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The station apologised in a statement on Thursday. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong’s Now TV given serious warning for screening ‘overly violent and pornographic’ film on adult channel

Communications Authority says station breached TV Programme Code by showing ‘obscene’ Japanese film about woman’s rape

A local pay TV station was given a serious warning by Hong Kong’s broadcasting watchdog on Thursday after a complaint that a film aired on its adult channel was overly violent and pornographic.

The Communications Authority issued a warning to Now TV after the watchdog considered a complaint against a programme shown on March 7 this year to be justified, and that the screening had violated the TV Programme Code. The programme was shown on the broadcaster’s Channel Adult, which is for adults only.

The complainant said the programme, a Japanese adult film about a woman’s rape, was “overly violent, unnerving and pornographic” and would invite imitation.

The authority considered the broadcaster to have breached the TV Programme Code, as the film featured repeated and detailed depiction of the rape and the assailant’s great pleasure in assaulting the victim.

Three in Hong Kong jailed for providing illegal TV boxes to stream subscription-based Now TV content

The violence was also presented in “a realistic and impactful manner that was not justified by the context”, and was “sustained and excessively detailed”. Sexual acts in the film were “obscene and of a hard core nature”, the authority said.

“Having taken into consideration the specific facts and circumstances of the case, including that Now TV’s last lapse of a similar nature happened in 2006, the CA decided that Now TV should be seriously warned to observe more closely the relevant provisions of the TV Programme Code,” the authority concluded.

In a statement released on Thursday, Now TV apologised that the programme had offended viewers.

A Now TV spokesman said: “We have taken actions to seek more stringent censorship from adult channel providers and have also stepped up our internal review process to ensure adherence to the programme code.”

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