The midnight mercury has not yet dipped in many Calcutta cable homes hooked on to Fashion TV (FTV). The channel beaming international fashion shows — banned for two months from April 1 by the I&B ministry after its Midnight Hot slot was deemed too hot for Indians to handle — is very much in the picture on TVs around town.

The I&B ministry, in a circular, has directed multi-system operators (MSOs) to “stop down-linking the signal and re-transmitting it for public viewing.”

“We are yet to receive any official communication on the banning of FTV,” was the common line from cablemen on Tuesday evening in areas where the foreign ramp-rockers continued to strut their stuff. “We are, anyway, against a ban on channels on such flimsy grounds. Let the viewer decide what he wants to see,” argued a cableman in south Calcutta.

The DTH operators (Tata Sky and Dish TV) have, however, decided to blank FTV out. The nightclubs, too, have decided to play it safe. Party addresses in town — so used to letting FTV play on through the night — have decided to switch to music channels. “Why take a chance? We will revert to FTV once the ban is lifted,” said the manager of a nightclub.

FTV is the second channel in two months — after Sony’s action channel AXN — to feel the heat of the I&B moral police. “There is a definite demand for such channels at night and we are under pressure to beam them,” said a last-mile operator.

“This cannot be an excuse for transmitting a banned channel. The licence of an operator can be cancelled if the ministry receives a complaint,” said an official.