BOULDER, CO – In a press release issued last week, New Frontier Media Inc., parent company to The Erotic Networks (TEN), announced that the company was holding a “day-long celebration honoring the Company’s victory over Playboy Enterprises, Inc.”In the press release, New Frontier stated that in documents released to affiliates earlier this month, “Playboy announced the discontinuance of the following network brands effective November 1… Spice, Spice 2, Spice Hot, Spice Live, Spice Platinum, Hot Zone, Hot Network, Hot Net Plus, and Playboy TV Classic.” The release also noted that Playboy’s Taste of Spice and Spice HD services were cancelled earlier this year.
“We’ve consulted industry experts and believe that this is the most extensive network shake-up in the history of the multi-channel business,” said Ken Boenish, President of New Frontier, in the release.
For its part, Playboy appears to have not given up the fight, just yet; announcing the launch of four new channels last week, including Club Jenna, a new channel featuring adult superstar, Jenna Jameson.
According to the release, the other three channels are: “Spice:Xcess,” which the release states will feature “content from Web sites, as well as fetish and ethnic programming;” “fresh!” which will offer “and reality-based programming;” and “shorteez” which Playboy calls a showcase for “short-form programming.”
Playboy also announced reaching a distribution deal with EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network to carry Spice Digital Networks, and company officials say Playboy is in “carriage discussions” with other cable and satellite providers, as well.
Boenish, however, appears unimpressed with Playboy’s new product line and thinks distributors should be skeptical, too.
“Playboy has shut down all of its adult movie brands, replaced them with complete startup services, and expects cable and satellite operators to simply go along,” Boenish said. “We think this is a great opportunity for distributors to reconsider their adult strategy and switch to networks with proven performance.”
New Frontier says that since its launch in 1998, TEN has grown from a “standing start” to the point where it now “reaches 126 million households.”
