It’s a busy day at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where swarms of people flood the entrances and bask in the majesty of the trade show that has taken over the Center’s South Hall. The room is bathed in valentine red, from the carpets to the X-rated banners hanging overhead, as scantily clad women slide suggestively down stripper poles at one booth and super-buff and tattooed studs who’ve obviously watched far too many Queer Eye for the Straight Guy reruns sign autographs at another.
Of course, such a spectacle is par the course for the many adult film directors, producers, webmasters, and performers who frequent the annual Erotica L.A. Expo each June, but for some, like “new company on the block” Pink TV, taking part in the yearly trade show is a bit akin to Charlie getting his first peek at (and taste of) the mysteriously intriguing Chocolate Factory.
Which might explain why the company’s president, Jan Verleur, is smiling like a kid in a candy store as he stumbles out of his booth’s “back room” on this busy Sunday afternoon—the last day of the expo. Of course, that fifth glass of Johnnie Walker Blue might have something to do with it as well. “I’m sorry if I seem a little out of it,” Verleur says apologetically but happily. “We’ve done so much business the last few days here, we’re now trying to party it up a bit. We’re having a blast!”
If anyone has reason to party, it’s the folks at Pink TV. Though the adult television network (billed as the very first to be truly interactive) has yet to launch, its staff has been busy over the past two and a half years building an empire that is poised to revolutionalize the adult entertainment industry through its own line of movies, the ability to “connect” with the porn star of your choice, and a slate of quality original programming that rivals anything being done on mainstream cable TV. In fact, Verleur says, comparisons to a certain Emmy-hoarding cable network aren’t that far off the mark.
“We want to be the HBO of adult entertainment,” he declares. “We want to cover every gamut of the industry. That’s the entire thing we’re striving for. We want to have Pink TV original movies and Pink TV original series and program the same way that HBO does.”
If that sounds overly ambitious and lofty, consider this: Verleur, who hails from the Netherlands, comes from a legacy of smart business moves (his father was the president of a Fortune 500 company in the States), and currently serves as a major executive of not only Pink TV, but its parent company, Verleur Capital Ventures, and two other subsidiaries: Ox-Stock Entertainment, LLC and Single Cell Entertainment LLC. He started Verleur Capital in 2003, following a productive career in both tech venture financing and high-end software development and IT consultant. Verleur has developed technology and raised capital for hundreds of high-profile Web projects, including leading companies such as Scientific Atlanta, CNN, and Travelocity.
When he was left high and dry after spending months developing a series of set-top box applications for a major news network that abruptly pulled the plug on the project, Verleur decided it was time to start developing technology for himself. He called upon his team of loyal investors (“I basically have a group of very high-profile investors that have a great deal of trust in me because I’ve always made them money in the past,” Verleur offers) and got to brainstorming.
“We basically analyzed the markets and decided that adult would be a great place to start,” Verleur recalls, “because, if you look at the adult industry, it’s a very segmented industry.
“There are really no predefined leaders,” he explains. “There are some companies that do well, like your Playboys and your Hustlers and your New Frontier Medias, but there’s no one company that really leads the pack, so the market is wide open. And we decided if there is any industry that is relatively recession-proof and, in our opinion, a very high-profile business on the Web, it’s adult.”
Thus, Pink TV was born. Or at least the idea of it, that is.
“For the past two and a half years, we’ve operated entirely unknown to the industry,” Verleur says. “It wasn’t until three months ago that we realized we were far enough ahead that no one would be able to duplicate what we’re doing prior to our launch.”
So what have do they have to show for that time, you ask?
“The network hasn’t been up and running, but there’s an enormous amount to do,” Verleur notes, explaining that he’s been dumping money into creating a full-scale TV network by gutting and completely redesigning a 25,000 square-foot production facility in Miami (complete with administrative offices), hiring a 25-person staff of dedicated and talented professionals, putting 15 young women to work as contract starlets, negotiating deals with European television (where the network will first launch on satellite and cable platforms), and, of course, filming the original content that will establish Pink TV as a powerhouse presence on the adult circuit.
“We took a dirty little warehouse – an old chop shop in the ghetto – and we built out everything from scratch,” Verleur touts. “Everything that’s necessary to go from nothing to a complete television network.”
Of course, a great studio and all the money in the world means nothing without quality content. And that’s where Pink TV’s lineup of original programming comes into play. With cheeky game shows (like Match That Snatch, on which, in one challenge, a horny young “bachelor” attempts to match a woman from a panel of bachelorettes to the pussy he’s just eaten while blindfolded), frisky news shows (on The Fuckin’ News, the hot anchor girl gets plowed from behind while reporting on world events), clever reality programming (like makeover show Porn Eye for the Dry Guy and The Brothel, set in a working whorehouse in Prague), and original hardcore series (Into the Mist is billed as the world’s first BDSM soap opera), Pink TV will offer a little something for everyone with a dirty mind and a penchant for operating a remote control.
And if some of the shows sound like naughty revamps of some of your favorite mainstream TV shows? Well, that’s the point.
“I definitely think that there is a market for adult-themed entertainment that goes beyond your standard skin flicks,” Verleur posits. “We’re trying to blur the lines between mainstream and adult entertainment by adding a hardcore element to just about every show you’d find in mainstream. We’re trying to push the limits as far as [what people might expect] from an adult network.”
As if that’s not enough, viewers will be able to spend a little time with the Pink TV girls.
“One of our chief branding concepts that we have is that we’re the only network that really lets you meet the stars,” Verleur says, explaining that a model’s contract with the studio stipulates that she be available for a minimum amount of hours to chat with fans through a video phone sex component. We offer an added level of interactivity that enables the consumer to interact with his favorite model.”
Models who spend time in the Voyeur Lounge (a college-dorm-type room where the only stipulation is that the girls be naked at all times) can type away to randy viewers, while others can interact through private sessions.
The network will launch this summer (following its “big industry debut” at the Internext convention in Florida) on the Web and IP-TV, then will subsequently debut overseas to avoid conflict in America’s currently conservative climate. Verleur says that he plans to “hit the European market hard,” adding that he hopes American cable companies will be ready to offer it as soon as 2006.
An affiliate program (offering commissions for Web sign-ups as well as TV sign-ups) is also in the works for a summer debut. Meanwhile, the Pink assault on the planet has only just begun: In addition to their headquarters in Florida, they also have a production office in Prague and have just purchased land in Baja, Mexico, that will soon give them access to Los Angeles’ talent market. And, of course, there’s that stable of stunning exclusives to help spread the word.
Chuckles Verleur, “One of our slogans is that we intend to take over the world with an army of naked women, and we’re coming to your village.”
It’s all part of Verleur’s mission to entice adult fans with the kind of thoughtful hardcore programming they’ve never seen before—in other words, the kind that will keep them coming back for more.
“Right now, if you analyze the industry, you’ll find that the subscriber retention rate on adult sites is like 10 minutes,” he says. “They log on, they jerk off, they log off. We’re trying to add content that can not only be sexually stimulating, but can also be intellectually stimulating.
“By doing that,” he continues, “I think we’re going to be able to keep the viewer a lot longer.” And, as any webmaster or porn producer in the industry will surely tell you, that is indeed something to celebrate about.
