AT&T peddles porn

AT&T is to carry The Hot Network - a hardcore adult move channel - and take a fat load of money with it. Digital TV is a costly affair and so the company has turned to man's (and woman's) baser instincts to get some much-needed cash. Family-friendly companies Time and Warner turned the deal down.

So how does AT&T justify its forced entry into the world of porn? It's all to do with freedom of choice of course. Giving consumers what they want - capitalism's great excuse for any form of behaviour. The pay-per-view movies were described by Hot Network's president Bill Asher as "halfway between the Playboy Channel and what you see in your corner adult-video store".

At $7.95 a pop (excuse the pun) and offering around 90 per cent of revenue to AT&T, the company looks to be in for a big earner. The $7.95 is paid even if people fail to watch the whole movie.

So is it hats off or trousers down to AT&T? Well, in a world where you can see people being blown away on free-access TV nearly every day, showing a bit of sex might be a good thing. In the UK, we tend to get it more than we see it - now that can't be right. ®