Major Corporations Profit from Porn
[Updated June 25, 2007]
The profits from porn movies and phone sex flow through several "blue-chip" American corporations. These include Holiday Inn, Marriott, AOL Time Warner, Comcast, EchoStar Communications, DirecTV, Adelphia, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems and AT&T. If you own shares in these companies, you might consider discussing the matter with their shareholder relations departments, or simply selling their shares.
For more information about corporate porn profits, and how some of these find their way into national politics, see "ADDICTED TO PORN: Members of Congress Accept Contributions from Porn Purveyors" (PDF).
The New York Times explores the advance of porn into major corporations in "Wall Street Meets Pornography" (10/23/00):
...some of the biggest corporations in America, including a hotel chain [Marriott] whose board of directors includes W. Mitt Romney, president of the Salt Lake City Olympics organizing committee, and a satellite broadcaster heavily backed by Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the News Corporation, were selling [porn]...
The General Motors Corporation, the world's largest company, now sells more graphic sex films every year than does Larry Flynt, owner of the Hustler empire. The 8.7 million Americans who subscribe to DirecTV, a General Motors subsidiary, buy nearly $200 million a year in pay-per-view sex films from satellite, according to estimates provided by distributors of the films, estimates the company did not dispute. [To read about DirecTV's current owners, such as the Murdoch family, click here.]
EchoStar Communications Corporation, the No. 2 satellite provider, whose chief financial backers include Mr. Murdoch, makes more money selling graphic adult films through its satellite subsidiary than Playboy, the oldest and best-known company in the sex business, does with its magazine, cable and Internet businesses combined...
AT&T Corporation, the nation's biggest communications company, offers a hard- core sex channel called the Hot Network to subscribers to its broadband cable service. It also owns a company that sells sex videos to nearly a million hotel rooms. Nearly one in five of AT&T's broadband cable customers pays an average of $10 a film to see what the distributor calls "real, live all-American sex — not simulated by actors...
None of the corporate leaders of AT&T, Time Warner, General Motors, EchoStar, Liberty Media, Marriott International, Hilton, On Command, LodgeNet Entertainment or the News Corporation — all companies that have a big financial stake in adult films and that are held by millions of shareholders — were willing to speak publicly about the sex side of their businesses.
"How can we?" said an official at AT&T. "It's the crazy aunt in the attic. Everyone knows she's there, but you can't say anything about it..."
Some of the most popular Web properties — which feature quick links to sites labeled "Virgin Sluts" and "See Teens Have Sex" — are owned by a publicly held company in Boulder, Colo. That company, New Frontier Media, has stock traded like any other, and it expects its video network to be in 25 million homes within a few years. It does business with several major companies, including EchoStar and In Demand, the nation's leading pay-per-view distributor, which is owned in part by AT&T, Time Warner, Advance-Newhouse, Cox Communications and Comcast...
For AT&T, there are sound business reasons to start carrying the highly profitable Hot Network. Unlike distributors of mainstream Hollywood pictures, sex-film distributors typically offer the programmers a split of 80 percent of the revenue, compared with 50 percent or less for routine features...
Hotel chains have made similar decisions when, this year, several groups urged them to get rid of the adult pay-per-view programs that are in nearly 60 percent of all middle- to high-end hotels. Only one chain, the relatively small Omni Hotels, chose to remove the sex films...
Mr. Caldwell [president of Omni] said more than 50 percent of all guests were buying the sex films. "The anonymity is the big thing," he said...
The two companies that provide hotels with pornographic films are both traded on Wall Street and have enjoyed big run-ups in their stock prices over the last few years. The leader, On Command, based in Denver, is worth more than $400 million, and its principal owner is Liberty Media, controlled by John C. Malone, the cable and telecommunications magnate who sits on the board of AT&T and recently agreed to buy up to 15 percent of the shares of Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation...
"Despite the fact that this material isn't marketed, revenue-wise, it's one of our biggest moneymakers," said Peggy Simons of TCI Cable, in court testimony in Mr. Peterman's case. TCI, controlled by Mr. Malone, has since been bought by AT&T.
See also:
Gail Dines Presents: Pornography and Pop Culture (explicit)
The pornography industry's revenue
Annual U.S. revenues
- Estimated revenue for pornography: $12 billion
- Box office for mainstream films: $9 billion
- Estimated revenue for pornography: $57 billion
- Box office for mainstream films: $23 billion
"Men are willing to pay high prices for new technology if they can bring their pornography closer to the home, because the closer to home you bring it, the better the anonymity. And this is what helps increase the use of pornography. The more anonymous you can make it, the better it is..."
"I want us to remember who Howard Stern is... He was last year, the second largest paid entertainer in the world, behind Tom Cruise. He made $302 million last year... I'm just going to take you through, a little bit, who supports him... I want you to see how pornography and pop culture are intertwined economically. In August 2005 Howard Stern revealed on his show that he had signed a deal with In Demand Networks for an on-demand subscription to his show. This was In Demand's first premium video offering...
"Now In Demand is the nation's largest pay-per-view distributor, reaching over 50 million households. It is owned, in part, by TimeWarner and Comcast. TimeWarner also owns HBO, which, of course, regularly features pro-pornography documentaries, late at night, that normalizes pornography. TimeWarner also owns WB Network, which did a reality show with Ron Jeremy, the porn star, whose...hundreds of movies include...White Trash Whore, Black Babes in Heat, and Girls of the Third Reich... He's on the college circuit, lecturing... He's coming to Simmons, across the road to me...and they're paying him $12,000...
"WB is the first network ever to employ a porn actor on a regular basis. TimeWarner also owns Sports Illustrated... It also owns Warner Books, which is just publishing a new book by this magazine, Boink. Now Boink is the BU porn magazine which features 'provocative pictures of real college students from around the country, by students, for students.' You can, by the way, look for it in a bookstore near you in February 2008. The woman who is the editor of Boink got a six-figure advance from TimeWarner."
Comcast is the nation's largest cable company... In 2002, Comcast pulled in $50 million from porn programming alone. Comcast also owns E! Entertainment, which regularly features shows hosted by Jenna Jameson... [H]er bestselling book was published by HarperCollins [How to Make Love Like a Porn Star]...which is owned by Rupert Murdoch...[who] has a major share in DirecTV, [whose] subscribers spend over $200 million a year in pornography."
Omni Hotels Drops Porn, Reaps Rewards
"As a father of two sons, I was uncomfortable with the late-night entertainment available," says Omni's owner and chairman, Bob Rowling. "We didn't want to generate revenue on pornography."
As a result, Omni went to work several years ago to remove the adult channels and movies networked into its rooms. "It was actually more difficult than we anticipated. There was a lot of profit in those movies," Omni Vice President for Marketing Peter Strebel tells Insight. And the entertainment companies that provide the movie channels for hotels were not interested in offering a system for Omni that excluded porn, fearing a dip in profits. "After heavy negotiations we did find a company," says Strebel, striking a deal with LodgeNet, which agreed to exclude the adult channels they offer in other hotels. By shutting out the pornographic movies, the Omni chain of 80 hotels was able to add to its family movie offerings -- and has in fact experienced an increase in movie-rental profits.
"Every day mail gets hoarded into this office. It's almost like Christmas," says Strebel of the more than 50,000 letters of encouragement the hotel has received since banning the video pornography...
CleanHotels.com: A network of lodging facilities that do not offer in-room, 'adult', pay-per-view movies
Our primary purpose is to provide a service through which friends like you can book a room for your vacation, business trip or meeting with the expectation, first, that you and your family or associates will not be exposed to pornographic movies and, secondly, that you will be supporting a facility that cares enough about the wellbeing of its customers not to make harmful pornographic movies available.
I agree with your communities feelings over Capital Video entering you neighborhood. You have every right to protest and do your best to stop them. I wouldn't want my kids around a place like that. However, I strongly feel that if an adult (21yrs of age) chooses to consume pornography (through whatever type of media) they have every right to. I have seen plenty of porn in my life and it hasn't made me treat women in the ways you suggest it does. An intelligent human being knows the difference between fantasy and reality. I hate to tell you this but porn will never go away. I think instead, we need to educate our younger generations to respect not only women , but also each other. There are plenty disrespectful young Americans that have never seen a porn video. Teach them, and then when they are adults let them decide if this is something they wish to view. I wish you the best of luck Northhampton, but at the same time I think you need to get of your high horse...
Reply to this
Thank you for your comments. I'm glad you appreciate our concerns as a community.
We don't assert that everyone who consumes porn will be severely affected, just as not everyone who smokes will get lung cancer. We also agree that abusive behavior predates porn. However, enough people are severely affected by today's porn, or harm others, that concern is warranted. As we wrote in response to another comment:
Reply to this
What you are saying about porn being addicting is true. I went through a period of time in which I would consider myself addicted to porn. It did affect my life and my productivity. However, I feel that addictive tendencies are very common for human beings. As a teenager I was addicted to video games and would stay up all night and sometimes play for over 10hrs straight. We can become addicted to anything and any addiction can be self destuctive. You won't convince me that porn causes child molestation and hurts innocent bystanders though. These large companys ARE making huge profits in the porn industry however. I read that 50% of all hotel guests purchase x rated videos. It's a multi billion dollar industry and it can't be stopped. The U.S Government can't police the entire internet. It would have to be a world wide effort and I just don't see that happening.
What we sould govern is illegal porn. Any one who videos or takes pictures of under age childeren should be severly punished. Anyone who views these types of materials should be punished as well(and I know they are when caught). Fake rape videos should be illegal and violent porn should have more regulations.
It's these bad elements that make all porn look bad.
Reply to this
I sympathize with your desire to regulate videos that depict rape and violence, but that is likely to raise First Amendment concerns and I'd rather not move in that direction. In these areas, we'd rather educate people about the suffering of the performers and the hazards that surround watching this material and having it around the home.
I think we've well demonstrated that adult porn plays a significant role in many cases of child molestation. This suggests to me that, say, if a wife would like to have children, but her husband consumes a lot of porn, she should seriously consider asking him to give up the porn first.
Reply to this
I'm a Adult DVD wholesaler, I saw many cases of addiction, but porn isnt a drug.
The actress and actors are human too and they have life and family like you and me.
I think porn is a nice business for adult people.
If you dont want to watch porn, then dont do it.
Im from venezuela,
ADULT DVD WHOLESALER and ADULT FILM'S PRODUCER
Reply to this
Porn and adult enterprises affect many people beyond the immediate consumer, so this is not just a matter of private choice.
We absolutely agree with you that porn performers should be treated like humans. That would be a major change from the current conditions for most.
We cannot assume that watching porn does not affect the chemistry in the brain. There are suggestions that watching porn, especially violent porn, stimulates the release of testosterone, adrenaline, and other substances that affect behavior. This would help explain the phenomenon of secondary effects, among other things, and is worth further investigation.
Reply to this