Forget Skin-a-max, Hardcore Porn PPV Key to Cable’s Future

It has long been one of the cable TV’s dirty little secrets, but PPV porn is a major profit maker for companies like Comcast and DirectTV.  In the past, the option to access hardcore porn via PPV was not loudly touted, but it seems like these troubled times call for some changes:

Late last year, Rupert Murdoch’s DirecTV quietly ended its moratorium on hyping adult video-on-demand offerings on other channels. Meanwhile, the nation’s largest cable company, Comcast may soon start promoting adult content, though on a region by region basis, insiders say.(via)

Of course, many wonder how much longer cable co’s can compete against the internet, a technology, some would argue, designed largely as a cheap/free porn delivery service. Much like non-porn content, people will tend to take the easiest path toward acquisition. PPV offers a quick, simple delivery method and a high-quality picture.

It’s not clear if the ability to offer hardcore porn on demand via a cable box is going to be enough of an incentive to keep people hooked up, however, considering that online porn does not require an existing cable subscription.

Finally, it’s generally not a good sign when your business has to rely on this sort of content to stay profitable – unless your business is porn.

Cable Companies Fight Losing Battle for Exclusivity

The cable companies have had it pretty good for quite some time.  A virtual monopoly over TV-hungry Americans often not even facing the competition of another cable company led to skyrocketing rates and consistently poor customer service – but there just wasn’t an alternative.

Now, with the explosion of easy-to-use online options for viewing traditional TV programming the cable companies are facing their first real threat (sorry DirectTV, a strong rain knocks out your service…) and they are responding my lowering their rates, offering ala carte pricing and overhauling their approach to customer service…Jusk kidding.  They’re not doing any of those things:

SNL Kagan pegs overall subscription revenue from telecoms, satellite companies and MSOs at around $22.5 billion in 2008. Cable companies want their deals to include online and set-top VOD access to everything they already pay for with cable network license fees or, in some cases, retransmission fees—and they don’t want to compete with services that don’t pay.

That would include Boxee, the media center-like service that easily can deliver HD-quality internet video to the TV screen but is losing access to Hulu content Friday at the request of the JV’s content providers. That access is being pulled, at least in part, because of ongoing negotiations with cable providers. They also aren’t thrilled by Hulu, which has the rights to everything it distributes. (via)

The problem for the cable companies is not all that different for the one facing record labels – there is no longer a true scarcity and without that scarcity it will become increasingly difficult for the cable companies to convince viewers they’re worth the expense.  If they lose subscribers they will not be eager or able to pay the hefty licensing fees charged by the networks.  Unfortunately for the cable companies, what they offer is becoming obsolete and the networks won’t need them for distribution and will find another way to make money (or not) by offering their programming more directly to the consumer.

While they may fight it for a while, the cable companies will be a thing of the past, at least as we know them today.

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• CBS Interactive: “Well Within Our Rights To Stream Hulu Content” (techcrunch.com)
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• Why the rest of us couldn’t care less if Hulu is pulled from Boxee (inquisitr.com)

As Screens Converge Will We Become Platform Agnostic?

There is word in the NYT (ok, I’m sure it’s elsewhere too but I just don’t have the energy to dig up the links) that Time Warner Cable (my monopoly-tastic super-over-priced NYC cable company) is planning to bring the internet onto the television.  So says Chief Executive Glenn Brit:

“Within a relatively short time … it’s going to be very easy to get Internet TV on your big screen TV,” he said, estimating it would take between one to two years to popularize such technology already sold by the likes of Apple Inc.

I’m not totally clear on the difference between having the internet on my TV and “Internet TV.”  Sounds like some sort of proprietary browser with limited access will be in play… still, for everyone claiming cable is going to lose to the internet might want to reconsider.  Instead of a winner and a loser we’re just going to have more media in one place.