TopTV promises African porn "commissioned in Africa" for the separate porn bouquet the South African pay-TV operator wants to start. TopTV has to appear before South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) in a public hearing which anyone can attend, starting at 09:00 on Thursday, 14 March at Icasa's head office in Katherine Street in Sandton.
The struggling TopTV, currently under business rescue according to the Companies Act, wants to introduce pornographic TV channels in South Africa exactly a year after South Africa's broadcasting regulator denied TopTV's first application.
TopTV's first try and the second porn again plan a year later has met with public resistance which has dented TopTV's public image and inflicted reputational damage on the struggling pay-TV operator's brand. TopTV is also looking for investors to save it with a much-needed cash injection to recapitalise the ailing operation.
In its application to the regulator, TopTV's CEO Eddie Mbalo says "our ability to offer certain of our subscribers the channels that form the subject of this application, would help greatly in our attempts to take the business to a sustainable future."
TopTV plans to talk tomorrow in its presentation, something which TopTV refused to do in its public hearing a year ago, after which Icasa also denied the "authorisation for channels".
TopTV wants to broadcast the three TV channels - Playboy TV, Desire TV and Private Spice - as a separate bouquet and with a rating classification of R18. The channels are provided to TopTV by Playboy TV UK / Benelux Limited in England and are uplinked through SES Platform Services in Munich, Germany to South Africa.
On Thursday, TopTV will have half an hour from 09:30 to make its case for porn broadcasting.
TopTV is proposing a double PIN system for its separate bouquet of sex channels but all TopTV subscribers will be able to see and have access to the trio of titillating channels on TopTV's on-screen electronic programme guide (EPG) in terms of show names and programme synopses. TopTV says the EPG information will be "watered down".
In its application TopTV says the Desire TV channel will have content from several porn studios "with new productions commissioned in Africa".
The broadcasting of pornography on television is South Africa is illegal. The South African Film and Publication Board (FPB) tells me that the overall commitment should remain to "protect children from such content and not to have minors exposed to such material. We believe this type of distribution [through television] has the potential to expose children prematurely to adult content."
With pornographic content as such, people have the right to view such content, but it can only be distributed by licensed distributors at specific businesses and the law still applies in that regard."
