Adult channels part of the Fibrant lineup

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

The city will offer pornographic TV programming on Fibrant to better compete with other providers, officials said.

“We are offering similar services to what the incumbent providers are,” City Manager David Treme said.

The channel lineup for Fibrant, the city’s new fiber optic utility scheduled to launch next month, includes nine adult pay-per-view channels.

Channel names like “Sexsee,” “Juicy” and “Vavoom” have been deleted from Fibrant’s website.

They are listed only by the first initial.

“Overall, we will keep it as discreet as possible,” Fibrant marketing director Len Clark said. “It’s there for people who want it.”

To be competitive with Time Warner Cable and other providers, “we have to offer what they are offering,” Treme said.

The signal on a pay-per-view channel is scrambled until the subscriber orders a movie or event. Fees are added to the monthly bill.

“It is certainly every person’s option to make a choice as to what type of programming they want in their residence,” Treme said.

People who don’t ask for adult programming “won’t see any trace” when they sign up for Fibrant, he said.

No one has complained about the adult channels, Clark said.

Pay-per-view offers high profit margins for TV providers, and adult programming is a growing segment of the market.

“From a profit point of view, it was the right thing to do,” Clark said.

Fibrant also offers six pay-per-view ESPN sports channels.

Subscribers will pay $3.99 for a pay-per-view movie and $29.95 for a pay-per-view event. Those charges are scheduled to start increasing annually in two years, reaching $4.36 for a movie and $32.73 for an event in 2015.

The city expects pay-per-view revenue to grow each year, with annual revenues of $21,894 from pay-per-view movies and $49,303 from pay-per-view events in five years.

Wilson, N.C. operates a similar city-owned fiber optic utility. Called “Greenlight,” it also offers porn.

If Salisbury didn’t include adult pay-per-view channels on Fibrant, some people would accuse the city of censorship, Assistant City Manager Doug Paris.

“The question is, should the public decide what programming they watch, or should the city make that decision for them by restricting certain content?” Paris said in an e-mail to the Post.

If the city restricts content, it’s hard to know where to draw the line, he said.

“What about violent programming, or programming with adult language — it’s a slippery slope,” Paris said. “Some people may request we restrict all Duke sports games. It’s much better to let the consumer decide.”

Contact Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.