Tuesday, December 26th, 2000

Major Streaming Company Wants To Talk To Vivid

Connectvexx@aol.com writes: Hey Luke... Cool site and great informative "depth" (whatever that means). This note isn't really for listing its more informative and from a business perspective. I wanted to know who, directly, I could talk to about bringing porn, on-demand, to the TV. Super high level Background: I am a founder of a major streaming media company and we bring video-on-demand into the home. Our software transforms media to be displayed proportionately on a users TV. I'm aggregating content from major record labels and studio's (can't list those here). Now I want adult stuff. Nobody is doing internet adult entertainment to the TV and that could be a huge coming out (more ways then one!). I've had a few drinks at this point so I thought I'd throw this leader out. If you know people at Vivid, or other content owners/license holders, feel free to pass on this note.

Other note: I tried to catch Kendra in Hartford the week of 12/13 and missed her. How can someone contact her? She's sweet (despite what other readers have to say) and would love to see her at a show. Her sites suck for info (whoever she's contracting that out to, I can do a TON better).

I want to be careful with contacts. This is a serious business inquiry and I don't want to get a bunch of BS back from people. You seem like a reasonable guy (interactions in your interviews not withstanding). To be honest, to thoroughly discuss the business opportunity in detail they would have to be positioned to sign an NDA, be a viable enterprise, etc. Thats why I thought Vivid and the Hot Network might be the best place to start. In short, I'm not sure that posting it might be the right thing yet. I trust your judegement though (not sure why; must be the beer).

Alien@SinCityFilms.com writes: Hey luke for Connectvexx@aol.com It's the beer:)

Luke is genuine, but ya might want to check out the boards or email who ya want to do business with, build an adult site that showcases your product. I have talked with several "VOD providers" and not a single one has provided me with a decent sample of there technology, well actually not a single sample come to think of it. I have had people explaine to me satelite relay style VOD system's and Fiber optic backbone s--- that might work in metro politan area's but not all. It breaks down to reaching those audiences with broadband access of course and hitting the target audience within those specific Metropolitan regions with advertising. If you have an edge on driving broadband herds by region then you have something in itself there. VOD through Windows Media, Real and other proprietary streaming media platforms is all done, but what is not done is TVset top VOD with a decent 640x480 playback using the power of the net be it Satelite, or Fiber Optics etc. You got that I am sure you got many peoples attention. Sin City has VOD to a degree and it is quite early in the game at 320x240, we sell time whole sale to webmasters and they are able to resell it themselves to audiences. This is a web product not a TV product unless ya got WEBTV or somthin similer. Our Technology hinges on Windows media player and a server component a whole sale purchaser install's on there host server that communicates with our VOD mainframes. It works with NT servers, or Unix Based systems. See to the right frame of lukes site our VOD banner it might give a better description. By the way are you from that Mountain View Firm in California if so you got my attention:)

Reflections On Internet Porn

Frank says: Luke takes his website seriously but that does not mean that it should always be taken literally. Much of what he does is for entertainment. Much of it is satire.

RJB had a lot to lose, that's why he told Luke to ease up. RJB is a lot like Amway. It's hard for RJB to control its reps. And it is the reps which got RJB into trouble with the Federal Trade Commission.

Luke's a day by day friend. Depending on what he does to me that day, he's my friend. Every time Luke calls me, he's very nervous. He doesn't know whether I'm going to pick up the phone or not. Because he never knows where he stands with me.

Rick Muenyong and consequently Kevin Blatt (who gets a percentage for negotiating the deal) are very upset that Andy Edmond hasn't paid up as scheduled. It will get ugly if Andy doesn't pay.

It's almost a year to the day that YNOT sold to Edmond. Now it sounds like Andy's crashing and burning.

David Schlesinger from Vivid and the Busty Amateurs crew from San Diego, IGallery porners, along with Kevin Blatt, partied at a sushi restaurant in San Francisco late last week. No business discussed. Porners just drank saki, ate the freshest sushi in the world and spun records.

The real story right now is the life these internet porners are living. Chartering private planes, lush parties, hookers, drugs, booze.... Kids in their 20s making $10,000 plus a week. Some of these kids make more money in one month than many of these video companies make in a year.

These kids were the nerds and social outcasts and losers growing up who are now multimillionaires. Now they look very attractive to the strippers. It's all about the money and the power.

What a movie. Have Joe Peschi play RB (Rich Botto). Jack Nicholson play Ron Levi. Bruce Willis as JoeE.

Yishai Habari. Nobody will come out and say they do business with him. He's married to a pop singer in New York. They have three young daughters. He owns a recording studio.

Same with Seth Warshavsky. Many people did business with him but they wouldn't tell you they did business with him. They don't want the stigma.

Frank writes: I think the net porn industry is in for a rough several years. The only people who claim they're aren't already feeling the effects of a slowing economy are the big advertisers. They're all lying, they know what is going on. Any time you ask them about it they usually respond with something to the effect of "its only you". I've been doing this since 97 and it gets harder to make money every day. Blame it on a tanked stock market, a glut of porn, dvds, dsl, whatever you want, its here, its not just you or me. The guy with the story of the $120 VHS tape has the right thought. We have sites charging $50+/mo for nothing different then the $20/mo site. I welcome a price war, it will mean an end to the big bloated monopolies which have been erected all around us. The lean companies and solo guys will have no problems surviving the coming storm. If I was working at a bloated net porn company, or owed money by one, I'd be concerned. December of 2000 was nothing like that of 97, 98, and 99 for me. Write in to Luke, tell the truth, how was your December of 2000 revenues compared to prior years? No numbers, just better or worse is all the answer you need give.

Orientals

David Clark writes on RAME: Now, I can't really promise anything about the Asian obsession (C'mon, Pat, please join the rest of us -- not "oriental," but "Asian" when refering to the people), but I am supposed to be doing some projects for a couple of studios where they'll be wanting more "mainstream" leads ...

Pat Riley writes on RAME: Nope, Oriental stays. It's the best word to use to refer to those people of mongoloid descent who have the slight lightening of the dumpy mongoloid characteristics prevalent in (say) those from Siberia and it distinguishes (say) Nadia Nyce (who is not Oriental but is Asian) from (say) Asia Carrera (who is both Oriental and Asian).

Further, I make a practice of being politically incorrect. The objection to using Oriental to describe persons is of recent origin and has been foisted upon us by (I suspect) pointy headed ivory tower intellectuals, a group whose noses I take particular pleasure in tweaking. As someone who is part of the supposedly rebellious porn industry you don't seem very rebellious to me.

I'm also considering reverting "gay" to its original meaning and refusing to use it to describe a homosexual male.

Thom Burr replies: As much as I despise the ivory-tower set, the switch from Oriental to Asian seems to be a case of semantic drift. Compare it to the way the term Negro changed to Colored which in turn changed to Black which later changed to African-American and finally semi-changed to People of Color. (My British cousin, who recently moved to the US, got in trouble for confusing "Colored" with "People of Color".) Obviously, the latter case is an example of purely prescriptive semantics. I seriously doubt that the trend towards the term "Asian" has anywhere near that kind of enforced momentum. It's voluntary, and many seem to prefer it.

JRob writes: I should imagine that if Oriental adult performers made more than Asian adult performers, then they would damn well insist on being called Oriental. Of course, vice versa.

I also recently ran across the politically correct term "Americanized African." As a Northwestern European American, I proudly refuse to be called an Americanized Northwestern European.

Super Porn Profits

Fronter writes on RAME: The revenue splits are usually about 50-50 for mainstream movies on cable. That, coupled with the fact that the market will not support much more than a $3 to $4 price for pay-per-view mainstream movies makes this content somewhat disappointing for both the cable systems and the studios. Contrast this with the profitability of hardcore cable porn which commands prices of $7 - $10 per movie or programming block and usually allows the cable system to keep 70% to 80% of the revenue. Projections are that cable porn will deliver 40% to 50% of ALL Video-On-Demand revenue once fully deployed. And it's an interesting fact, widely acknowledged by cable industry executives, that the harder porn sells many times better than the softer porn.

Pat Riley writes on RAME: Back in 1979/80 a full feature type porno movie sold on videotape for $120; then the price started to drop until about 1986 when it fell to $40, and now the full length feature is about $20. Two factors came into play: competition which produced a glut of product and gave the consumer lots of choice, and (there's probably a term for it but I'll call it) rarity by which I mean that the consumer hadn't seen the item before and was not familiar with the market and was willing to pay an inflated price for the product. Even if there had been no competition and no new entrants into the porn business, the mfgs would not have been able to sustain the $120 price because as soon as the customer has seen one or two or three movies he would have become bored and would have moved onto something else.

A similar situation exists today with porn on the internet. The customer can sign up at $30 a month but after a few downloads and a few sites, he'll find something better and less costly to do with his time.

At present cable and particularly "harder porn" falls into the same rarity category. It's easier, less risky, etc. than walking down to your local porn shack so the curious will buy a few PPV programs but when the cost begins the sink in even dropping the price won't keep the viewer coming back.

Any projections made today will be distorted by this rarity factor unless the cable systems are savvy enough to realize what's happening and aren't fooled by what amounts to a windfall gain. Either way your scenario of super-porn-profits and therefore political protection is unlikely to happen.

Tim Evanson writes on RAME: America is facing a major cultural schism, much as it did in the 1960s. While a majority of Americans purchases porn in secret, a majority denounces porn in public.

Pat Riley responds: Come on, Tim. Just where do you derive your "majority of Americans purchase porn"? That would be around 140 million people buying porn or if you exclude kids about 100 million. I presume you mean "purchase" as in on some regular basis and I presume you're not counting (say) Cosmopolitan as porn. The porn industry would love it if it were the case but it just ain't so. If you exclude the juveniles (say under 24) the number of people regularly consuming (including renting) porn is a tiny percentage of the population.

Tim writes: Pornography makes three times more money than the Hollywood studios, yet you can't show a man's limp penis on film without getting an NC-17 rating.

Pat Riley replies: Really? Is that why Sony, Paramount (Viacom), Disney etc. are so much smaller than VCA and Vivid? (Reality: they're not smaller; the inverse is true.) And maybe the lack of a limp dick is one of the reasons they're much bigger? Maybe they appeal to a much wider audience?

Tim Evanson: As porn sheds its raincoater image and goes upscale,

Pat Riley: This is your fantasy, right? As moderator, don't you read the postings here? Ya' know: "I really want to see Gina Bigtits do a double anal and then one guy cums in her mouth and the other leans back and jerks off into her open asshole". Anabolic is doing it as I type. Is this what you mean by shedding its raincoater image?

Tim Evanson writes: there are stronger and stronger zoning laws based on the raincoater image of porn stores. As the family values crusade hits television, more and more porn stars cross over into legitimate movie, song, and TV work -- in front of and behind the cameras.

Pat Riley: More fantasy or are you counting appearances on Howard Stern?

Luke Gets Mail

Goddess writes: Just a little heads up, Luke. Today is Mike South's birthday. (Psst: don't tell, but he's 43)

Tom writes: It seems the good-fearing residents of Utah are soliciting applications for the State-funded position of "Porn Czar" read more here: http://www.sltrib.com/12212000/utah/55791.htm I hear that Bill Clinton will not be considered for the job.

Kevin Moore from StunningCurves.com writes: Luke, I've never really thought of myself as news worthy Luke... Yes I was sick and spent some time in the hospital. Sadly the re-launch of our site is now two weeks behind schedule and I'm trying to catch up with everything. Is God punishing me for my sinful life Luke? :)

Shane writes: Hi Luke, well there is alot that I would like to ask you but I think I am overwhelmed a bit and need to process. I like talking to you, I am interested in your personal life and how it meshes with your professional but I am not sure why exactly. Do you realize that you are a bit of an enigma? I have a feeling that you hear from lots of women, I'm not sure in what context they write you but I bet they do. Yet you are single? You said the women that you would marry would not have you, why is that? Aside from the money thing ( you make enough money I would say), is it the job? what kind of women are/were you looking for? Have you given up? Has porn consumed you too, so that you don't have need for the real thing? What about love? Are you lonely? In my mind I see you as somewhat shy, sweet, guarded, an innocent swimming in shark infested waters, when the stereotypical image is of Hefner and his Bunnies cavorting by the pool, or Larry Flynt with a pornstar's breasts in his face. You don't fit that image. What do you want in life and will you get there this way?

Survey says: "The path of least resistance."

Chaim writes: Now stay focused on the real prize - fame the likes of which will do ME some good.

Rumdar: Chaim...Now you are bent over ready to get dicked. If you think Luke is going to bother with any of us if he makes it you must as deluded as ...

Rob writes: aaahhhhhh. But when Luke makes it we can all sell our Luke stories to the tabloid press. Remember to print hard copies of all you Luke emails for the vault.

Rumdar writes Luke: As a teacher I work 4 hours a day four days a week. The pay is OK but not overwhelming. Certainly enough to live a good life, own a home, eat out all the time date and travel (Bangkok coming up)......My Yuppie friends make much more but work at least 14 hours a day and sometimes on the weekends. I know a lawyerette who works til 11 at night Mon. Fri and then goes in on the weekends. So it appears that you have a nice niche carved out. You don't do much. you don't have to take s--- from a boss. You noodle around with crazy porners all day. So what you think? Are you happy??

Chaim writes: Rumdar is right - I cannot think of a better occupation for you than the one you presently have. Consider the plight of all those folks stuck in dull stressful jobs, like Fred. You have it made in the shade.

AVN writes Luke: Shane and Rumdar asked what you wanted in life, if you could get it this way, and if you are happy. Well? from the dildo-infested cubicle of Ashley "The Fearless" Kennedy

Luke says: I just need someone to hold me and make it better. Make the pain go away.

Shane writes: Luke So you want someone to hold you and make the pain go away? It could be done...Or, would you rather watch a video of someone else being held and having their pain taken away? I hear that's almost as good as the real thing, in fact, some people prefer it!

Chaim writes Luke: Wait until you are so filthy rich that you no longer need to be appealing. Let Howard Stern be your guide to how this sort of scam is played. (Except that you do not have a wife to dump.) I am starting to think that even the XXX situation is all a scam on your part to win sympathy from others. (In fact, I am not even sure that such a person exists.)

But what are you doing to take this to the next level of fame? While your current life may be enjoyable to you, you are of no use to me and others living in your hovel. Still, your instincts are right, as evidenced by your choice of temple to pray in.