Selective Blocking of ‘Dial-a-Porn’ Approved

The state Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday gave Californians their first opportunity to selectively block “dial-a-porn” phone services while retaining access to other pay-per-call numbers.

The ruling came as the commission authorized statewide, pay-per-call services from Pacific Bell, GTE and four long-distance carriers: American Telephone & Telegraph, MCI Communications, U.S. Sprint and Telesphere.

Under the decision, all statewide pay-per-call programs will carry a 900 area code, and dial-a-porn programs will be assigned a special prefix within that area code.

Pay-per-call numbers are among the fastest growing new telecommunications services in the nation, with annual revenues approaching $500 million. They debuted in the early 1980s as a public opinion polling device and evolved into their present formula: a mixture of weather, horoscope, financial, entertainment, sports and sex programming that often costs listeners $2 per minute and sometimes far more.

However, because of the cost and adult nature of some of the programming, phone companies across the nation have allowed customers to block their access to all pay-per-call services.

The new 900 area code for pay-per-call services was viewed as a solution to wholesale blocking because it allows customers to retain access to most services while restricting calls to adult programming.

Anticipating the ruling, Pacific Bell set aside the 303 prefix in the 900 area code for adult material. Customers can elect to block access from their phones to 900-303 numbers without losing access to other 900 pay-per-call services.

The new statewide 900 program is an addition to the current pay-per-call services offered by Pacific Bell in local area codes under the 976 prefix. With the exception of adult programs, which are being forced to switch to 900-303, pay-per-call programs will be offered both within a specific area code under the 976 prefix or statewide on the 900 area code.

A Pacific Bell official said Wednesday night that 114 adult programs have switched to the new 303 prefix and 130 programs elected to change their content to qualify for general audiences.

The commission also imposed a number of consumer safeguards on the new 900 service, including required disclosure of the nature of the program and the costs at the start of each call. Companies also must allow residents and businesses to block all 900 calls from their homes.

The maximum charge for the California calls will be $5 for the first minute and $2 for each additional minute, up to $50 per call; for children’s messages, the maximum is $2 per minute and $4 per call. The first 12 seconds of each call must contain the name of the program and the charge, and then give a caller three seconds to hang up without charge. In addition, customers must be notified when their charges for 900 calls reach $75 in a month.