African viewers are getting much more access than ever before to more sex, more nudity, and more heavily sexuality-centred programming on screen - largely stemming from decisions made by South African broadcasters and TV executives, pay-TV broadcasters and pay-TV operators alike and which are impacting the rest of the African continent.
With the rapid expansion of not just the number of available TV channels, but also edgier scheduling and more risque acquisition and programming decisions - combined with an ever increasing drive towards more nudity, sex and sexuality-infused commissioning when it comes to TV content, African audiences are seeing more sex and previous clothed body parts on TV than ever before.
The increase in the on-screen baring of flesh and sex stories come at the same time as other African nations, ranging from countries such as Nigeria to Kenya, are now wondering whether pornographic television channels are next for them too.
This follows the South African broadcasting regulator's decision to grant the pay-TV operator TopTV - bailed out by StarTimes which is also operating elsewhere in Africa - permission to start a new porn bouquet of sex channels.
South Africa's TV channels - ranging from the public broadcaster SABC's three TV channels to the commercial TV station e.tv - are widely seen in other African countries; the content - although watched illegally, deemed more alluring to viewers than what local broadcasters are offering.
South Africa's pay-TV broadcaster M-Net has also significantly grown its collection of channels beamed to an African audience on DStv, MultiChoice's satellite pay-TV platform. All of this together is creating a rapidly expanding stream of heightened, sexy television now pumped to African audiences on a level unthinkable even five years ago.
As e.tv bares the boobs in softcore erotic shows such as Bikini Babes and Playboy Playmates complete with raunchy ads for cellphone services, viewers in homofobic Uganda together with continental viewers across Africa recently saw the bisexual hero in the nudity-filled new TV drama Da Vinci's Demons stand trial for sodomy on FOX. MultiChoice recently added the TV channel to DStv which is supplied by Fox International Channels Africa (FIC Africa).
A programming choice like that, scheduled, and seen on a general entertainment TV channel across Africa, would have been unimaginable even just a few years ago for the African continent where much more conservative TV markets force broadcasters and programmers to be extremely careful and sensitive not to offend African viewers' sensibilities.
M-Net meanwhile continues adding more nudity and sex filled shows such as Game of Thones and True Blood to schedules - imported American "cable television" fare in which the "S" and "N" are a big part of the lure of the more risque programming.
African viewers now also got the chance to sign up for a service called Big Brother Africa VIP at www.bigbrotherafrica.dstv.com as part of the latest Big Brother Africa season entitled Big Brother The Chase.
Viewers can watch housemates like Pokello Nare (a contestant complete with her own sex tape and nicknamed "Pornello") shower naked in the Johannesburg-based reality series from M-Net Africa. M-Net touted last week that Big Brother The Chase which started a few weeks ago already got 1,5 million online video views and 30 million page views online.
Meanwhile SABC1's daring gay drama, After Nine will return for a 13-episode second season in August and e.tv starts a new season of eKasi: Our Stories in July. The series of romantic boundary-pushing tales revolving around sex is also broadcast on e.tv's pan-African TV channel.
The world of high-class prostitutes forms a big part of the plot in the Mzansi Magic's new drama series Rockville starting Wednesday on the M-Net supplied channel. Also note the influx of imported South American telenovelas with sexy scenes making their way onto schedules ranging from public television to pay-TV channels.
Don't forget Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) showing hard-hitting dramas across the continent such as Shuga: Love, Sex, Money and Underemployed to a youth audience on MTV Base - its Africa-centric entertainment channel. It's all just a few examples of what African viewers are seeing now and fast expanding the normative definition of what is allowable, acceptable and permissable when it comes to programming for Africa.
Boundary pushing television across Africa is also continuing. M-Net is ready to show the shocking second season episode of the sex drama Girls entitled "On All Fours" on the M-Net channel from Botswana to Zambia towards the end of July.
The episode in question involves a visually jarring incident with sperm which prompted American commentators and publications there earlier in the year to ask whether the scene in the episode represents a new low for television and if the production has "gone too far" with what was depicted on television.
The National Geographic Channel meanwhile is busy at the moment with its own African and South Africa first involving sex television. The channel is filming a sex documentary episode in South Africa which will also be seen across the continent for the boundary pushing series Taboo.
The episode of the Taboo documentary series revolves around "three fascinating transgender individuals". "As the African market continues to expand, we are pleased to offer uniquely relevant stories from the continent to our viewers," says National Geographic Channels in a statement.
Pay-TV operator StarTimes has meanwhile had to squash fears that sex television will come to the rest of Africa, following the approval for TopTV in South Africa to add Desire TV, Private Spice and Playboy TV as pornographic channels in a new separate porn bouquet. StarTimes has a shareholding interest in TopTV.
Following fears of porn TV now spawning through StarTimes in the rest of Africa, StarTimes said the company has no such plans.
So far there's been little discernible push-back from viewers across the continent on the steadily rising levels of sex and nudity programming beamed across Africa and which is being influenced largely by decisions taken within the South African TV industry and which impacts the entire continent.
