Don't Panic TV
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Don't Panic TV was an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
-operated,
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
-owned pornographic channel that existed between 2002 and 2004. The channel broadcast pornographic movies, mostly of European production, over satellite. It was also broadcast over Africa, especially
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, where the channel was at the center of a large-scale controversy.


History

Don't Panic was set up by a British company (Media Satellite) and was already available in a handful of European countries. The channel was founded in July 2002 and started broadcasting on November 1, 2002. The channel was multilingual, having several language tracks available. Due to a loophole, the channel was made available in South Africa from January 2003 (as the first such channel available in the country) by means of a subscription smartcard costing R2000 (US$250 at the time of its launch). Shortly after broadcasts to South Africa began, the channel was already into hot water over the nature of its content - pornographic movies that are normally banned in South Africa - hot off the heels of debates regarding pornographic content on South African television, as
e.tv e.tv (commonly referred to on-air as e) is the first and only privately owned free-to-air television station in South Africa. Founded in 1998, the company is headquartered in Cape Town. It is the fifth terrestrial television channel in the ...
had already broadcast softcore
Emmanuelle Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the protagonist in the novel of the same name, by Emmanuelle Arsan, written in 1959 and published in 1967. Emmanuelle originated as the pen name ''Emmanuelle Arsan' ...
movies, which paled in contrast to the hardcore movies broadcast by the Italian network. Bill Carne, an agent of the British owners of the network, wanted to sell 1,000 smartcards to receive the channel. Don't Panic TV was treated in South Africa as a "foreign satellite television service" under the grounds that ICASA didn't register the channel in South Africa. Smartcards were also given to ensure that access to under-18s was restricted. Local regulators, as soon as they became aware of the situation of the channel, said that they didn't have the power to control these broadcasts. Multichoice, on its part, was concerned that its DStv decoders were being used for such smartcards carrying its content and had already launched an investigation into the affair. Multichoice opted to distance itself from the channel. Authorities quickly (by early March 2003) reacted, demanding Don't Panic TV withdraw from the South African market. Stanley Mamaregane of ICASA demanded that broadcasters without a license to operate in the country should be withdrawn. Two more adult channels were also scheduled to broadcast to the country by the end of the year. George Horn from
Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...
, holder of the distribution of smartcards in the country, claimed that ICASA's argument was "unfounded".


Programming

Using the Irdeto encryption method, Don't Panic TV broadcast pornographic movies from renowned production companies such as Pinko and Trading, as well as interviews with porn actors and actresses. The channel broadcast three movies a day, repeated throughout the day to make a 24-hour cycle. Most of the feature films broadcast by Don't Panic were in English or Italian, and were mostly of Italian production.


References

{{reflist Television channels and stations established in 2002 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2004 Pornographic television channels Nudity in television Television pornography