More than 13,000 people have said no to pornography on DSTV in a campaign opposing the launch of a new channel, trade union Solidarity says.

Some public figures had added their voices to the internet and sms campaign, with votes against pornography, Solidarity said in a statement.

It launched its Helping Hand campaign after newspaper reports in the past week that MultiChoice, the owner of DSTV, was considering introducing a pornography channel and was researching viewer interest.

MultiChoice spokeswoman Jackie Rakitla said it had been inundated with requests by viewers for adult content on DSTV.

"On the face of it, MultiChoice is not really doing anything wrong, as the Bill of Rights entitles the media to offer viewers a choice," said Dr Danie Langner, the executive director of Helping Hand, an organisation set up by Solidarity to act on child crimes.

"However, children's rights will be violated if the decision is made to offer pornographic channels," he said.

"As [former] President [Nelson] Mandela rightly said, the character of a nation is measured by the way it treats children.

"If one looks at the Bill of Rights, it is clear that the best interests of children are of crucial importance in respect of every issue that affects them," Langner said.

A Helping Hand report last year on crimes against children showed that 77 percent of molesters of boys and 87 percent of molesters of girls used pornography and acted it out on their victims.

"Pornography promotes perverseness and research shows that it is not true that rape and sexual abuse decrease when pornography is freely available," he said.

Langner also referred to the recent case of Cézanne Visser, also known as Advocate Barbie, who was recently found guilty on 11 charges including sexual assault, possession and production of child pornography.

"This once again put the spotlight on the danger that pornography poses to children. There is a strong correlation between pornography and child molestation," he said.

"All those who watch pornography are not necessarily molesters, but according to experts all child molesters watch pornography."

The Helping Hand report found, among other things, that victims of sexual abuse knew their perpetrators in 90 percent of cases.

"Perversion is aroused by pornography [and] because family members or acquaintances are largely responsible for abuse, child abuse will increase dramatically," Langner said.