Porn Industry Begins Selling Adult Films Online

By Linda Orlando

For years there has been lots of buzz in Hollywood about proposed plans to let consumers buy movies online, burn them onto DVDs, and watch them whenever they want to on their own television just as though they had purchased them at a store. Most of the larger studios have recently begun selling films over the Internet, and buyers can burn a backup DVD, but the movies can be played only on a computer, not a DVD player. But now the porn industry has trumped that initiative by selling their movies online and letting people watch them on television.

Hollywood typically makes more money from the DVD sales of movies than they do in movie theaters. For that reason, studios are reluctant to cause friction with large retailers such as Blockbuster and Wal-Mart, so they are hesitant to sell DVD downloads directly to consumers, cutting out the middle man. But the adult film industry doesn’t have the same worries, because most of their sales are done in specialty stores and catalogs rather than large chain retailers. "We don’t have to divvy up the pie," says Bill Asher, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment, the largest distributor of adult entertainment. "We sell in smaller stores, mainstream chains, but no one dominant component where we’re going to get that phone call."

Adult film companies actually pioneered the home video market years before Hollywood began offering movies on video. Even though Hollywood studios are still trying to figure out how they can let consumers buy DVDs online and burn them to watch on television, the porn industry is again paving the way for a new technology. "Leave it to the porn industry once again to take the lead on this stuff," said Michael Greeson, founder of a consumer electronics think tank in Plano, Texas. "The rest of Hollywood stands back and watches and lets the pornography industry work out all the bugs."

Mainstream studios are still trying to figure out the best way for them to solve the problems faced by offering downloadable DVDS for consumers to burn to discs that can be played on a DVD player. Both Warner Bros. and Universal Studios have instituted hybrid programs in other countries where consumers who buy movies online and download them can also receive a DVD copy in the mail. The ultimate goal of the studios, analysts say, is for major movies and TV shows to be sent through the Internet directly to television sets, bypassing DVDs and DVD players altogether.

Greeson says that concept is certain to happen, and it’s probably not far away. "How about I just turn my set on and press Go? That’s the holy grail." But first, Hollywood must find out how they can placate retailers, movie theaters, and broadcast affiliates whose bottom lines would be severely affected by the changes. "The more they champion Internet distribution directly to the consumer, the more it seems they’re turning their back on their old media partners, which they can’t afford to do," Greeson says.

The adult film industry, reveling in their ability to forge ahead with online sales of DVD-burnable movies, is already leading the way, and consumers hope that the major studios will soon follow. "The vanguard here is porn," says Greeson. "They made a tremendous amount of money on the Web, but they know they can make more money if they get to the living room."