 registration fee subscriptions are available for £5/night, £14.99/month or £39.99/quarter. You will need to have windows media player 9 and Internet explorer 5.5 or above installed as well as a broadband connection. The service appears to be available at 180kbs, 350kbs or 500kbs, test loops are available to ensure you will be able to receive the transmission..

Playboy tv	2 streams	softcore
adult channel	2 streams	softcore
spice extreme	2 streams	softcore
adult xxx	2 streams	hardcore R18
spice platinum	2 streams	hardcore 24 hour
Climax 3	6 streams	softcore

As Ofcom does not regulate the Internet it will have no ability to censor these webcast services.

Comments from IanG

4 channels show TV censored feeds from PBTV, Spice Extreme, TAC and Climax3. All have at least 2 channels with approx 8 hours of material. Climax3 has 6 channels in total. Spice Platinum is flagged as yet unavailable (but seems to be available See Caligula's comments below). Adult XXX has 2 channels showing 4 full length hardcore films on each channel. Video quality is good in window mode even at 256K however, even at 1MB speeds video is a bit fuzzy in full screen mode.
 
Films available on Adult XXX last night were:
 
Pink Velvet 1 & 2
Vera 1 & 2
Playteens 5
Made in Sweeden 1 & 2
A Christmas Tale

A good selection of g/g & b/g quality R18 Euro hardcore from the likes of Viv Thomas. Including 1-off registration fee and ignoring the softcore TV fodder, 8 films for £15 is not bad value for money. I do wonder just how many people could watch 12 hours of hardcore within the 24 hour subscription period though. Also, there's no control over the programmes on the 2 streams, you join the feed where it's at and so if you missed a particular programme you could have over a four hour wait for it to start again.

Overall rating: not bad, probably worth a look

Comments from caligula

I've just joined playboytvonline. Getting intermittent jerkiness but guess that's my connection. My connection is 750k so as they only stream at 500k I image its a bit pointless upgrading to 1.5meg.

Despite it saying spice platinum is not available - it actually is:) and its a 24 hour live broadcast of it and boy it shows what we SHOULD be seeing on our TV screens. Now I've paid for 3 months I'll keep it going for probably 6 months until (hopefully) hardcore is allowed on our screens. Please note it is obviously only worth getting this for the hardcore feeds as the soft stuff might as well be watched via a normal subscription.
 
I believe (reading the terms and conditions) that the 24 hour broadcast switches to live playboy/adult channel etc in line with what is on TV at the appropriate time. Spice Platinum for instance broadcasts 24 hours so a continuous live feed is being shown on that.
 
Apart from the intermittent jerkiness - £13.00 per month is pretty good value for all these channels even if it is via the computer. By the way - my subscription is a quarterly one so you can indeed subscribe quarterly as I have done, which is much better than a £5 per night fee. Downside is that you can only choose "window" or "full screen". Full screen is too fuzzy and window is really too small - it won't let you use window media player the conventional way so you cannot resize. Sitting in the armchair about 5ft from pc (20 inch monitor) I would say the quality is akin to VHS rather than DVD.

Because the above all show 24 hour this is just recorded stuff rather than what is transmitted at the same time on tv. I checked playboy at 8.00 pm bearing in mind it normally starts on TV at 8 but they are still showing taped stuff (i.e. not what is on playboy tv at the mo). Reading their terms indicates that all these channels show live (i.e. broadcast what is being broadcast on tv at the same time) so it could just be that they switch them all at 10.00 pm.
 
Adult xxx is all R18 strength films on 2 feeds. The best of the bunch - Spice Platinum is a live 24 hour feed showing exactly what is scheduled on the spice platinum website - in other words all hardcore - your viewing the channel as broadcast live. There is a second feed of Spice Platinum showing previously shown stuff.
 
I would prefer these channels on my TV, but I have a very powerful pc and good broadband connection so am getting them as best as can be from the pc. I very much hope we'll all be able to watch Spice Platinum without having a special satellite dish to do so in the near future.

Playboy TV have issued the following press release to start up a video on demand service (with very limited availability). Now Video on Demand is not regulated by Ofcom so theoretically could now be a hardcore service. I have now confirmed with Playboy TV that the content will be at the same level as material broadcast on existing satellite and cable services.

Playboy TV is the exclusive supplier of adult Video on Demand content to ntl

Playboy TV UK, a leading provider of high-quality, adult entertainment programming, and ntl, the UK’s largest cable company, have concluded a long-term distribution agreement for Playboy TV to be the exclusive adult Video On Demand (VOD) content provider carried on ntl's new VOD service, ntl On Demand. The new VOD service launched on 18 January in Glasgow and will be followed by regional roll out across the UK.

In this ground breaking partnership, Playboy TV UK will use ntl’s VOD platform to offer its 1.4 million digital cable viewers access to high-quality adult films and programmes on an ‘on-demand’ basis. And, because the content is ‘on-demand’, viewers can pause, stop, fast-forward and rewind - just as they would with a normal video player.

Commenting on the deal, Jeremy Yates, Managing Director, Playboy TV UK said: “We are very excited to be part of this latest development in the UK digital TV market which keeps Playboy TV at the forefront of content delivery solutions.”

“With one of the most diverse libraries, we are perfectly positioned for the VOD market and can finally offer the consumer the ability to take control of what they want to watch when they want to watch.”

“With the ability to cater for every niche, the VOD service will grow the viewership outside of the customer base for the linear channels and attract those who wish just to watch their preferred programmes."

Over 50 hours of content from Playboy will be available on demand at launch. The number of programming hours will grow as the service evolves.

David Thatcher, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing, at ntl said: “ntl On Demand is an exclusive service for our digital TV customers and is another example of where we are adding choice and value. Playboy TV is a world famous brand and we welcome them to the new service.”

Playboy TV UK will continue to offer on ntl three premium channels, Playboy TV, Adult Channel, and Spice Extreme in addition to the new VOD service.

About Playboy TV UK

Under the banner of Playboy TV International, Playboy TV UK, The Adult Channel, Spice Extreme and Climax3 are among the biggest and most popular adult entertainment television networks in the UK. Available on Sky Digital, ntl and Telewest platforms, the channels are available as encrypted premium services on a monthly subscription and Pay Per Night basis.

About Playboy TV International

Playboy TV International, wholly owned by Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (PEGI), a division of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA), develops and operates quality adult entertainment television networks worldwide under the Playboy TV and Spice brands. PTVI has full ownership of the Playboy network, The Adult Channel, and Spice in the United Kingdom and Europe as well as an equity interest in Playboy TV Japan, Channel Ruby and Playboy TV Latin America & Iberia. Playboy TV International is headquartered in Los Angeles with major presence in key European and Asian markets. Under strategic alliances with leading international partners, PTVI operates branded networks in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, South Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Scandinavia, and Turkey.

It looks like we will have to wait for resolution of the issue of R18s on satellite & cable. It will be interesting to see what the adult channels serve up in the meantime.

From the Ofcom website

It is anticipated that the Ofcom Broadcasting Code will be published  around the end of May 2005. This is due to the large number of responses received and the considerable number of points made by respondents.

Perhaps the UK's adult channels should now consider suing Ofcom for loss of earnings. Ofcom are prolonging unnecessary censorship without justification. On a more cynical political note, I wonder if 'late spring' means the day after the election.

From www.ofwatch.org.uk

The publication of the new broadcasting code has been delayed by four months.

As many of you will be aware Ofcom had previously publicly stated that it expected to publish it's new broadcasting code at the end of January. With just two weeks left Ofwatch decided to ask exactly when publication might be expected to take place. The harrowing response from Fran O'Brien of Ofcom's content and standards group on Sunday afternoon was "late spring"! In my book this means May, although it is conceivable that this could refer to Late April or even early June.

It would appear that the large quantity of replies that Ofcom received to the standards consultation last year has raised many "interesting points" that need to be considered. No doubt the response made by the BBC (see news item from 4th October last year) has provided many of them. Perhaps the regulators have finally realised that they have a tiger by the tail with this new code and are in no hurry to let go of it.

Ms O'Brien also stated that not all of the decisions had been taken yet regarding the code. Whether this indecision extended to the question of R18 broadcasting or not was not specified, but as the majority of the responses to the consultation concentrated on this topic it would seem likely. Judging by the agenda items and notes published on Ofcom's website it is quite clear that a considerable amount of discussion has already taken place within both the content board and the executive board. The fact that another 4 months are now required to sort it out may indicate that there has been some significant internal disagreement.

More on www.ofwatch.org.uk

I've just heard on the grapevine that The Adult Channel/Playboy/Spice are busy investing thousands setting up a system for a March/April hardcore switch.  The buzz is that they wouldn't spend the money on hope alone.

We have been focusing on the 'will they'/'wont they' issues but there are plenty of interesting issues to think about if it is really imminent. I am wondering if there will be any chance to subscribe via satellite without going through $ky? Will there be any chance of Top Up TV picking up a mega marketing opportunity? Will the multitude of channels be available on cable?

From Melon Farmers Discussions

Bazza 28.12.04

Private Gold FTA at 1W
 
A new channel package is testing over at 1W on 12245H 2800 7/8 and at present all channels are FTA, this includes "Private Gold" which starts at 11:00pm GMT. It wont last long so have a look while you can.