First it was childbirth, then a scandal involving supposed virgins now a Florida company says it plans to broadcast a sex-change operation live on the Internet. "This is not a hoax," said Mr Jonathan Ogden, chief technology officer of privately-held Calypso Productions Int. He added that the company's Calypso Health division planned to broadcast live over the Internet a six-hour surgical procedure in November in which a Florida resident would be transformed from a man into a woman.

He said Calypso Productions had "been developing pay per call and Internet brands since 1990, including adult Website brands, and this site is our foray into the health and medicine arena . . . this is the launch of Calypso Health."

The patient had already been planning to undergo the operation before reaching an agreement with the company to broadcast it, he said.