Religious groups predict the arrival of the Playboy Channel in Chile will have the locals steamed - as in, er, multiplying like bunnies.
Variety says a conservative Catholic group, El Porvenir de Chile, says in a press campaign the arrival of the Playboy Channel will spur higher sexual activity and more unwanted pregnancies.
For years, Chile censored hundreds of films and ideas which military and religious chiefs deemed inconvenient for Chileans' "proper development," Variety says - but technology has now forced open a door for more liberal ideas and expressions.
Chile's leading cable television operator, VTR CableExpress, has decided to begin what it calls "this type of programming" from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., when mostly adults are likely to be watching. The company also promises porn is being bought but not delivered.
"(We) don't bring (the Playboy Channel) into the living room," says a company executive to Variety. "That's done by the clients."
"We still have conservative sectors that think they have to decide for you," says Chilean congressman Antonio Leal, a leader in the country's anti-censorship movement for several years. "It is time for Chile to remove these cultural blocks."
But the Chilean congress is still talking about passing legislation, Variety says, to penalize socially-unacceptable ideas such as over erotica and mass violence in entertainment.
