The Hot Network portrays people having sex in a variety of methods—what the company calls “widely accepted sexual activity” — and prohibits scenes of violence, nonconsensual sex, drug use, forced bondage and sex with minors.
Analysts of electronic commerce and telecommunications say the mainstream sex market might be leveling off, but new technology is likely to bring in even more consumers.
“The novelty of it has not worn off yet, and I don’t believe it will wear off,” said Sean Calder, a vice president for e-commerce at Nielsen/Net Ratings, which gauges the popularity of Web sites. “The numbers point to a huge personal need. We see lots of people logging on at 3 in the morning.”
The $30 billion project to rewire the cable industry with lines capable of bringing more material, and allowing people to buy on impulse, will play a big part in the emerging home pornography market.
“These companies like AT&T, they’re thinking ahead to a time, perhaps in 10 years, when 50 million Americans will have broadband capability and all their television and Internet will be interactive through one big box,” said Bryn Pryor, technology editor for Adult Video News, the trade magazine.
“But it’s not just technology that made the big boys get into it,” Mr. Pryor said. “This just happens to be a business where you can’t lose money.”
Correction: Wednesday, October 25, 2000: An article on Monday about investments by large companies in sexually explicit entertainment referred incompletely to the relationship between the News Corporation and the EchoStar Communications Corporation, which provides explicit films by satellite to subscribers. The article quoted a lawyer for a video store owner in Provo, Utah, as saying that his client’s prosecution was unfair because many companies that provided “adult” entertainment were heavily backed by large corporations, including the News Corporation.
At the time of the trial, which ended on March 31, 1999, the News Corporation owned about 37 percent of EchoStar, but by the next reporting period, in June 1999, the holding was reported as 14 percent.
The News Corporation’s last federal filing shows an 11 percent stake but a spokesman said the corporation’s share in EchoStar was now down to 6 percent. The spokesman also said the News Corporation had no direct control over EchoStar and no direct financial investment in “adult” films.