There's a new pay-per-view porn network in the works, that is planning on launching in the third quarter. Heading the operation is industry veteran Mark Graff, who also founded the Spice Channel, which was eventually bought by Playboy Enterprises.
Graff suggests that cable and satellite subscribers were bored by a lack of diversity in porns shot in the San Fernando Valley, a problem he plans to correct by programming the new network, called Blu-TV, with global porn.
"I want our channel to become the National Geographic of erotica," Graff told Variety. Graff plans on programming blocks under headings such as "Blu Nile", "Euro-Trash", and "Spanish Fly" with geographically appropriate content.
As Blu-TV owns an equity stake in XY Pictures, which controls a library of 1,500 European porns, Graff already has laid the groundwork for content acquisition. For domestic content, Blu-TV plans on programming blocks that focus on urban and underground themes.
Based on past experience, where Graff learned that the more explicit the movie, the better the PPV buy rate, Blu-TV will be a hardcore porn network. "We'll run movies s hard as the hardest-core network in the business," Graff said.
The only thing left for Graff to do is to convince cable operators and satellite distributors on taking Blu-TV. To that end Graff is not charging any license fees, and is offering up to 90% of revenue.
