Adult chat television channels and programs[1] [2] [3] (also known as babe channels[4] or babeshows[5]) are a format of phone-in live television programming that has developed in Europe since 2002, often having elements similar to webcam modelling and softcore pornography.
Adult chat channels were noted in Screen as "challenges to conventional notions" of television[1] [6] – viewers can make premium-rate phone calls to the channel's presenters, but the calls are not heard on screen during the program. Thus, the channels' format and content is openly influenced by the pursuit of revenue, "pay-to-participate", without the traditional "audience subscription, advertising or sponsorship".[1]
Broadcast live from a studio, the shows usually feature female presenters advertising a phone sex line or chat line, speaking on the phone, promoting extra online content and photos,[7] or responding to viewers' online messages, text messages and photos.[8]
Many adult chat programs have been established in mainland Europe (mainly on Hot Bird) and in the United Kingdom (mainly on Sky) since the beginning of SexySat TV and Babestation in 2002. These programs and channels mainly aim for profits drawn from phone calls, at the expense of production values, which are rarely high. The presenters of the shows are often glamour models, fetish models or porn stars, and have included Cathy Barry and Dani Thompson.
Some eventual channels began as shorter shows on unrelated TV stations; for example, Babestation was initially a 2-hour phone-in on Game Network. Some babe channels broadcast for part of the day, and some for 24 hours a day. A typical night show, when content is more sexually explicit, may run from 9pm or 10pm until 5.30am (in the UK).[7] Many of the same channels also run daytime shows. Adult chat companies have also operated various extra online streams and web shows.
While television usually "address[es] itself to an overhearing audience",[1] babe channels were noted in Screen as "challenges to conventional notions" of television"[1] due to their novel format, which prioritises revenue from phone calls that are seen but unheard in the broadcast. As well as this, Stephanie Marriott identified the channels' promise of a "fully bilateral engagement" with the host as an unusual idea in television.[1] De Montfort University professor of film studies, I.Q. Hunter, names adult chat television as representative of how "commercialised erotic representation" changed radically in the digital age.[9]
The rise of adult chat was linked to that of similar "participation television" programs, quiz, psychic and dating channels in the early 21st century.[1] An independent Ofcom report highlighted the contradiction in the nature of the channels: "'Babe' TV was treated as 'advertising' by non-viewers but among viewers it was felt to provide engaging programming that could be enjoyed without calling in."[10] According to viewers, "All respondents implied that the purpose of watching or calling 'Babe' channels was normally sexual gratification, although the channels were also seen as entertaining or amusing."[10]
Photographer Bronia Stewart spoke of the good relationship between presenters and producers,[11] after a nine-month photography project at Babestation as part of the 2013 art exhibition, FreshFaced + WildEyed. She said she was surprised that the hosts' motivation was less about fame and "more about a working life. So while some of them had 20,000 followers on Twitter, it was about being able to provide for their family and earn good money."[12] Stewart also described babe channels as sympomatic of the media's sexualisation of women,[12] and said many of the presenters have changed their bodies seeking to become "the perceived ideal woman".[12]
Among the presenters working on the channels, Rebecca Emslie talked about the shows' environment: "To be honest I really didn't find it competitive at all. I think every channel I have worked for had their favourites but we all used to get along it wasn't bitchy or anything like that! It was a relaxed, fun environment."[5]
Sports broadcaster and writer Amy Christophers said the channels, where she used to present, contributed to many men's unrealistic expectations about women.[13] Former producer Kathryn Vinclaire said the channels were not as she had expected: "It was a world entirely led by the girls on camera, and they were always in complete control."[14] A former office runner on a babeshow said he wouldn't recommend that job as a way of starting out in TV.[15]
In the UK, Ofcom classes TV programs that encourage viewers to call presenters live on a premium rate telephone number as advertisements. 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.[16]
Adult chat channels have periodically been fined or punished by regulators. In 2006, ICSTIS fined a variety of daytime chat line service providers for breaches of phone line regulations.[17]
In 2008 in Austria, Eurotic TV parent company Franz Ressl Handels GmbH was criticised by the KOA regulator for broadcasting nudity on its daytime programs.[18]
In 2010, Bang Media were fined £157,250 by Ofcom for screening "inappropriate explicit material" with "manifest recklessness" in the UK.[7]
In 2013, the UK Babestation switched to a channel license in the Netherlands, which led Ofcom to make a formal complaint to the Dutch regulator.[7]
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 format established later in Europe, where the focus is more on the phone calls, and profit made from them.
In the UK:
Outside the UK:
Eurotic TV, a channel operating under an Austrian licence on Astra and Hotbird, had been allowed to broadcast large amounts of female nudity, softcore porn and moderate sexual content with female models from 2004 to 2009. Regulations forced the channel to remove nudity from its daytime shows in May 2009. Thereafter the adult program began at 11 pm CET and lasted until 3 am.[34] The channel closed in 2016.[35]
During the daytime, most Sky adult channels broadcast "chat line" or "date line" programs, where viewers can call female presenters, still at the premium rate, but rarely including sexual content or conversation so they cannot be classed as "sex lines". As of 2019, many daytime programs featured extra online camera angles. The presenters are sometimes the same as on nighttime sex lines; some made the 'transition' from daytime to nighttime.
During the 2010s, the 8–9 pm hour (before the watershed) featured fewer phone-ins on the adult channels.
| Channel | Show title | Format | |
| Extra (Nine Network) | Babe TV: Live | On air in 2012.[36] [37] Included UK adult chat presenters Karina Currie and Sasperella as hosts |
| Channel | Satellite | Format | |
| Eurotic TV | Astra 1H Hot Bird 3 Hot Bird 6 | Founded 2004, confirmed as on air early 2005. Included explicit daytime programs until 2009. Initially founded to promote the INXTC television service. Broadcast from 2005 to 2016 |
| Channel | Show title | Format | |
| TV Terra Viva (Band Internacional) | Babestation Brasil | On air in 2012 and 2013 | |
| TV Terra Viva, Programa 41 | Azaração Sexy | On air July–August 2014[38] With Babestation Brasil host Gabi Levinnt[39] |
| Channel | Satellite | Format | |
| SexySat TV | Astra 1H Hot Bird 3 Hot Bird 6 | The first adult chat channel in mainland Europe Founded in December 2002 | |
| FullX4Free / ALLOVE TV | Hot Bird 3 | Broadcast from Czech Republic via transmitter in Netherlands Established Feb 2006; changed name Nov 2007. Ended in (European) autumn 2008 |
| Channel | Show title | Format | |
| Canal Star (Canal 160)[40] | Sex Station (France) | Began broadcasting (from London?) February 2006 Had a Dailymotion videos page https://web.archive.org/web/20070929174135/http://www.dailymotion.com/sex_station No longer running |
| Channel | Satellite | Format | |
| Red Lips TV | Internet[41] 3A TV (Astra 1H),[42] DHD24[43] | Broadcast first on internet, and occasionally TV Features some former Eurotic TV models | |
| Babestation24 | Astra 1N, Astra 1M | Began in 2011 based in Switzerland.[44] Became a standalone channel in 2013[45] |
| Channel | Satellite | Format | |
| SexyChannel TV | Hot Bird | Broadcast 2006–2007, replaced by Eros Live recorded shows[46] | |
| Sensuality TV | Hot Bird | Started in 2006, broadcasting 14:00–03:00. Now defunct[47] | |
| Diva Futura Diva Futura Plus | Hot Bird | Company has existed since 1983[48] Founded by Ilona Staller & Riccardo Schicchi[49] Original channel began August 2004 Diva Futura Plus began September 1, 2006[50] |
Defunct:
| Channel | Satellite | Format | |
| SexySat TV | Hot Bird | December 2002 – 4 August 2004 Moved to Prague | |
| FullX4Free / ALLOVE TV | Hot Bird 3 | Broadcast from Czech Republic via transmitter in Netherlands Established Feb 2006; changed name Nov 2007. Ended in (European) autumn 2008 |
Some channels have included (past or present):
| Channel (no.) | Show title | Format | |
| Adult Channel (901) | Chat Girl TV | 6am-10pm, 3 or 4 girls rotating, presenting varied sets with themes | |
| Babestation (906) | Babestation | 1 or 2 girls rotating, presenting Split-screen | |
| Friendly TV (907) | Bang Babes | As Babestation | |
| Babeworld TV (908) Babeworld XXXtra (949) | Babeworld | 3 or 4 girls presenting All on same bed | |
| Get Lucky TV (909) | Babestation 2 | As Babestation | |
| Lucky Star (910) | Sex Station (formerly LiveXXX) | 2 or 3 girls taking calls on same bed Rotating with XXX 4 U Sometimes features "strips" if enough viewers text | |
| Tease Me (912) Tease Me 2 (948) | Bangbabes | 2 girls taking calls on same bed | |
| Television X4 (913) Dirty Talk (964) | TVX Callgirls | 2 girls taking calls on same bed | |
| Over 18 TV (914) | Hotel Voyeur (formerly McQueen's Angels) | 4 girls taking calls on same bed | |
| sportXXXbabes (918) Northern Birds (954) | Live & European | 2 or 3 girls taking calls Formerly featured sex (pixelised) and was encrypted at 0:00 | |
| Live XXX Babes (950) Blue Kiss TV (951) The Other Side (952) Babe Central (953) Essex Babes (955) | Live XXX Babes, Real Wives Live, etc. | Female presenters taking calls | |
| HappyHourGirlsTV (956) | Happy Hour Girls | ||
| Studio 66 TV (912, 940, 941) | Studio 66 Nights |
On Freeview:
| Channel | Show title | Format | |
| Smile TV2 (94) | Babestation | "TV dating/chat line", runs 0:00–5:00 Features non-sexual content Viewers can talk to presenter(s) Previously, callers apparently arranged dates | |
| Smile TV3 (95) | Partyland Live | "TV dating/chat line", runs 01:00–5:30 Features non-sexual content Viewers can talk to presenter(s) | |
| Babestation (96) | Partyland Live | "TV dating/chat line", runs 01:00–5:30 Features non-sexual content Viewers can talk to presenter(s) | |
| Partyland (97) | Partyland Live | "TV dating/chat line", runs 01:00–5:30 Features non-sexual content Viewers can talk to presenter(s) | |
| Bang Babes (98) | "TV dating/chat line", runs 03:00–09:00 features non-sexual content viewers can talk to presenter(s) |
Daytime chat lines:
| Channel (no.) | Show title | |
| Get Lucky TV (909) | Babestation Daytime | |
| Babestation (906) | Masti Chat | |
| Northern Birds (954) Essex Babes (955) SportxxxGirls (967) | Bluebird TV | |
| Studio 66 TV (912, 940, 941) | Studio 66 Days | |
| Lucky Star (910) | Cheeky Telly TV | |
| Storm (966) | Storm Daytime | |
| xxXPanded TV (931) | FlirtxChange | |
| Red Light TV (911, 948, 950) | Red Light Lounge | |
| Playboy TV Chat (902) | Playboy TV Chat |
| Channel (no.) | Show title | When active | Format | |
| Motors TV (now 413) | Fast Girls | 2003 | Operated from same studio as Babestation 2 girls took calls, 1 presented Split-screen (plus text-messages) | |
| Television X 3 (905) | TVX Callgirls Live (first incarnation) | 2006 | 2 girls took calls, 2 presented Featured 1 male presenter on Fridays After 23:10 encryption, they had sex Still exists on encrypted Television X (as TVX Callgirls) | |
| Gay TV (940) | 2005–06 | 2 male hosts presented and took calls Encrypted at 22:00 | ||
| Adult Channel (901) Spice Extreme (902) | SX:TV Live | 2003–? | On encrypted channels Featuring already-famous porn stars (usually all girls) More explicit content, Released on DVD as SXTV Live Volume 1 | |
| You TV 2[51] (913) | XXX 4 U | 2006–07 | 1 girl from Sex Station taking calls Not to be confused with DVD retailer XXX4U | |
| You TV 2 Extra (914) | XXX 4 U | 2006–07 | Always simulcast with You TV 2 The channel no longer exists | |
| Babestar+ (960) | Babestar XXX | c 2006–07 | 2 girls taking calls on same bed | |
| House of Fun TV (949) | Just Girly, Boys Next Door | c 2007–08 | 2 or 3 presenters (all female or all male) taking calls Also featured sex and masturbation (pixelised) |