DSTV Fined Kshs. 100,000 For Showing Man's Private Parts on a PG13 Show

Wednesday, 25 April 2012 09:52 , Written by Kevin Oyugi

Sony Max, On DSTV Channel 126

South African pay TV broadcaster DSTV has been fined a whooping R 10,000 (approx. Kshs. 100,000) by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) for showing a man's genital area during a game show that was initially rated PG13.

On game show Banzai, broadcast on Sony Max channel 126, viewers had to guess "who has the biggest package" among five young men dressed in small, tight-fitting Speedos of different colours. Each of the contestants then had to step forward in turn as the camera zoomed in on their genital area as they placed their hands in their speedos.

"When the third man steps forward, he does not put his hand in his Speedo, but he pulls it (the speedo) down and exposes his very long penis in a close shot full in the face of the viewer," said the BCCSA in the judgment.

Multichoice conceded that that the show should not have been classified as PG13 considering the content of the episode and further agreed it was an error on the part of the broadcaster. They went on to apologize for the inconvenience caused.

The BCCSA said it is concerned with the "recurrence of contraventions in this regard" by MultiChoice. The BCCSA fined MultiChoice R10 000 for the contravention which DStv has to pay by May 15th 2012, according to South Africa's News 24.