Babestation

Infobox Television
show_name = Babestation


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format = Televised sex line, soft porn, unscripted
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runtime = 9pm-5.30am
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starring = Various
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country = flagicon|UK United Kingdom
location =
language = English
network = Babestation (ch 906), Get Lucky TV (910)
previously Game Network UK, [http://www.youtv.co.uk/ You TV] , Game Network Italia
first_aired = 3 December 2002
last_aired = Present
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"Babestation" is a British soft porn TV programme aired since 2002. The first and most well-known show of its kind in the UK, it allows viewers to communicate live with female presenters via phone or text messaging. It is broadcast daily, and since 2006 has had a dedicated channel on Sky Digital.

History

"Babestation" began in late 2002, as a post-watershed two-hour programme (11pm-1am) on computer game channel Game Network UK. "Babestation" featured two "babes" whilst taking calls (unheard by the TV audience), whilst the rest of the screen was filled by viewers' text messages and one presenter, who improvised and reacted to the messages - the presenter might alternate between the three girls throughout the show.

The programme was unpopular with Game Network's fans [ [http://forum.gnonline.net/archive/index.php?t-48394.html GN Online forum] retrieved 16 April 2008] , but continued, evidently because it proved profitable to the channel and "Babestation"'s makers. In time, "Babestation" was given bigger time-slots, becoming a three- and then four-hour-long show (11pm-3am), increasing the number of presenters to four or five per night, and improving the technology (the director could now put girls on 'full-screen', having only been able to show them on one-sixth of it before, and hand-held cameras were introduced, replacing the poorer-quality static remote-controlled ones used originally). "Babestation" was sometimes broadcast on Game Network Italia too.

This, along with Game Network's waning commitment to 'video gaming' programmes (as "Psychic Interactive" was also given a large amount of airtime), caused Game Network to cease to exist in the UK; on 20 February 2006, the channel's name changed to 'Babestation', and on 28 February this channel was moved by Sky to the new "Adult" section of channels.

A new type of show

"Babestation" was a unique style of TV programme in Britain - dubbed "pay-as-you-go soft porn" by one person in 2002 [http://forum.logofreetv.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=336] . Despite not being popular with all viewers, and having low production values, "Babestation" produced many clones that can all be seen as originating from its format; "see" televised sex line.

These programmes all differ slightly in format and explicitness - "Babestation" does not show genitals or sex toys, or contain very strong language; since 2004 camera phone technology has been used to allow viewers to send in pictures of themselves; and the show has always featured adverts for similar services in its commercial breaks. But the idea is the same - live, unscripted conversation, advertising a premium rate number to phone the girls, which makes it a profitable business.

Cast

Fans of the show come to know the girls by name and their personalities, and they have almost complete freedom to say what they want. Presenters rotate nightly, often doing between one and four shifts in a seven-day week, and, for various reasons, they don't often remain in this line of employment in the long term. Porn and glamour star Dani O'Neal is probably "Babestation"'s best-known babe, having appeared on it since 2003.

imilar and sister programmes

:"See also: Televised sex line."

*"Babecast" (a.k.a. "BabeCast XXX") has been broadcast since 2003 on Friendly TV, and is owned by the same company as "Babestation": it is sometimes filmed in the same studio, and presenters rotate between the two programmes. Friendly TV was originally in the 100-200 channel numbers on Sky Digital, but on 28 February 2006 it moved to ch. 908, in the Adult section of channels (like Babestation).

*"Babestation 2" is broadcast on ch. 910, Get Lucky TV, initially a phone-in quiz/gambling channel, although the channel's name now carries the more sexual meaning of "" because of its content. "Babestation 2" features one or two "Babestation" presenters; now, instead of dividing up the screen of "Babestation", its makers can put girls on the extra channel.

*"Meet the Babes" was a half-hour documentary broadcast on Sumo TV (ch. 146) in 2006. This featured interviews with "Babestation" babes, and was repeated endlessly (along with Live XXX TV/"Sex Station"'s "Porn Star Diaries") in a three-hour nightly segment.

*"Party People" is broadcast daily between 11am and 8pm on Get Lucky TV (ch. 910).

*"Lads Lounge" (ch. 906) is a daytime format of "Babestation".

Trivia

* "Babestation" babes appeared in the video for the rap single 'Have You Any Flows?' by Doom Man.

* In the mainstream media, "Babestation" has received scant attention.
**A dismissive Guardian newspaper article accused both presenters and viewers of being "thick" and referred to their "begging them to blow kisses and jiggle about a bit". [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/screenburn/story/0,,1450430,00.html “Call collect”, Charlie Brooker, "The Guardian" 2 April 2005] retrieved 16 April 2008]
**On Channel 4's Flipside TV (a channel-hopping programme) in 2004, the panel talked to a "Babestation" babe by phone. Presenter Richard Bacon asked her what the programme was about, and whether the cameraman could turn the camera around so Flipside TV's viewers could see the 'backroom staff' of "Babestation"; but they refused to do this.
**On MTV2 Europe's music video programme "Gonzo", when they were introducing a 'late-night' version of their show, "Babestation" was mentioned; presenter Zane Lowe jokingly claimed not to know what it was, reflecting the 'viewer discretion' (or even faint embarrassment) of anyone who's ever seen it.
**On E4's "Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth" in January 2007, "Babecast" was repeatedly mentioned when the Little Paul Scholes character (pretending to be an agent) offered Russell Brand work on the programme ("It's a , you've just got to show your tits and waggle your arse, it's fine"), although Brand was unwilling to work the "graveyard shift" of 2-4am. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnx6PnvKCbc]
**Rapper Big Dirtz mentioned Babecast in a track about women being a lot faster to have sex with men with money, he states in his song "first talk on the phone, and they behaving proper, but talk cashflow, and now they Babecast models, hear them talk filth".
**On Channel 4 comedy show TV Heaven, Telly Hell, where celebrity guests choose what programmes they love and hate on television, comedian Jimmy Carr chose "Babestation" as his definite 'telly hell'. He said that this channel "is the reason porn actresses don't talk".

ee also

*Televised sex line
*Game Network
*Friendly TV

External links

* [http://www.babestation.tv "Babestation" official homepage]
* Babestation's [http://www.myspace.com/babestation Myspace] and [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Babestation/9899477476?ref=ts Facebook] pages
* [http://www.babecast.tv "Babecast" official homepage]
* [http://babechannelsexposed.blogspot.com/ "Blog" dedicated to Babestation and clones]

References