Toronto, Apr 28 (IANS): Canada, which is home to the world's first Naked News channel, finally joins the US and other western nations in getting its first full-fledged pornography TV channel.
Called Vanessa, the French-language porn channel will start airing from Oct 28. Though to be broadcast nationally, it will mainly target Quebec which is the French-speaking province of Canada. Its English version will hit the airwaves next year.
To be broadcast in HD, the adult channel will show erotic-based dramas, reality shows and sex-themed documentaries.
Licensed by Montreal-based Sex-Shop Television, the channel service will cost $14.95 a month.
Giving the green signal to the country's first porn channel, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has stipulated that the channel must avoid violence and stick to what it calls "equitable portrayals'' of the sexes.
The adult channel must also procure at least 20 percent of its content locally, with California-based porn industry filling the lion's share of the rest of 80 percent. The San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles area is the centre of the US porn industry.
The go-ahead for the sex channel comes after protests by religious groups over the 20 percent mandatory Canadian content stipulated by the country's regulatory body. They feared that this will spawn a porn industry in Canada.
American adult channels are currently available to Canadian viewers on cable.
Interestingly, Canada is famous for its Naked News channel. Aired out of Toronto, the channel shows nude female newscasters reading news.