Televised sex line

The televised sex line (also described as babe shows/channels) is a style of pornographic television programming that has developed in Europe since 2001. Broadcast live from a studio, the shows usually feature female presenters advertising a phone sex line at a premium rate, through which callers can also see the woman they are talking to on the screen. Viewers can rarely hear the phone conversations, although some programmes have presenters talking, unscripted, to the camera, and responding to viewers' text messages and camera phone photos.

Many almost-identical programmes have established themselves in Europe (mainly on Hot Bird) since 2001, and in the United Kingdom (mainly on Sky) since the beginning of Babestation in 2002. These mainly aim for profits, at the expense of production values, which are rarely high. The presenters of shows are often glamour models, fetish models or porn stars, and have included Lexi Lowe, Lolly Badcock, Cathy Barry, Michelle Moist, Bexsi CW, Dani Thompson, Alice Goodwin, Paige Green, Lucy Summers, Letesha Collins, Sammi-Jo Wilson, Darcy Palmer, Ashley Emma, Tori Lee and Sophia Knight.

In the UK Ofcom classes TV programs which encourage viewers to call presenters live on a premium rate telephone number as advertisements and the regulations applicable to advertisements apply to these channels rather than the rules for editorial content. This restricts what may be said and shown on-air on unencrypted channels more stringently than if the content were a normal program. However regulation of adult TV channels has not been devolved to the Advertising Standards Authority. Ofcom regulates these channels directly.

In the US, Playboy TV started Night Calls, a phone-in show where viewers could 'direct' the presenters (all female porn stars) in sexual acts on the air. However, this was not quite the same format as the one currently used in Europe, where the focus is more on the phone calls, and profit made from them.

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