A $10,000 fine has been given to Singapore's sole cable television operator, StarHub Cable Vision, for showing footage of lesbian sex and bondage in a reality program, an industry regulator said.
The Development Authority said in a statement uploaded on its website that the scenes "were deemed to be sexually suggestive and offensive to good taste and decency" and that the reality series, entitled Cheaters, promoted lesbianism as a lifestyle.
According to the statement, the scenes, which were pixilated, contained footage of a woman engaging in sexual acts with another woman.
"This episode of Cheaters was therefore found to be in breach of the Subscription TV Program Code as it failed to comply with guidelines which disallow the promotion, justification and glamorization of lesbian lifestyles and their explicit depictions," the regulator said.
A StarHub spokeswoman told the Straits Times it was disappointed with the regulator's decision, but said it would ensure such incidents were not repeated.
The spokeswoman said Cheaters had been shown in China, India and Indonesia "without any difficulty," adding that the episode in question was aired in Singapore at midnight.
