Oh bondage, up yours
If your television starts to look a bit hot and steamy around the edges, don't panic. It's probably just Poland's first pornographic TV channel raising the temperature.
While it is illegal under Poland's Broadcasting Act of 1992 to show pornography on television, it hasn't stopped Wizja TV from earning the rather dubious honor of being the inaugural provider of an "adult channel" for its digital television subscribers.
On May 31, Wizja TV launched "Private Gold" a collection of hard-core pornographic programs which broadcasts nightly from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. And just in case any kiddies get their hands on the remote control, it is only accessible by a special application and PIN number.
What this finally means is that all those Poles with pirate decoders, who have been accessing foreign porn, can come clean and tune in legally well, that depends on who you ask.
Under Polish law, if a broadcaster wants to add a new channel to its selection, approval from the government's National Radio and Television Council (KRRiT) is required. But in this case, Wizja just went right ahead and started having sex in public.
How, you ask? It all comes down to an interpretation of the law.
With an arrangement way more complex than a porno plot line, Wizja TV PR manager, Dorota Zawadzka, says its "Private Gold" channel can go on air because it is actually broadcast outside Poland by a Netherlands-based company called Private Blue & Gold Broadcasting. This company broadcasts Private Gold from Prague to London and then on to Poland.
European broadband giant United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) Wizja TV's parent company has the distribution rights to Private Gold in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
But don't you think it goes against the essence of the Polish law, which makes a concession on erotic programs, but says no to pornography?
"No, it is broadcast in Poland, as I said, in compliance with the law," Zawadzka reiterated. And besides, Wizja maintains it is simply distributing decoders to interested viewers who are willing to sign up and pay the zl. 34.99 per month to tune in to Private Gold from the comfort of their lounge.
This raunchy launch hasn't gone unnoticed and the president of Wizja TV, Andrzej Muras, was called to appear in front of KRRiT last week. He has now been asked to submit a written explanation.
But because of this legal loophole Wizja TV is exploiting, KRRiT spokeswoman Joanna Stempien said the possibilities to stop this burgeoning love affair between Polish digital subscribers and their Wizja TV porn may be limited.
"It's easy for them to do this because they have good lawyers," Stempien said.
But this is probably the least of Muras' worries, who made yet another startling confession to the Council (see the WBJ, May 28-June 3, 2001) about operations at Wizja TV.
And while this issue continues to simmer away, KRRiT will have to turn its attention to sex once more in September, when it considers the recent application of digital platform company Polsat for a license for an erotic channel run in cooperation with Playboy.
Polsat has done the right thing by asking for permission, but if Stempien's prediction is right, it may not be allowed to shake its little Playboy cottontails on TV.
"I'm not sure, of course, but I suppose that there will be debate in the National Council," Stempien surmised. "There are nine people on the council and the decision must have the support of at least five councilors and I guess it could be difficult to get the support of five people."
