No porn for South Africa’s TopTV

South Africa’s Independent Communications Authority (ICASA) has turned down Top TV’s application to launch three adult entertainment channels.

In a written statement to On Digital Media (ODM), owners of TopTV, the authority said that “after careful consideration” they are refusing ODM’s application for the authorisation of the adult channels Playboy Europe, Private Spice and Adult XXX.

“The authority will furnish ODM with the reasons for the decision within 30 working days from 20 January 2012,” the letter states, according to local press.

TopTV’s application to launch the three channels from UK-based Playboy TV/Benelux in September sparked a lot of controversy in the country. A number of organisations and individuals opposed the planned launch of the satellite platform’s stand-alone porn package.

TopTV is competing with MultiChoice’s DStv satellite platform and was hoping to gain an advantage by offering adult channels. Until now, DStv has refrained from broadcasting porn channels, citing pubic opposition against such content.

Broadband TV Views. TopTV no doubt will continue to fight ICASA’s decision to ban the broadcasting of adult channels. The platform stressed that by selling the three channels as an a la carte bouquet people will not unintentionally be confronted with porn. They will only have access to such content when they make an active decision to subscribe.

From a European perspective, the ICASA decision doesn’t make sense; South Africans have access to the internet and people with an appetite for such content will no doubt find their way to it. In Europe and the US, this is already much more of a threat to traditional porn channels than regulatory intervention.

The matter reminds me of the times when MultiChoice acquired the FilmNet business from the Swedish Esselte group. The channel was broadcasting to Scandinavia and the Benelux countries.

One of the first programming decisions the new owners made was to remove the late night adult programming on the channel. As a result, subscribers massively cancelled their subscriptions. It turned out that the two (!) weekly porn movies were a secret persuader. It took quite some time to repair the situation.

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