While viewers in the United Kingdom have access to a whopping 27 porn channels, the nearest competitor in European TV porn is Germany, which offers a comparatively paltry five. The number is up a third from last year, surpassing even the number of children’s channels offered in Britain.
The bulk of Britain’s televised porn comes from two sources: Playboy, offering up six channels, and British press baron Richard Desmond, who is responsible for 12, including the Red Hot channel, Only 18, and Television X. Desmond, who owns multiple mainstream and lifestyle publications throughout the United Kingdom, reported earlier this year that X alone had almost 400,000 subscribers.
The primary reason for the growth, according to television analyst Gary Bison, is money.
"[These channels] are cheap to run. Like shopping channels they can break even within a year, compared to four or five years for more mainstream channels."
All the channels need, said Bison, is two girls, a sofa and a small studio.
Under British regulations, adult channels can air only between 10 p.m. and 5.30 a.m., but many critics complain that the channels also broadcast “taster,” or free previews of upcoming shows, on free channels throughout the day. They point to recent surveys released by a number of mainstream media publications that report most children in the United Kingdom have seen hardcore pornography before the age of 10.
“It’s disgusting and it’s wrong,” said Joan Filmore, head of British Moms Against Pornography, a newly developed group seeking to ban adult entertainment on British television. “Clearly this situation is bad for our children and bad for the country.”
Across the pond, however, a French pornography producer said the situation couldn’t be healthier, defending porn as a "cultural asset" in a letter to the Guardian, England’s largest newspaper.
"In [places] where porn is outlawed on television the sex video output is by far the most voluminous and by far the lowest grade,” wrote Jean Guillore. "We would not be having this debate if porn was what it should be – joyous, well-made, aphrodisiac art."