Portland TV


Portland TV is a British adult television company owned by Neon X. It broadcasts subscription and pay-per-view services to UK audiences on the Sky UK, Virgin TV and Freeview platforms. The company was established in London Docklands in 1995 as the adult broadcasting division of the British publishing group Northern & Shell. At one point Portland owned its own broadcasting facilities, but they were later transferred to Channel 5 which Northern & Shell also owned. In 2016 Portland TV was sold by Northern & Shell in a management buy-out, becoming wholly owned by Neon X, in a deal that marked Northern & Shell's complete departure from involvement in the UK television industry. Portland was reportedly sold for less than £1 million after contributing less than two per cent of group revenues per year over the previous three years, or about £9 million per annum. Portland's managing director, Chris Ratcliff, led the buyout. At the time Portland was broadcasting five adult channels and two on-demand online services.

Channels

was launched in 1995. A number of additional channels were subsequently launched as sub-brands of Television X, and the channel began Internet streaming content in 2007. Red Hot TV was launched in 2000 as an additional set of adult channels; the brand was renamed Xrated in 2017.
UnitTV Adult TV is due to be launched in 2020 on Suncast TV.

Regulatory issues

In both 2008 and 2009 Portland was fined by Ofcom for broadcasting material equivalent to BBFC classification R18 on Television X channels. The fines totalled £52,500. In the same years Portland was found in breach of the broadcasting code for advertising R18 website content on Red Hot TV, and on the second such occasion Portland was fined £25,000 by Ofcom.