A pair of advocacy groups launched a petition and letter-writing drive Friday
to force Playboy Channel, The Hot Network and other adult entertainment services
off the channel lineups of merging cable operators AT&T Broadband and
Comcast Corp.
The National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families and the
Religious Alliance Against Pornography joined forces to launch the drive after a
round of meetings and communication in recent months with executives from the
two MSOs.
Under the 'Fight Corporate Porn' campaign, consumers are asked to signed a
petition located at the National Coalition's Web site or to send letters to
Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts and AT&T Corp. CEO C. Michael Armstrong.
National Coalition CEO Rick Schatz said the campaign's intent is to get
AT&T Broadband and Comcast out of the pornography business and for them to
stay out.
'Despite the profitability of this part of the cable business, we hope to
show them that pornography is bad for business and for their corporate
reputations,' he said in a press release.
Comcast and AT&T Broadband spokespeople declined to address the situation
directly. In separate statements, both operators reiterated their policies on
giving their customers wide programming choice while making parental-control
devices available to block out inappropriate-deemed content.
'Comcast has taken and will continue to take appropriate measures to ensure
that parents can control what their children are watching ... We trust our
customers to make their own choices about purchasing and viewing programming,'
the Comcast spokesperson noted.
'We carry a wide range of programming to meet the needs of our customers, but
we provide customers with the control they need to control what programming is
available to their individual households,' an AT&T Broadband spokesperson
said.
