Adult chat television channels and programs [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] also known as babe channels [ 4 ] or babeshows [ 5 ] are a format of phone-in live television programming that has developed in Europe since , often having elements similar to webcam modelling and softcore pornography.
Adult chat channels were noted in Screen as "challenges to conventional notions" of television [ 1 ] [ 6 ] — viewers can make premium-rate phone calls to the channel's presenters, but the calls are not heard on screen during the program. Thus, the channels' format and content is openly influenced by the pursuit of revenue, "pay-to-participate", without the traditional "audience subscription, advertising or sponsorship".
(mh=HH6Bu2Aed84CqWtU)11.jpg "Babes Zürich")
Broadcast live from a studio, the shows usually feature female presenters advertising a phone sex line or chat line , speaking on the phone, promoting extra online content and photos, [ 7 ] or responding to viewers' online messages, text messages and photos.
The presenters of the shows are often glamour models , fetish models or porn stars , and have included Cathy Barry and Dani Thompson. Some eventual channels began as shorter shows on unrelated TV stations; for example, Babestation was initially a 2-hour phone-in on Game Network.
Some babe channels broadcast for part of the day, and some for 24 hours a day. A typical night show, when content is more sexually explicit, may run from 9pm or 10pm until 5. Adult chat companies have also operated various extra online streams and web shows. While television usually "address[es] itself to an overhearing audience", [ 1 ] babe channels were noted in Screen as "challenges to conventional notions" of television" [ 1 ] due to their novel format, which prioritises revenue from phone calls that are seen but unheard in the broadcast.
