THE Broadcasting Commission said it has found Television Jamaica (TVJ) and Cornwall Communication Limited, a local cable provider in Montego Bay, in breach of regulations that ban the unscrambled transmission of “indecent or profane matter”.

TVJ, the commission said yesterday, breached the Television and Sound Broadcasting Regulations 30(d) on January 5 by transmitting an episode of the popular talk show, “Man Talk”, that contained sexually explicit discussions and close-ups of sexual paraphernalia.

The commission has directed TVJ to apologise to its viewers on the upcoming broadcast of “Man Talk”, as part of remedial action that it has been directed to take.

“Viewers were presented with pictures from instructional manuals about sexual intercourse; graphic demonstration of manual stimulation of sex organs using an anatomically correct model of female genitalia; close-ups of sex aids including dildos and vibrators; and explicit and obscene language written on sexual products that were displayed,” the commission said in a statement.

The regulatory body also said it considered TVJ’s scheduling of the broadcast at 9:00 pm as inappropriate, as the programme was clearly intended only for an adult audience.

The commission also rapped the TV station for failing to issue an advisory of the programme’s explicit content before it aired, which would give parents and guardians a chance to decide if the programme was inappropriate for their children.

Other remedial steps to be taken by TVJ include the scheduling of future episodes of “Man Talk” to a later broadcast time if they are unsuitable for viewing by the entire family or by older children at the discretion of their parents. This is in keeping with the newly introduced Children’s Code for Programming.

Meanwhile, Cornwall Communications Limited, a cable company that supplies service to a large section of Montego Bay, was found in breach of its licence for its transmission of sexually explicit material on the community station, Channel 25. At the time of the incident, the time slot was being operated by an independent programme provider contracted by the operator of Cornwall Communications Ltd.

On the afternoon of January 31, some of the cable company’s subscribers were shocked to see a sexually explicit movie being shown on the channel normally reserved for highlighting activities that relate to the western city. Attempts to contact the cable company were unsuccessful, as after the offensive tape was inserted – without being previewed – the independent contractor’s employee is said to have left the premises.

Allegations are that when contacted, the frantic programmer physically severed the cable connection with a machete.

Cornwall Communications began running an apology on the screen shortly after, fired the independent provider and replaced the local channel with CNN International.

When the commission was made aware of the possibility of a breach, through a complaint from a subscriber and a report in the print media, the statutory body requested a comprehensive report from the cable company on the nature of the material transmitted, the circumstances that gave rise to the broadcast, and the remedial action to prevent recurrence.

While the commission found that the cable operator violated its licence, it took the company’s remedial action into account and decided against any further sanction.

But Cornwall Communication Limited has been asked to produce sample tapes of all its local channels for review by the Commission to determine whether those channels have been given the appropriate rating.