Feb. 8, 2002 - Another media outlet, PBS, has aired yet another story about how Wall Street companies are doing business in the adult industry. I find it quite interesting that the media still finds it necessary to employ a “shock factor approach” when they address the business.

The adult industry as a whole has been around for countless generations and is well ingratiated in the fabric of our society. As the operator of adult Websites and a consultant in this area to Fortune 500 companies, I can claim emphatically that the shock factor is gone.

I opened the Victoria's Secret catalog recently and wondered: How many mothers leave it on the coffee table near the remote control?

How many fathers still keep Playboy magazines underneath their beds or have adult movies in the back of the closet next to the shoe rack?

We are an “advanced civilization” … grow up. The greatest freedom we posses is our freedom of choice.

The constitution does not guarantee that it will parent your child, cover your eyes, hold your hand, or avoid presenting reality. You still have a choice not to look: Look before you walk and make sure you know what is happening around you.

I can only truly speak to the online adult vertical and will gladly share the current state of affairs for those who do not seem to stay current on their own.

Studies and reports from the likes of Forrester Research and Jupiter Media Metrix, along with independent studies conducted by my consulting firm and others, show that more than 20 percent of all Internet users engage in some kind of online sexual activity. Recently, Adult Video News (AVN) and our own Sex.TV had more than 148,000 users from 120 countries watching a live Webcast of the AVN Awards show, dubbed the “Oscars of Adult” by Entertainment Weekly. The captured video is still running on both our sites, and since its initial airing, we have had no fewer than ten simultaneous users. What does this say? People are watching and will come back again and again.

The online adult business is a global business model that reaps huge fortunes on a daily basis. As the Internet grows, infrastructures must be paid for and new technologies must be proven. My sites have served as a proving ground and I have and will continue to assist company’s meet their bottom lines and see profit from our industry.

Why should I be denied the use of state-of-the-art technology simply because I may place a naked body on a monitor?

If you are a shareholder of a company, think about this: Would you prefer that your company
· Goes out of business because the mainstream arena does not want to act as a test bed, cannot afford to pay its light bills let alone consider funding new opportunities, or makes a corporate decision not to deal with the adult vertical, or
· Realizes it’s potential and proves its model on the back of an adult company that will pay it month after month and facilitate its ability to receive dividends?
Which would you choose? If it’s the first, sell every stock you own because the companies that will survive the next few years are in the second category.

Reality: Go Network is gone, there is nothing exciting about Excite@Home closing its doors, Exodus is an empty warehouse, and iBeam Broadcasting was saved from the jaws of death by Williams, to name a few real-world examples of mainstream companies that could not afford to prove and would not change their business models. Real and Windows are platforms that transmit video and audio, and the Internet is not a cesspool of hackers.

Super-distribution is a reality, peer-to-peer environments can generate revenue and be controlled, content can be protected, and yes, you can even prevent your children from seeing the photos and videos that exist on any adult Website's home page.

Like the program you don’t like on television and the infernal ring your phone makes when you’re stressed … shut it off!

If you stay online, visit our Website at www.sex.tv - or any of the hundreds of thousands of other adult Websites - and enjoy what all of us have to offer.

Remember this shocking fact: You will be increasing the revenue streams of the companies that are increasing the value of your 401K.