ROME — Italian TV is being forced to clean up its act as regulators ban late night soft porn in a move that marks the end of an era.
The Communications Authority has issued a permanent ban outlawing soft porn aired on myriad local channels and estimated to lure an average of one million viewers nightly.
The decision, effective two weeks’ time, will force some 500 stations to pull spots for sex chat-lines plus vintage Playboy Channel fare and local soft-core pics.
Violations of the ban will result in a fine of between 5 and 50,000 Euros ($6.600 and $66,000).
Italy’s permissive TV porn policy has been famed since the 1980s when Silvio Berlusconi-owned channels began airing cult topless quiz show, "Tutti Frutti," subsequently exported to Germany, Oz and other territories.
Late night Italo sex airings boosted the careers of La Cicciolina, the onetime porn star elected to the Italian parliament in 1987, and of internationally famous Rocco Siffredi.
The only exception to the ban is Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia, allowed to continue to air encrypted porn movies on its "Hot" pay-channels.
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