I can break the news that TopTV's application to start broadcasting pornographic TV channels in South Africa as a separate new bouquet has massively shattered another local TV industry record by provoking a record number of responses from the public and the industry to the South Africa's broadcasting regulator - in excess of 285 submissions have been received.
Never before have the South African public, organisations and the TV industry responsed en masse in such huge numbers to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to a "authorisation for channels" request from a TV platform.
Icasa now has to decide when a public hearing will take place which the industry and the public are always free to attend.
On Digital Media (ODM) which runs the struggling TopTV service in South Africa, backed out of its own public hearing at the beginning of 2012 when it filed a similar authorisation for a porn bouquet. Icasa officials were not able to put questions to TopTV executives about its porn bouquet and encryption plans and the application was eventually denied.
TopTV suffered reputational brand damage in the resultant public outcry due to the controversial application and investors threatened to pull out. Shortly after the application was denied, TopTV's CEO Vino Govender was suddenly out and Eddie Mbalo took over as the new interim CEO at the pay-TV operator.
A year later TopTV applied again to Icasa to run three 24 hour pornographic TV channels - Playboy TV, Desire TV and Private Spice - as a separate bouquet with a separate subscription.
The porn bouquet will have a double PIN. The planned porn bouquet's channels will be blocked to ordinary TopTV subscribers although the text of the channels' individual and edited programme descriptions will show up on all subscriber's electronic programme guides (EPG). The porn channels will all have a restriction of R18 - the highest possible classification.
TopTV said that the porn bouquet application, if successful, would on its own not be enough to save the company which is currently in business rescue and looking for partners who can fund a capital injection into the Woodmead based pay-TV operation.
Icasa confirms that the regulator received 285 submissions about TopTV's porn plans. "We are currently analysing all the submissions," says Icasa.
South Africa's broadcasting regulations, similar to countries such as India, do not allow for pornographic channels to be shown on the service of pay-TV operators. According to the Film and Publication Board (FPB) the law allows people seeking pornography to go and buy it at shops and specific outlets where strict regulations apply.
Application for authorisation requests for new TV channels in South Africa are usually tediously boring and merely routine administrative processes. The massive response from South African society which TopTV's second try at potential porn broadcasting has provoked, makes this application however anything but routine.
