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NEWS > BUSINESS > PORN INDUSTRY NOT STIMULATED WITH LATEST PACKAGE AS ECONOMY STAYS LIMP
PORN INDUSTRY NOT STIMULATED WITH LATEST PACKAGE AS ECONOMY STAYS LIMP
February 18 2009
Washington, DC – With the $787 billion stimulus package officially signed into law by President Obama the new administration feels that it has started to put the country back on the right track. While acknowledging that the road to recovery will be a long one the President feels that this effort at recovery will be successful in the long term, at least for those industries, companies, and people receiving a share of the money.
One industry that will not be receiving a cut of the package is the adult entertainment industry which has been suffering not only as a result of the economic downturn, but also as a result of changing technologies. Before Obama took office, ‘Penthouse’ founder Larry Flynt and ‘Girls gone Wild’ founder Joe Francis advocated a $5 billion dollar bailout for the industry, a plea which has gone unnoticed by the new administration.
The mainstream adult industry grosses approximately $14 billion annually, only a small chunk of the economy compared to the auto industry which has received the bulk of the attention over the bailout. Nonetheless the very profitable industry has been under assault of late as revenues dip and profits dip even further.
“Porn has enjoyed massive profits for decades and they are obviously eager to keep enjoying them. The limited economy has affected them in ways slow times in the economy have never done before for a number of reasons but the biggest one is the widespread availability of free porn on the web,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “The adult industry was widely accepted as one of those that would be bullet proof in the 
face of economic decline but as the population ages and the price of legitimate adult DVD’s stays the same inevitably profits are going to dip. They are finding out what the music and movie industries found out a long time ago, though are equally unwilling to admit. That the world is changing as technology changes and that the younger audience’s appetites and philosophy is fundamentally shifting. People don’t want to pay $50 for a disc anymore, especially not when they can get it for free and in shorter, more manageable clips.”
Many saw the bailout plea as more of a publicity stunt by two of the industry’s most bombastic entrepreneurs but as the economy worsens the need is becoming more and more of a reality. Recently New York State officials have proposed a 4% tax on all downloads issued from within the state including all adult oriented downloads.
“The last thing any of us need is an additional tax,” said Steven Hirsch, CEO of Vivid Entertainment Group. “These are very difficult times and nobody can afford to lose even one customer.”
“Employers and workers across the board are suffering massive declines and this is just one more that is going to have to adjust. The margins they have enjoyed for years are going to suffer and they are just going to have to realize that. The porn industry is nothing like say the automobile industry. Production costs are much higher, wages are much higher, and infrastructure is much higher. Porn moguls are simply going to have to learn to live with less,” continued Green. “The economy is going to stay limp for the foreseeable future and some industries may not come out of it at all. Mainstream porn companies are losing their stranglehold on people’s private lives and private parts and they may not come out of it at all. Maybe all their years of stimulating people should earns thema cut of the stimulus package, but that seems a little unlikely.”
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > PORN INDUSTRY NOT STIMULATED WITH LATEST PACKAGE AS ECONOMY STAYS LIMP
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