The Golden Age of British Babeshows: Sky's Adult Channels

Babestation started broadcasting in December 2002 and helped create an entirely new type of British late-night television.

At first, there wasn't a dedicated part of the Sky Electronic Programme Guide for the new generation of live babeshows. The shows appeared on channels mixed amongst completely conventional entertainment, lifestyle and specialist television.

It didn't stay that way for long.

As Babestation proved there was a huge audience for interactive late-night television, rival babeshows appeared and existing adult broadcasters expanded their offerings. Within a few years, Sky had reorganised its EPG and created a dedicated Adult section in the 900s.

The old listings provide a fascinating record of just how quickly the British babeshow developed.

So let's go back to three snapshots — 2004, 2006 and 2009 — covering the period when Babestation went from an unusual late-night programme to the pioneer of an entire television genre.

How many of these shows do you remember?

2004: When Babeshows Sat Alongside Normal TV

Babestation had launched in 2002, combining live television with text messages and phone calls. Other operators soon began experimenting with the format.

But in 2004, the babeshow was still so new that there wasn't a dedicated area of the Sky EPG for it.

Instead, channels carrying babeshows were mixed into general entertainment.

A section of the Sky EPG looked like this:

136 — Granada Men & Motors
139 — Sky Travel
140 — Sky Travel Extra
142 — UKTV Style
143 — UKTV Style Plus
144 — UKTV Food
145 — UKTV Food +1
146 — UKTV Drama
148 — Travel Channel
149 — Travel 2
151 — Channel 4 Wales / S4C Digital
154 — Discovery Health
157 — Artsworld
160 — Life TV
163 — E4
164 — E4+1
166 — Overload
169 — BBC1 Ireland
170 — BBC2 Ireland
172 — Game Network
175 — ITV2
178 — You TV
181 — Avago
184 — BEN
187 — Reality TV
190 — Hallmark
193 — E! Entertainment
196 — UKTV Bright Ideas
199 — FTN
202 — Performance Channel
205 — Rapture TV
208 — Friendly TV
211 — ACTV
214 — Live TV
217 — Game Nation
220 — Fashion TV
223 — OBE
226 — Game In TV
229 — Biography Channel
232 — Hollywood TV
247 — Classics TV
289 — FX289
295 — Sky Vegas Live

Hidden amongst all of those familiar television names were two channels that mattered enormously to the emerging babeshow industry.

Game Network on channel 172 carried Babestation.

And Friendly TV on channel 208 carried Babecast.

A viewer could therefore scroll through a television guide containing UKTV Food, E4, ITV2, Hallmark, Fashion TV and Biography Channel and encounter channels that transformed into interactive babeshows later at night.

The babeshow wasn't yet an established television category.

It was still emerging inside mainstream British satellite television.

From Babestation to a New Television Genre

What Babestation had demonstrated was that adult phone chat could become entertainment in its own right.

Instead of simply showing an advert containing a telephone number, a live presenter could appear on screen, interact with viewers and take calls while the audience watched.

The idea caught on quickly.

Babecast emerged on Friendly TV and other operators began launching their own programmes. Different shows developed their own presenters, performers and styles.

The British babeshow was becoming a television genre.

And the Sky EPG was about to change to accommodate it.

2006: The Adult EPG Arrives

On 28 February 2006, Sky introduced a reshuffled EPG with a dedicated Adult section.

The difference from 2004 was remarkable.

Instead of channels carrying babeshows being scattered amongst general entertainment, viewers could now scroll directly into the 900s and find an entire section devoted to adult television.

The 2006 listing contained an extraordinary 51 adult channel positions:

900 — Playboy TV
901 — Adult Channel
902 — Spice Extreme
903 — Television X
904 — Television X2
905 — Television X3
906 — Game Network / Babestation
908 — Friendly TV / Babecast
909 — L!VE TV / Babeworld
910 — Get Lucky TV / Babestation
911 — Lucky Star / Babestation
912 — Playboy One
913 — You TV2
914 — You TV2 Extra
915 — Turn On TV
920 — Climax3-1
921 — Climax3-2
922 — Climax3-3
923 — SportxxxBabes
924 — Red Hot R
925 — RH 40+ Wives
926 — Red Hot Amateur
927 — RedHot All Girl
928 — Red Hot Wives
929 — Red Hot Climax
930 — Red Hot Only 18
931 — Red Hot Movies
932 — XPLICITXXX
933 — Playboy TV
934 — Adult Channel
935 — Spice Extreme
936 — Hustler TV UK
937 — 100% Babes
938 — XXX TV
939 — Amateur Babes
940 — Gay TV
941 — 18PlusXXX
942 — XXXHousewive
943 — Live XXX TV
944–950 — 18 Plus Movies

Just four years after Babestation's launch, adult satellite television had become a substantial broadcasting sector.

Babestation Was No Longer Alone

Look particularly at the beginning of that 2006 Adult EPG.

906 — Babestation
908 — Babecast
909 — Babeworld
910 — another Babestation outlet
911 — another Babestation outlet

The original concept had spread remarkably quickly.

Babestation itself had expanded beyond one television outlet, while Babecast and Babeworld had become recognisable alternatives.

The traditional adult-TV companies were there too: Playboy, Television X, Spice Extreme and Hustler.

But the live babeshows offered something different.

They weren't simply television channels showing adult programming. Their appeal came from live personalities and interaction with the audience.

Viewers started developing favourite shows and favourite babes. Competition between the channels increased, and performers could become closely associated with particular brands before moving between rival shows.

For a period, British late-night television had its own highly competitive babeshow ecosystem.

2009: The Babeshow Wars

By 2009, the landscape was changing again.

Broadband internet had developed rapidly. Adult video was increasingly available online and webcam entertainment was growing.

Yet the British babeshows remained remarkably resilient.

The Sky Adult EPG from this period shows a smaller market than the huge 2006 listing, but it also shows how sophisticated the babeshow business had become:

906 — Babestation
907 — Friendly TV / Babecast
908 — Babeworld TV
909 — Get Lucky TV / Babestation 2
910 — Lucky Star / Sexstation
912 — Tease Me / Bang Babes
914 — Over18TV / Hotel Voyeur
936 — SportxxxGirls
937 — SportxxxWives
948 — Tease Me 2 / Bang Babes 2
949 — House of Fun / Babeworld XXXtra
950 — LiveXXXBabes
951 — Blue Kiss TV
952 — The Other Side / Babeworld MILF
954 — Northern Birds / SportxxxBabes
955 — Essex Babes / 40+ Readers Wives
956 — LA Babes
957 — Live XXX
959 — Tease Me 3 / Bang Babes 3
960 — Chat Back
961 — Just4Us / Babeworld Live
963 — HBW TV / Working Girls Live

For anyone who watched the babeshows during this era, some of those names will immediately bring back memories.

Babestation, Babecast, Babeworld, Sexstation and Bang Babes

By this point there wasn't really one British babeshow market. There were competing brands fighting for the same late-night audience.

Babestation was the original pioneer and remained one of the major names.

Babecast, which viewers had originally found on Friendly TV, was another important early show.

Babeworld developed into a substantial brand of its own, eventually appearing in several different forms including Babeworld XXXtra, Babeworld MILF and Babeworld Live.

Sexstation became another memorable name from the era.

And Bang Babes, appearing through the Tease Me channels, became a significant competitor during the later 2000s.

At the height of the competition, viewers weren't choosing simply whether to watch a babeshow.

They were choosing which babeshow to watch.

The Babeshows Start to Specialise

The 2009 EPG also reveals another interesting development.

Look at names such as:

Northern Birds.
Essex Babes.
SportxxxWives.
Babeworld MILF.
Hotel Voyeur.
Working Girls Live.

Once the basic babeshow format had been established, broadcasters began looking for ways to differentiate themselves.

Some targeted viewers interested in a particular type of performer. Others developed themes or more specialised formats.

It was actually following a pattern established much earlier by the British phone-sex industry. Phone lines had discovered that callers didn't all want the same fantasy, and different services were marketed towards different interests.

The babeshows took the same idea and made it visual.

The Babeshow Babe Became the Brand

There was another reason viewers moved between channels: the babes themselves.

The most popular performers could develop their own followings. Viewers knew their names, recognised their personalities and learnt when they were appearing.

A babe who moved from one show to another could bring interested viewers with her.

That was one of the fundamental differences between the babeshow and the older adult-TV business.

The performer wasn't merely appearing in the programming.

Increasingly, the performer was the programming.

That personality-led model would become even more important as adult entertainment moved online and individual performers gained their own social-media audiences, subscription pages and live cam followings.

From 51 Adult Channels to a Smaller Market

The sheer size of the 2006 Adult EPG was never likely to last forever.

As broadband improved, viewers gained access to an enormous amount of online adult entertainment. Live webcams provided another form of immediate interaction, while video sites transformed the availability of prerecorded material.

The television market consolidated.

Some babeshows disappeared. Others changed names, merged, moved or simply became part of British adult-TV history.

But the underlying idea behind the babeshow survived.

Why These Old Sky Listings Matter

Looking at the 2004, 2006 and 2009 EPGs together tells the story remarkably well.

2004: Babeshows were still hidden amongst general entertainment channels.

2006: Sky had created a dedicated Adult section containing 51 channel positions, with Babestation, Babecast and Babeworld prominently represented.

2009: The market had consolidated, but live babeshows had developed into numerous competing and increasingly specialised brands.

It's a remarkably rapid transformation.

In only a few years, the British babeshow went from an experimental programme appearing late at night on another channel to an established category of satellite television.

The Golden Age of British Babeshows

Looking back at these listings now is almost like looking at a different television universe.

There was a period when viewers could spend an evening flicking between Babestation, Babecast, Babeworld, Sexstation, Bang Babes and numerous smaller or more specialised shows.

Some became major brands. Others lasted only briefly. Some of the performers became much better remembered than the channels they appeared on.

And one name from those early listings is still here.

Babestation appeared through Game Network in the 2004 EPG, occupied several positions during the boom years and survived the subsequent consolidation of the television market.

More than two decades after the first Babestation broadcast, the surrounding technology is almost unrecognisable. Television has been joined by websites, live cams, video libraries, direct messaging and social media.

But these old EPG listings capture a particular moment in British adult-entertainment history — the golden age when the live babeshow went from one unusual late-night experiment to an entire television industry.

Babestation. Babecast. Babeworld. Sexstation. Bang Babes. Hotel Voyeur. Northern Birds. Essex Babes. Working Girls Live.

How many do you remember?