SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Ohio-based ultra-conservative group, Citizens for Community Values (CCV), has placed a billboard on a major South Dakota throughway which reads "LodgeNet Profits from Porn" to protest the S.D.-based media service provider's decision to offer adult movies. According to a recent report, the billboard is just one of several tactics the group is using, which will include a news conference next week in Sioux Falls. The CCV has also launched a number of radio ads in the area, attacking the pornography industry.
The CCV, which is associated with Focus on the Family, is trying to pressure the South Dakota U.S. Attorney to investigate LodgeNet for what it believes are violations of federal law.
"[The CCV] may not like what a particular person watches, but the great genius of our government is that it doesn't legislate what people watch in the privacy of their home or hotel room, and the CCV is out to change that," Ann Parker, director of corporate communications at LodgeNet, told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
LodgeNet offers a variety of movies on-demand and internet services in hotel rooms. The company, which also offers a number of parental control options, must abide by national cable and satellite TV standards.
"We want LodgeNet out of the porn business," Phil Burress, president of the CCV, told the Argus Leader. "They are the largest provider of hardcore pornography to hotels in America."
Parker told the Argus Leader that "LodgeNet believes in giving customers a choice, whether that be Disney, ESPN or Howard Stern. Frankly, we're offended that this outside group is trying to come in and tell South Dakotan citizens what they can and cannot watch."
Legal
- By
