UK – from www.guardian.co.uk- Playboy TV has been fined £110,000 by Ofcom for broadcasting a series of television ads for its adult sex chat services featuring female “presenters” enticing viewers with sexual gestures.

The adult pay-TV channel runs a series of services – Red Light 1, Red Light 2 and Red Light 3 – either directly or through a wholly-owned subsidiary called Just4Us TV.

They run interactive “adult chat” TV ads after 9pm in the evening where viewers are enticed to call female “presenters” via premium rate phone numbers.

Ofcom ruled that 10 TV ads promoting the adult chat services, which were not behind a restricted access paywall for explicit content, were in breach of broadcasting rules.

The media regulator said the 10 ads broke rules relating to serious or widespread offence “against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards”, and for scheduling rules against airing explicit ads that might “harm or distress children”.

They contained a range of explicit acts, gestures and “sexually provocative positions”.

“Ofcom decided that this case was sufficiently serious to be considered for a statutory sanction,” the regulator said in its ruling, pointing out that the “serious and repeated nature” of the breaches of the code warranted a significant fine.

Ofcom fined Playboy TV £60,000 and subsidiary Just4Us £50,000.