HAMRUN, Malta — A couple recently retired from Holland to the island of Malta is determined to launch the very first 24-hour adult channel there, to be funded by advertising and offered completely free on terrestrial television, and they're utterly flabbergasted by the resistance they're encountering.
As reported by MaltaStar.com, the couple, identified only as Linda and Wilm, claims to have run their own adult production company prior to their move to Malta.
"When we moved to Malta a few months ago, it was strange for us to learn that local TV service providers do not offer adult channels to their customers," Wilm told MaltaStar.com. "And when we got the money from selling our studios in Holland, we started toying with the idea of the first Maltese adult channel.
"We talked about it with our friends in Malta, and they started laughing at us," Wilm continued. "They advised us to try a different road, as in Catholic Malta, the idea of a local adult channel would raise hell, almost literally. So in a way, our determination to get this station up and running is also a challenge we have with our closest friends in Malta."
The name Wilm and Linda have given the channel is SHN TV, derived from the word "shun." They've already launched a website for it at www.shn-tv.com, and are in the process of trying to obtain a license to broadcast terrestrially, after being turned down by the two local television companies currently operating there.
"The authorities are not being helpful at all," Wilm said. "They are claiming that distributing adult content freely is a criminal offense in Malta. And they are also objecting to the fact that as a free to air channel, it will be easily accessible, even to children. We are insisting that today almost all TV sets are equipped with child locking facilities, and some even allow users to password protect individual channels, just like porn websites can be blocked from children's computers."
Wilm declined to identify the specific authorities to which he was referring, but did relate his and Linda's experiences pitching their idea to the local TV outlets.
"One company was not even interested in discussing our proposal, while the other invited us to a meeting and suggested we restrict transmission time to between [1 a.m.] and [4 a.m.] only, and make the channels available only to subscribers who provide written approval from all adults in the household," he said. "This was clearly a polite way of saying they are not interested."
Another problem the two foresee is the feasibility of producing their own content, and because of that, they plan to broadcast only foreign-produced material.
"In Malta everybody seems to know everybody, and any Maltese actor will be quickly identified," said Linda. "At the same time, it is quite expensive to produce adult films, and since we plan to transmit without forcing viewers to pay subscription fees, such cost may not be financially viable. Instead, the idea is to bring to Malta films made in Holland and a number of other countries, where we already have many contacts."
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