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The scandal over a man boasting about his sex life on a popular satellite television show has sparked outbursts against the huge popularity of often-racy offshore broadcasts in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Influential clerics have lashed out at the most popular satellite broadcasters for allegedly 'corrupting' Saudi society with a broad fare running from Arab sitcoms, movies and talk shows to titillating US and Indian films and dramas.
Meanwhile, viewers fear that some of their favourite shows, broadcast from more liberal bases in the region, could be endangered just before Ramadan, the peak yearly viewing period.
"There is no doubt that we are targeted by channels that are looking to create problems and scandals," columnist Amel Zahad wrote in Al Watan newspaper.
"Saudi society is the biggest market for satellite TV... due to the absence of alternative sources of entertainment. This is something that we have to examine and deal with."
Prominent Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousaf Al Ahmad, referring to some of the largest regional satellite broadcast groups, claimed on the Al-Dalil religious channel: "MBC, Al-Arabiya, ART and the Rotana channels are all axes that destroy Islam and Muslims."
Zahad applauded the government's closure on Sunday and Monday of the local offices of Lebanon-based LBC, which aired the mid-July 'Bold Red Line talk show episode in which Mazen Abdul Jawad sat on his bed in his Jeddah apartment talking about his conquests.
Abdul Jawad was formally arrested on July 31 and faces possible charges related to immoral behaviour.
A five-minute clip from the LBC episode posted on Youtube, meanwhile, has been viewed half a million times, despite it being blocked by the Saudi government censor.
While not denying his client's behaviour, Abdul Jawad's lawyer Sulaiman Al Jimaie blames LBC for aiming its salacious programmes at young people.
"The case is about channels that target youth... As a result of the shutdown of the LBC offices people now know that this channel has been broadcasting something bad," he said.
Turki Al Dakheel, another Saudi columnist, labelled the closure overkill and suggested that it threatened other media.
The broadcasts come from more liberal hubs such as Beirut, Cairo and Dubai, and often from companies controlled by Saudi businessmen willingly exploiting Saudi hunger for entertainment.
