Fashion TV was due to be pulled off the air in India today after falling foul of obscenity laws by broadcasting bare-breasted models during a show last year, officials said. The satellite channel has been suspended for nine days starting today and will be blocked from 7pm local time (1330 UTC), the Information and Broadcasting ministry said.
In a programme aired in September 2009, the channel showed “women with nude upper body which was offending (sic) against good taste and decency,” a statement said. The Times of India newspaper said the broadcast in question was a re-run of a catwalk show from recently deceased British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. “The visuals were found to be obscene, denigrating women and were not suitable for children and unrestricted public exhibition,” the statement said.
This is the second time the ministry has suspended the channel for displaying too much flesh in conservative India, which has strict censorship rules. In March 2007, the France-based broadcaster was banned for two months for its programme “Midnight Hot” which showed “skimpily dressed and semi-naked models”. The ban was lifted, however, after the channel said it regretted the error and pledged not to repeat the mistake in future.
Many activists in India have protested against the channel and have sought a blanket ban as they argue it erodes traditional values.
(Source: Fashion TV)
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on Mar 23rd, 2010 at 06:39
“A channel should take uttermost care of what it is showing on their channel even if it is re run of a cat walk show.
Fashion is not about showing nude women on ramps.Today television has reach to every home and children are exposed to these channels.People might ask for “”FREEDOM TO WATCH”" but they don’t think the future impact
F TV is a reputed fashion channel but it is sad to see that that they are repeating the same mistake.
After an apology in 2007 and even after launching a India specific channel, FTV cannot resist to show what it is famous for in India.
The govt should have heavily fine FTV and increase the Ban time to a month.I did a bit of research on rules and codes of Indian television network (http://www.lawisgreek.com/ftv-banned-out-of-steam-from-cable-tv/) and it can be clearly seen how these foreign channels violate Indian laws and then skip punishment .”