LONDON — Playboy TV UK has been fined $175,000 by regulator Ofcom for broadcasting television ads for its adult chat services.
The adult pay-TV channel, through its Just4Us TV unit, runs interactive adult chat TV ads after 9 p.m., where viewers are able to call models through premium-rate phone numbers.
But Ofcom said that 10 TV ads promoting the adult chat services, which weren't behind a paywall for explicit content, were in breach of broadcasting rules "against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards" and for airing explicit ads that might "harm or distress children."
Ofcom said it found that the ads featured girls "spitting on their bodies to emulate ejaculate" and using their hand or a telephone to cover their genital area.
Others ads featured women pouring oil on to their buttocks, or wearing clothing that only just covered their genitals. The regulator said that in one case "outer labia were clearly visible."
Models also were shown adopting "sexually provocative positions, sometimes for prolonged periods and regularly stroked and massaged their breasts and mimicked sexual intercourse," Ofcom said.
The violations, containing a range of explicit acts, gestures and "sexually provocative positions," occurred in April on Just4Us channels Red Light 1, Red Light 2 and Red Light 3.
Ofcom fined Playboy TV $96,000 and subsidiary Just4Us $79,000.
