Cross-border porn issue tossed to European Court

By REBECCA LIEB

The European Court in Luxembourg must decide how to regulate the cross-border transmission of porn TV, an appeals court in London has ruled.

The court made the decision following an appeal by Red Hot television, which recently had sale of its decoders barred by the British government. The station is beaming scrambled porn programming into Britain from Denmark.

While European broadcast law prohibits pornographic broadcasts, it does not define what constitutes pornography.

Cross-border airing of porn has raised much recent debate in Europe. A ruling will impact similar stations operating in Germany and the Netherlands.