It's an understatement to say we at 2much Internet Services felt dismay and disappointment upon hearing this week's decision by Canadian cellular provider Telus to drop adult content. Telus was the first major North American mobile service to offer adult content in the form of images and short video clips, and we were optimistic this would be the event that finally pushed adult onto the mobile networks in a big way.
2much.net, which is featured in the popular "docu-soap" Webdreams on the Showcase cable TV network, was in talks with Telus when the bomb was dropped. We had hoped to distribute live video content on-deck via the Telus network, but a number of factors conspired to ensure that would not happen.
Telus executives last week admitted the company had received 100 or so complaints about offering mobile adult content. Of course, this stands in marked contrast to the less publicized fact that "several thousand subscribers" (according to Telus) already used the adult content service.
What sharpened the bite for Telus no doubt was the whining of Calgary Catholic Bishop Fred Henry. His diocese apparently had a few contracts with Telus, and when faced with a threat of lost business, Telus saw little option but to buckle to the church—even though Calgary's Catholic diocese has not been without its share of sex scandals in the past decade.
Another high-profile complaint against Telus came from western-Canadian public relations executive Gordon Keast, who filed a $3,000 small-claims action for breach of contract. The amount of money Keast sought was a drop in the bucket compared to what Telus stood to make from its thousands of adult-content subscribers at $3 to $4 per softcore download, but the stunt received a lot of media attention and probably encouraged others to follow suit. Combining that potentiality with the impending loss of Catholic contracts, Telus, I'm sure, saw massive churn (or user turnover) developing and decided to abandon its plan. According to mobile industry analysts, churn is a mobile service provider's No. 1 financial enemy.
What concerns me more is the misunderstanding of the global situation when it comes to adult content on mobile phones. While the mainstream press repeatedly reported about the complaints Telus received—but not the popularity of the adult-content service—adult industry outlets and free speech advocates remained silent. Citing "cultural differences" and "growing youth markets" as reasons for what they represented as a massive public outcry, media outlets such as The Globe and Mail did not mention their own emphasis on the complaints as one of the reasons for Telus' decision.
In a statement this week, Telus Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs Janet Yale claimed the company "heard from a broad range of customers" prior to announcing its decision, but I have trouble believing there was much of a cross-section.
"In the end, it was not a business decision," said one content provider who preferred to remain anonymous. "The adult industry respects business. It's just that business doesn't always respect the [adult] industry."
She's right. It's a shameful precedent to have a handful of complaints based on a doubtful morality dictate the choice—or lack of choice—of tens of thousands of users. Numbers for the adult industry frequently are reported in the billions, and in fact are a significant part of the entertainment economy. Stats don't lie: There are a lot of secret consumers out there.
This isn't only a blow to the adult industry or 2much. The issues also are related to free expression—which extends across our culture and society, and though it sometimes pretends it does not, actually embraces sexuality and different forms of adult entertainment.
Despite the presence of a minority morality that appears to influence our general business and cultural interests, 2much intends to pursue plans to develop cross-platform distribution for our content. We have amassed more than 22 terabytes of content during the past seven years, recorded during live video-chat performances with our models on LiveCamNetwork.com. That's a fortune's worth for the mobile market. We now seek other, more forward-thinking mobile service providers with whom to partner.
"Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Mobile? Mark Prince from 2much returning your call!"
Mark Prince is the president and founder of 2much Internet Services Inc., a Montreal-based provider of live video-chat software and services.
