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.
DStv,
the South African satellite pay-TV is considering broadcasting
pornography in one if its channels or creating a new channel, Die Burger
newspaper reports. 
If
DSTV went ahead with plans for a channel featuring pornographic content,
it would be like pouring fuel on the fires of sexual abuse and
exploitation, the Christian Action Network have claimed.
IMinister
of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities Noluthando
Mayende-Sibiya said she would fight the launch of a DSTV pornography
channel. 