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Playboy Plans To Become More Explicit

Cable World, June 30, 2003

Byline: ANDREA FIGLER

Playboy Television Networks president Jim English plans to create more original programming, especially more explicit adult content, to stop the downward slope of adult movie buys.

People are buying fewer movies, English says, because they're getting bored with the same old pornography. And, he charges, it doesn't help that cable operators are charging more for the movies. "We need a way to support the higher price."

Playboy plans to put live shows on its more explicit channels such as The Hot Network and The Hot Zone this fall. The shows will mimic the live portions of Spice Clips, which airs on DirecTV.

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The adult provider also will increase the live portions of Spice Clips, which has a female host that fields explicit phone calls and plays movie clips relating to the topic at hand. Currently, this show runs four nights a week, three hours a night. It will be renamed Spice Originals and repurposed for all Playboy networks.

English started testing the idea after opening a new $30 million studio last year. The first month Spice Clips ran, which totaled about 48 hours, Playboy had to turn down 20,000 calls. Five months later, those calls increased to 117,000.

Another live show is tentatively called The Nooner. Geared toward younger women, it will have couples call in while sex scenes play in the background. English plans to launch this in October for about four hours during the day.

Playboy TV is also coming out with a softer, reality-style show called The Extreme Truth in August. The show features couples that have been hypnotized as an effort to enhance their sexual relationships. Sessions are videotaped and viewed by the couple afterward.

Deana Myers, a senior analyst at Kagan World Media, says this original programming helps differentiate Playboy. "It's something different that goes a little bit further than what the other networks can do."

Technology Industry

Playboy Plans To Become More Explicit

Cable World, June 30, 2003

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