Adult chat (television)

Adult chat television channels and programs[1][2][3] (also known as babe channels[4] or babeshows[5]) are a format of phone-in live television programming that has developed in Europe since 2002, often having elements similar to webcam modelling and softcore pornography.

Adult chat channels were noted in Screen as "challenges to conventional notions" of television[1][6] – viewers can make premium-rate phone calls to the channel's presenters, but the calls are not heard on screen during the program. Thus, the channels' format and content is openly influenced by the pursuit of revenue, "pay-to-participate", without the traditional "audience subscription, advertising or sponsorship".[1]

Broadcast live from a studio, the shows usually feature female presenters advertising a phone sex line or chat line, speaking on the phone, promoting extra online content and photos,[7] or responding to viewers' online messages, text messages and photos.[8][9][10]

  1. ^ a b c Marriott, Stephanie, "The audience of one: adult chat television and the architecture of participation", in Screen 50:1, Spring 2009, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 February 2019; Web Archive version Retrieved 16 February 2020
  2. ^ Participation TV: how should it be regulated? (including "Adult chat"), Ofcom.org.uk (Web Archive), 2006 – Retrieved August 26, 2019
  3. ^ Ofcom documents on adult chat television services:
    Ofcom guidance on the advertising of telecommunications-based entertainment services (2013)
    Regulation of adult-sex services on Freeview (2014)
  4. ^ So-called because several channels' names start with the word Babe; the phrase was used by Sysmedia teletext on the Babestation channel in 2006, and in The Guardian, “Babeworld fined after mum complains” Retrieved March 31, 2008
  5. ^ Roderick, Oliver (9 December 2017). "Rebecca Emslie: What it's really like to work as a TV phone sex presenter on Babestation". Wales Online. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Retrieved 16 February 2020
  6. ^ "Screen 50.1(2009) - Screen Theorizing Today: a Celebration of Screen's Fiftieth Anniversary" (PDF). gla.ac.uk. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Retrieved 16 February 2020
  7. ^ Duerden, Nick. "Phoning It In: Behind The Scenes At Babestation". Esquire. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Retrieved 16 February 2020
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference OFCOM2007L was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference OFCOM2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ The Guardian, “Babeworld fined after mum complains” Retrieved 22 February 2019