Euronews ousted by sex phoneline

TV VIEWERS with Hotbird satellite packages but no digital decoders, have been getting an unexpected replacement for the recently-scrambled Euronews – a sex channel called Livesat.

At the beginning of the month, Euronews, billed as Europe’s answer to CNN, switched to digital broadcasting and can now only be received by viewers with digital decoders. In its place Livesat appeared, alternating footage of scantily-clad ladies enticing viewers to “make love with your credit card” by calling sex phonelines.

Both numbers advertised by the channel are long-distance calls, one terminating in Canada, but no per minute charge is advertised. The phone- line girls alternate with spectacular footage of car crashes taken from motor races. Although no hardcore footage is shown, viewers worried about the channel can simply tune it out.

Local satellite specialists were yesterday unable to shed any light on where Livesat originates from. Euronews is still available on terrestrial TV, while Eurosport, also advertised as going digital, can still be received by Hotbird users without a digital decoder.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.