Xrated (UK)

Xrated
Launched June 2000
Owned by Portland TV
Formerly called Red Hot TV (Until March 2017)
Sister channel(s) Television X and Television X Pornstars
Availability
Satellite
Sky Channel 904 (Xrated Hook-Ups)
Channel 905 (Xrated Couples)
Channel 907 (Xrated 40+)
Cable
Virgin Media Channel 974 (Xrated 40+)
Channel 975 (Xrated Couples)
Channel 976 (Xrated Hook-Ups)

Xrated is a brand name used by Portland TV for their portfolio of British pornographic pay-per-view television channels.

Xrated began broadcasting on Sky in June 2000 as Red Hot TV and was owned by Northern & Shell, parent company of the pornographic subscription channel Television X, until Northern & Shell sold Portland in April 2016.[1]

History

Red Hot was launched in June 2000 as a set of pornographic television channels. By 2005, 8 Channels were branded under the name including a Movie Channel. Many of these channels changed their names or closed throughout the subsequent years.

In 2007 the channels were all renamed. On the 28th August 2008, Red Hot Raw and Red Hot Viewers were both removed from the Sky electronic programme guide (EPG) and their EPG slots were sold off. The slots were changed into 'Pulse' timeshifts and then later sold again to other broadcasters.

In August 2009 Red Hot TV attempted to get into the record books by organizing Britain's biggest gang bang, which they named 'The Great British Gang Bang'.[2]

During this time Portland TV launched some free-to-air televised sex line services that went alongside Red Hot called Filth, Cream and Skincity. These channels launched and closed several times over the course of several years. Portland TV also launched another pay-per-view channel at this time called Viewer's Wives, which was in the same section as Red Hot TV. In September 2009 the channel Xplicit Nightly (Xplicit XXX) started to have its programming supplied by Red Hot. In October 2009 an EPG slot formally belonging to Filth was used to launch Red Hot Mums after the Red Hot channels rebranded.

In 2012, the channels were reduced to three: Red Hot 18's, Red Hot Mums and Red Hot Amateur. In 2016 only one channel under the Red Hot name remained, as the other 2 had been renamed Xtreme Filth and Viewer's Wives. In 2017 all 3 channels were relaunched and renamed as Xrated, with the Red Hot, Extreme Filth and Viewer's Wives names all remaining on Virgin Media's On-Demand service alongside other defunct adult channels.

Freeview controversy

The 2005 launch of Red Hot's digital terrestrial television channel was notable for two controversies: the company was banned from using the Freeview trademark by the Freeview consortium. It was revealed that the Xtraview Encryption System used to encrypt Red Hot could be bypassed, and the channel viewed for free on receivers with manual tuning simply by entering its PID numbers. The protection system relies entirely on security through obscurity.

Red Hot stopped broadcasting on the digital terrestrial platform on September 5, 2006, however some of its channels re-commenced on the platform in September 2007 in a shared-channel arrangement with sister Television X on channel 97.

List of Channels

Current

In 2017, Portland TV launched three channels on the Sky and Virgin platforms:[3]

Former

See also

References

  1. ↑ William Turvill (1 April 2016). "Porn-no more for Richard Desmond as he sells adult entertainment network Portland TV for less than £1m". City A.M.
  2. ↑ Red hot TV
  3. ↑ "Portland TV Launches X-Rated Pay-Per-Night Service". XBIZ. 22 March 2017.
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