Penthouse Challenges Playboy With TV Channel
New Frontier Licenses Penthouse TV Brand for Adult Movies From Magazine
By Steve Donohue -- Multichannel News, 9/18/2007 11:16:00 AM
The battle between Penthouse and Playboy is moving from magazine stands to pay-per-view and video-on-demand channels, following a deal New Frontier Media struck with Penthouse to develop Penthouse TV programming.
Similar to the way Penthouse magazines offers more revealing photography than Playboy, Penthouse TV will be edgier and more hardcore than Playboy TV programming, according to New Frontier president Ken Boenish.
“We’ve actually tested Penthouse through some consumer research. While both brands [Penthouse and Playboy] are highly recognizable by content, Penthouse is recognized as hotter and more erotic, which are two attributes that matter most to pay-per-view customers,” Boenish said.
New Frontier is pitching cable TV operators, DirecTV and Dish Network a video-on-demand Penthouse TV channel, and a 24-hour pay-per-view network. While the company hasn’t yet struck any carriage deals, Boenish said he’s confident that New Frontier will have deals in place in six months to launch Penthouse TV.
New Frontier distributes several other adult networks, including The Erotic Network (TEN), Clips, Xtasy, TEN Blue, Ten Blox, Real, PLZ and TEN on Demand.
