Be careful when channel surfing; you might get an eyeful of advertisements for pay-per-view porn. But where is the mainstream media's warning to parents and concerned customers?
According to a March 9 article on adage.com, cable and satellite providers such as Comcast and DirecTV, are picking up their effort to boost sales through adult entertainment and the advertisements are expected to appear on more "male-heavy channels such as ESPN and Spike TV." Though the spots may run in the early morning hours of 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., the mainstream media has largely failed to report this news.
USA Today was the only mainstream media outlet that ran the story from Advertising Age. To date, there has been no other mention in network news of the controversial content to air on non-adult-themed channels.
Television providers cite the cheap internet smut and DVD sales with a decrease in their pay-per-view pornography sales. "Five years ago, 90% of our business was DVD," admitted CEO of Digital Playground, a California-based adult studio, Ali Joone said. "This year it will probably be less than 60%. And a lot of the broadcasters, they're putting out the same material out that you can pay for by the minute on the internet. At that point, the consumer is like, ‘I can get this for pennies!'"
According to Joone, PPV is almost 100% profit. "90% of the revenue goes to cable operators," he said. "They have the lion's share of the profits." And while prices on subscription packages for DirecTV and Comcast continue to rise, pornography prices are dropping.
