Still Relevant – Frontline’s “American Porn”

Watch it here. Below is an excerpt from a review:

… the real success of the program lies in its ability to provide tangible examples of the increasingly closer connection between pornography and community-sanctioned corporations. While not as visually enticing, a significant part of the first fifteen minutes of the documentary resembles a CNN special on the influence of technology on communications, Internet, and hotel companies. There is little mention of the content of pornography (nor are there the audio-visual aids to accompany it), but lots of emphasis on the economic and historical changes of the industry. The corporate giant AT&T is reaping huge financial benefits through ownership of its cable network AT&T Broadband, which shows explicit porn on channels such as the Hot Network. General Motors, which owns Direct-TV, receives big profits every time an adult movie is purchased by viewers across America. Now, it seems, there are infinitely more ways to sell a dirty picture, and pornography has become associated with some big American brand names. Hotel chains are part of the association, too. As an amenity in large hotel chains, pay-per-view adult films are made available by one of two major distribution companies:Lodgenet or On-Command Video. Even internet companies such as Yahoo!, a search engine used in millions of American households, make money by selling ads and links to porn websites. Both sides of the business equation are satisfied: the mainstream companies receive large profits and the porn industry gets the stamp of approval by legitimate businesses. …