Could Free Internet Porn Lead To Higher Cable Bills?

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While mainstream content providers continue looking for ways to put their videos behind paywalls, there is no shortage of adults-only footage available online for absolutely no cost to the viewer (or so we’ve been told). But could this fleshy free-for-all end up causing your cable to company to look at increasing your monthly bill?

The glut of gratis porn available online is taking business away from the cable companies that have heretofore made mounds of money off customers’ naked desires. Time Warner Cable recently announced that it’s video-on-demand revenue dropped by $14 million in the second quarter of 2011 alone, and that at least a third of that — so at least $4.6 million — represents losses on adult titles.

“The biggest piece of the year-over-year decline was, in fact, in the adult category,” said TWC president Robert Marcus in a conference call to investors.

Cable providers certainly can’t compete with free online porn, and analysts say cable companies are losing on-demand ground to rental streaming services like the ones operated by Apple and Amazon. Unless TWC and others can find new ways to make up for that lost revenue, it would make sense for them to do the one thing they know how to do well — raise your cable bill.

TWC’s blue news [NY Post]

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