Cable TV stakeholders, bristling from the recently imposed ban on airing sexually explicit and violent songs, have chastised Jamaica's electronic-media regulator for leashing the local adult entertainment industry.

They argued that there is a market in Jamaica for X-rated material and said the clampdown by the Broadcasting Commission could compromise the popularity of local, edgy stations and hurt the bottom line of cable operators.

Dancehall channels, which air mainly street dances and club parties, will be worst hit, as the commission's ban targets the popular daggerin' rage - an aggressive display of pelvic power - which is a staple of many sessions.

Impact on business

"It will seriously impact business in a negative way, but the viewers need to take into consideration the perspectives of this business," said Veronica Ellis, assistant manager of Telstar Cable Ltd, one of the major providers in the Corporate Area.

"The authorities need to start looking at who is producing them, before banning or clamping down on lewd material on dancehall channels," she added.

Johann Dawes, manager at Hype TV, said although some songs might be too risqué for free-to-air media, widening the net to include cable television was unfair.

Dawes said the new regulations would handicap Hype TV, which has an expansive archive of music videos, some of which would be outlawed. This, he said, would result in lots of material becoming dead weight.

Industry players have also suggested that the implementation of the daggerin' ban, effective immediately on its announcement on February 6, did not give them enough time to adjust strategy and re-edit content.

The cable TV community has music producers like Jay Will in its corner. He argued that implementing a wholesale ban on cable operators infringed on the rights of viewers who relished indigenous adult entertainment and created a double standard vis-à-vis foreign productions on other channels.

Interested listeners

"There are people out there who are interested in the lewd dancehall songs and videos and don't mind at all seeing or listening to them."

"What the commission should do, instead, is to rate the programmes like how they rate the international programmes, and make legislation that they be aired at a certain time at night from 11:30 p.m. to 4 a.m., when children are asleep," Jay Will told The Gleaner.

The move against daggerin' songs coincided with a raging debate over the broadcast of sexually explicit material in public media.

The firestorm of criticism was sparked after Sunday Gleaner columnist Esther Tyson called for media managers to be held accountable for the airing of "filth". Tyson particularly hit out at Rampin' Shop, a song performed by dancehall artistes Vybz Kartel and Spice, which is deemed by many social commentators to reek of raunch.

Both deejays have, however, denounced the public outrage as hypocritical.