Some Viewers Want to Block Out ‘Soft X’ Cable TV Programs

More than a week after sexually explicit programming was introduced amid a storm of protest, some residents are incensed that Foothills Cablevision has failed to distribute information about blocking out the service.

Beginning May 1, about 10,000 subscribers in Glendora, La Verne, Monrovia, San Dimas and parts of Bradbury have been able to phone in orders for movies on the Tuxxedo Network on a pay-per-view basis.

The new offerings include films such as “Big” and “Gorillas in the Mist.” But it is the unrated material such as “Traci’s Big Trick” and “Deep Throat II” that has some residents bristling.

“A child could have called (for movies) any time,” La Verne resident Judy Farnan said. “To this day, the ordinary viewer does not know these channels can be blocked out.”

Officials from the Glendora-based cable company reported they were pleased with the more than 100 requests daily for Tuxxedo movies.

First Amendment

Despite public demands before the San Dimas and La Verne city councils in April that the new cable fare be banned even before its debut, council members in both cities reluctantly acknowledged that they must abide by First Amendment protections of free expression.

Cablevision officials had assured the city councils that Tuxxedo movies are not X-rated and can be blocked several ways, by padlocking the cable box or arranging to use a password when they order movies so children would not have access to the programs.

Company general manager Tom Prevette said a mailing will be sent this week inviting subscribers to call for details about blocking the shows. Announcements that appear between movies on the cable channel tell viewers they can phone in to find out about blocking options, he said.

San Dimas Mayor Terry Dipple, expressing dismay that the information was not made more readily available, said he will write personal letters to those who had earlier signed a petition against Tuxxedo asking them to consider boycotting Cablevision. About 320 San Dimas and La Verne residents had signed the petition and presented it at the San Dimas council meeting April 25, and more than 100 have since added their names to the list, he said.

Unhooked Cable Box

Dipple cancelled his subscription and unhooked his cable box the day Tuxxedo was launched.

Dismissing the interest in the movies as “initial curiosity,” he said: “It’s hard for me to believe (Cablevision) had overwhelming requests for an adult channel,” as company officials have said.

Two other people have dropped their subscriptions since Tuxxedo started, but Cablevision officials say they are not worried.

Prevette said he expects to gain about 500 new subscribers, 200 more than usual, during the promotional period this month.

Sierra Madre and Arcadia have had access to Tuxxedo through an Arcadia affiliate since Feb. 1. United Artists Cable owns the Foothills and Arcadia systems, said Dave McNeil, manager of pay-per-view for both offices.

“We launched it here (in Arcadia) without a ripple,” he said. Since it began airing, “Tuxxedo has been my No. 1 channel every single week,” he said, drawing more than 1,500 requests per month.

‘Angel of the Night’

Promotional material from the network promises that it avoids scenes that are “overly explicit, degrading or offensive.”

A pamphlet offers features such as “Angel of the Night,” which has cover girl Angel “cavorting as a curvaceous cutie who casts her carnal karma over a conservative couple.”

La Verne resident Judy Hyle, who collected signatures for the petition against Tuxxedo, said many people she talked to are very concerned that the sexually oriented material could result in increased assaults against women. “I might become a victim of (somebody’s) right to watch pornography,” she said.

Portrayals of women as objects and as individuals willing to be dominated by men have been shown to foster aggressive tendencies in some people, said Jenny Belise, community education coordinator for the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, a nonprofit county-wide crisis and resource center.

She said the implication that women actually enjoy the kind of sex or relationship portrayed is in itself an expression of violence against women.

‘A Cultural Permission’

“It’s almost like a cultural permission that we give,” she said.

A total of 17,000 Cablevision subscribers have access to Tuxxedo in the San Gabriel Valley. The films are available to about 500,000 homes on 12 cable systems nationwide, according to Colette Connor, vice president of advertising for the network.

Introduced Dec. 1, 1987, Tuxxedo is managed by New York-based Home Dish Satellite Networks Inc., which produces the uncensored, X-rated films on American Exxxstacy, a station available only to satellite dish owners.

“We’re much more particular with Tuxxedo,” Connor said, referring to company guidelines about editing scenes portraying violence or humiliation. The network was created because “we felt there was a big audience for an adult channel that was soft and romantic,” she explained.

“Since Tuxxedo is soft X, it’s a much easier sell and communities seem to accept that a lot better,” she said.

“Basically it comes down to customer choice,” McNeil said.