Provision of video-to-the-home (VTTH) services has been largely dominated by one medium, cable television (CATV). The goal of the 1992 Cable Television Consumer and Competition Protection Act (CTCCPA) was to insure a VTTH services industry in which cable television franchises would face competition from other technologies capable of transporting multichannel video signals to the home. These video-delivery technologies include satellite master antenna television (SMATV), direct broadcast satellite

Hollygopoly: Oligopolistic Competition for (Hollywood) Movies

In 2002, it was estimated that the pornography business, so vital to California economics and turgid male fantasy around the world, generated more than $57 billion dollars in revenue, $12 billion in the United States alone [1]. North American statistics indicate that porn makes more money than Hollywood at the box office, more than the sum of NBC, CBS and ABC’s revenues, more than the music industry generates from record sales, and more than all major professional sports in the United States combined [2]. In other words, porn is no longer flirting with the mainstream; it is the mainstream. It is my belief that the crucial ingredient in the success of the porn business is its adoption of an industrial model based on the Studio System that dominated Hollywood from the 1920s until the late 1960s [3]. Through comparative history of both Hollywood and the pornography industry, I will demonstrate the tremendous similarities between the two, as well as how their respective paths diverged. The definition of pornography is a contentious issue, debated by academics, lawmakers, and activists. Never was this debate more prominent than in the 1960s and 1970s, when obscenity laws in the United States were being challenged on a regular basis. Supreme Court Judge Potter Stewart threw up his hands in 1964 and offered the public an overly simplified demarcation of the line between eroticism and obscenity: ‘I know it when I see it’ [4]. While this may sound vague and flippant, Stewart’s assertion nonetheless is shared by countless others who have struggled to define pornography over the last century, and those who have been reluctant to do so. The denotation of pornography is further complicated by its inherently dynamic nature. Cultural expectations, contexts and limitations of sexual arousal are constantly changing, and it may be easier to pin down a suppliant porn star than a consistent standard for obscenity. Regardless of the lack of a concrete definition, porn is a big business, encompassing magazines, short and feature-length motion pictures, books, images, graphic novels and art. Current estimates place American porn revenue in the billions of dollars. Some major adult entertainment companies today make more money than their mainstream Hollywood studio counterparts. While the main goal is to make money, the intent of ‘adult entertainment’ is primarily to titillate and arouse, usually to the point of masturbation and, ultimately, sexual gratification.

Nicola Simpson

Papers

Coming attractions: A comparative history of the Hollywood Studio System and the porn business