The issue of net neutrality took front and center stage as the country geared up for the National Conference for Media Reform, which took place in June, and many of us in the online adult entertainment industry have good reason to be concerned. "Net neutrality" refers to the ideal that websites should be streamed to Internet users' computers at the same speed regardless of the site, content or operator. At issue is whether cable operators should be allowed to impose multiple tiers of Internet speed for different service providers based on whether they pay to be hosted on a "fast-line" or whether the government should enact laws so all users and website providers have equal access to distribution.
So How Will Net Neutrality Affect Online Adult Businesses?
The simple answer is that big, established companies like Wicked Pictures, Playboy, Penthouse, etc., will probably be OK. These are typically owned by large media conglomerates that can easily afford to buy premium streaming services from the network operators, though the cost of such services will likely increase as they offset their added overhead costs by passing this expense on to the consumer with higher subscription premiums. But beyond further stratification of the elite porn production houses and eager start-ups and middle-of-the-road content providers, there are a few other important implications that demonstrate why it's important for everyone to be aware of the laws pertaining to a "neutral net" that are currently being proposed in Congress.
If the government doesn't protect net neutrality, what will happen to the online adult industry?
Quite a bit actually, as streaming media will definitely be more directly affected than print media, due to its inherently high bandwidth consumption. Since virtually everything related to marketing, selling and delivering adult content online is bandwidth intensive, it's reasonable to expect the online adult industry to undergo some dramatic changes as it adjusts to a multiple-tiered Internet.
Here is a short list of possible effects a World Wide Web without net neutrality would have on the online porn business:
1. Higher costs for porn. Porn will have its place on the Web with net neutrality being enforced or not, though the effectiveness of porn sites will greatly rely on their ability to adopt business models that cater to a multi-tiered Internet based on bandwidth allocation. The most noticeable adjustment likely will be to their subscription costs, which will spread to nearly every porn service on the Web.
2. Slower porn downloads. The other alternative to more expensive porn would be to have slower porn, which seems a bit confusing, since we have the technology to offer all sites at the same speed - why would we intentionally slow some down while speeding some up?
3. Less diversity. With only expensive high-end websites able to afford the costs of premium broadband access, adult content producers will only find it profitable to shoot scenes with models and scenarios with broad market appeal.
4. Restriction of tube sites. Tube sites such as iPorn and YouTube would be heavily restricted as their profit models require high bandwidth resources and derive no direct profit from streaming this content between millions of users worldwide. With no business model to support expensive Tier 1 broadband access, these sites would only be profitable if run in lower (slower) tiers or operated in tandem with a major adult distributor as a marketing tool to promote premium services or direct DVD sales.
5. Rethinking traditional marketing techniques. With high bandwidth access costs for webmasters, most every adult webmaster pushing traffic for profit would be relegated to the lower tier of the Internet and become fairly useless for surviving adult content providers. So much for TGPs, video trailers, directory pages, and all those other wonderful adult webmaster resources that had become tried and true staples of online adult marketing.
6. Further censorship. Broadband access providers could potentially be liable for any obscene content they allow to use premium steaming services, which could prompt them to more closely supervise and restrict access to free speech for any content that does not meet their legal requirements, regardless of First Amendment protection of the press: Essentially they are the press, editors, and censors all in one, and "we the people" have no recourse against how these public companies monitor and authorize websites to gain access to premium broadband.
Conclusion: It seems likely that the business interests lined up against net neutrality will prevail in setting up the undemocratic systems suggested by the telecom and cable companies to establish a multiple tiered Internet as early as 2012. While porn will undoubtedly continue to thrive and grow under any media restraints, unless citizens speak up and contact our country's politicians to urge them to implement legal protection for the Internet, it is likely the face of the online adult industry will dramatically change, and not necessarily for the benefit of us all.
-- Jason B. Hart is the president of Northstar Productions.
This article originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of AVN Online. To subscribe, visit AVNMediaNetwork.com/subscribe.
