Advanced Television

Playboy TV hit with £110,000 fine

November 21, 2011

By Chris Forrester

A channel owned by Playboy TV has been fined a total of £60,000 for “serious” breaches of UK television regulations by Ofcom. Other Playboy-owned channels were fined a total of £50,000 for the same breaches.

The channels are Red Light 1 (owned and operated by Just4Us TV Limited, a Playboy TV subsidiary) and Red Light 2 and Red Light 3 which are owned and operated by Playboy UK TV Limited/Benelux Ltd (“Playboy TV”). The Ofcom breaches cover ten “adult chat” advertisements broadcast by Just4Us and Playboy TV.

The channels ran foul of the UK’s Code of Broadcasting Advertising rules, in particular: “Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards,” and “Relevant timing restrictions must be applied to advertisements that, through their content, might harm or distress children of particular ages or that are otherwise unsuitable for them.”

Ofcom highlighted various on-air breaches which, it said, showed material that should not have been broadcast within the context of the channel’s licenses and were within the ‘adult chat’ sector.

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