Cable Channel Under Fire Over Suggestive Program
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Feminist groups have called for stricter regulations about suggestive contents on cable channels.
The content on cable channels has been long-criticized but with Tuesday's airing of a suggestive program on cable entertainment channel ETN voices became more fervent.
The program introduced so-called ``naked sushi,'' involving a scantily clad model lying on a table and diners eating sushi off the model's body.
``It is intolerable,'' said Jee Hyang, head coordinator at the Korea Women's Hotline (KWH). ``The program obviously showed the commercialization of sex by using a woman as a sexual product.''
The show was a pilot program, slated for 11 p.m. on Tuesdays, under the title of a ``Millionaire's Shopping Bag.''
The makers of the program say that it is to show the dining culture of wealthy classes and the pilot program was about Japanese tradition and lacked sexual connotation.
``Diners are given a pair of wooden chopsticks and strict instructions. They can't touch the model, who wears special underwear,'' a staff member of the program said.
Viewers also called the program inappropriate, especially for young audiences.
``It was disgusting. Some of the makers and hosts might have children. How could they air such obscene contents?'' an Internet user with the ID Nimibun asked on a bulletin board on the official Web site of the program.
KWH also voiced concern over the increase in the programs ruthlessly producing and showing explicit contents as a means to win competition over other cable channels.
``The problem is not only how much of the body they expose but also how they abuse the nearly naked female body in a program merely to increase the ratings,'' Jee said.
According to the group's research, about 80 percent of houses nationwide subscribe to cable channels but there are no regulations to monitor content.
There are over 100 cable channels in operation and last year the group found out about 100 programs on the channels that had explicit content inappropriate for young audiences.
``They are not just for selective viewers anymore. It is necessary for the government to set up regulations similar to those for public broadcasting companies,'' Jee said.