General Video
Before the rise of the internet, Reuben Sturman's creation General Video of America distributed about 80% of American hardcore movies and magazines.
Supposedly made up of independently owned franchises, GVA still seems centrally controled by Sturman's successor, convict Melvin Kaminsky of Cleveland.
The late Sturman "is like Capone," writes Brad Williams on RAME. "If the Feds can't prove you're a crimelord, they turn to the IRS who can trip you up every time if you're trying to run a con game with money.
"Sturman also owns Capitol News, a subsidiary of GVC. Capital News owns about 45 porn stores scattered from chicago to Denver.
"In a nutshell, if you're the largest distributor of wholesale porn, you have a LOT of influence on what is actually made. If GVC won't distribute your flick, you have lost a great chunk of the market, and will have to turn to another distributor like National where you won't get as good of a deal nor the coverage."
In a letter to AVN (April 1995) performer Nick Long mentions that GVA has a written policy sent to all manufacters, that they will not accept any squirt, candlewax, pregnant, etc, types of deviant tapes. According to Long, John T. Bone removed all of Kerri Downs' numerous squirts in Sgt. Pecker's Lonely Hearts Club Gangbang. "Bone isn't a nobody and if GV can force him to change the content of his videos, how much influence do they have on the content of other producers products?
"GVC is actually the buyer of porn from the producer/porn
company, then they sell it to retailers. While some companies like Vivid also do their own mail-order, they sell far and away the bulk of their material to GVA.
"GVA also does a great job of muffling any news on them by
AVN. AVN never mentions dick about GVC, but they go nuts when some actress bounces a $20 check or something trivial. Nobody f---s with or does any digging around Sturman and GVC's near-monopoly. Wonder why? I think it was Patrick Collins that estimated that GVC had over 80% of the market.
"I don't know if GVC is as profitable as you might think. With over 7,500
new releases a year to distribute as well as a humongously-growing catalog,
it would take some shrewd buying and discounting. Of course, if your main
interest is to launder money from other sources, you don't really care
if you lose money on a lot of movies you distribute wholesale."