Lithuanian media watchdogs set out to ban Playboy TV

Deividas Velkas, adviser at the journalist watchdog bureau, told BNS that the office had last week received confirmation about the start of the investigation.

The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission notified the retransmission companies that journalist ethics inspectors had found the content of the channels pornographic. Some of the companies suspended some channels after the warning.

The idea of evaluating the content of TV chanels was proposed by the Radio and Television Commission. Its chairman Paulius Subačius told BNS that the issue had been repeatedly raised by commission member Rimantas Šukys.

"Night-time program was recorded in February, and monitoring conclusion was that the information was possibly of pornographic nature. As pornographic information is banned by Lithuanian laws – distribution of pornography is a criminal offense, the commission approached the journalist ethics inspector's office, since its experts are certified to establish what should be listed as pornography. The expert confirmed it was pornographic information," Subačius said.