Pink TV is Europe's second gay satellite channel (after Italy's GAY.tv), started in France on 25 October 2004, on a subscription basis, mostly funded by TF1 and Canal Plus terrestrial channels in France. It is now possible to access Pink TV via satellite, cable and DSL providers. Highlights include Queer as Folk, as well as talkshows (including So Graham Norton). There is an X-rated film four times a week after midnight, and the channel broadcasts 24 hours per day, including productions from porn studios including French Twinks. Pink X launched in 2012 a pornographic reward, the PinkX Gay Video Awards.
On 25 October 2004, Pink TV was born on cable and satellite in the form of a pay-TV channel.
On 12 March 2007, when the channel's accounts were bad, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel accepted the Pink TV project, which consisted of splitting the antenna into two: the day, the usual programs (cultural, entertainment, information expressing homosexual culture and lifestyles) and from midnight onwards, a service that broadcasts pornographic programs. Since 4 September 2007, Pink TV has been broadcasting free-to-air two hours a day from 10 pm to midnight. Its grid is composed only of rebroadcasts. Then, starting at midnight, it transmits encrypted until 5 am with a paying offer consisting only of X-rated movies called Pink X.
As of October 2008, the channel's accounts have improved, it released new programs (films, documentaries, shows) alongside the rebroadcasts.
But, in 2012, fewer and fewer operators are broadcasting Pink TV in clear two hours a day. This time slot is no longer available free at Free since 2009 nor on the of Bouygues Telecom since 2012.
Also, since July 2013, Pink TV has stopped broadcasting real programs between 10 pm and midnight. Instead, it offered short-lived scenes without words played by two different couples.
At the moment, no program is offered from 22:00 to 00:00. Pink X programs start at 00:00. Launched as a chain of homosexual culture, but not having found its audience, it now only broadcasts pornographic films.
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The PinkX Gay Video Awards are annual gay pornographic awards in various categories. The Awards were launched by Pink TV in 2012 (later renamed Pink X) based on pornographic films included on the channel's programming.
<small>(Category suspended in 2018)</small>
"Not 'communautaire' but 'identitaire': Linguistic Acrobatics on France's PinkTV," Contemporary French Civilization, Winter-Spring 2008, volume 32, no.1.