TV Porn Sales Plummet

Here’s something that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone with an Internet connection: sales of pay-per-view porn on cable and satellite are plummeting.

The Wall Street Journal digs through DirectTV’s second quarter earnings report to find that the satellite provider cited “lower adult buys” as one of the driving factors behind its weaker pay-per revenue.

Time Warner Cable made a similar admission last week, when it reported that the decreasing demand for adult videos was responsible for more than a third of a $14 million drop in on-demand revenue.

Comcast, likewise, reported declining pay-per-view figures during a conference call this week, but a company spokesman wouldn’t comment to what degree the shrinkage in porn demand contributed to the falling numbers.

The Journal explains:

It is hard to get a fix on how much porn contributes to cable and satellite companies' bottom lines because the companies aren't transparent about it. But adult content has been a consistent source of profit, because cable operators have leverage to command margins that can exceed 90% on rentals of generally interchangeable porn movies, analysts say.

The answer to the revenue woes, at least according to one industry expert, is for cable and satellite companies to look to find their own exclusive niche and not necessarily try to recreate what’s out there on the Web.

"I don't think you want to get down in the trenches and slug it out with cheap porn on the Internet," Vivid Entertainment co-chairman and co-owner Bill Asher told the paper. "Our job is to come up with unique, interesting content, not just more of what's out there."