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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/06/netflix-for-porn-pornhub-offers-streaming-service.html

The adult entertainment industry, which was at the forefront of so many technological leaps long ago, found itself sitting on the sidelines as the biggest revolution of the past 10 years occurred.

While Netflix and Apple found ways to persuade customers to pay for songs and programming that were once regularly stolen, porn companies relied on the DVD model, which devastated the industry. Now, one of the industry's largest companies is hoping to play catch-up.

Pornhub, a division of porn uber-conglomerate Mindgeek, announced on Thursday a new service offering unlimited, ad-free, high definition streaming of adult films for a monthly charge of $9.99—a model that should sound familiar to Netflix customers.

The company hopes that by offering a deep catalog of films—featuring current and well-known porn stars from previous generations, including Jenna Jameson and Christy Canyon—fans will be willing to pay a nominal fee for high-quality video content.

"Users will benefit from enhanced access to all of the content they already enjoy on Pornhub.com—with improved streaming quality—as well as over 100,000 full-length premium exclusive scenes at the touch of a finger or click of the mouse," Pornhub Vice President Corey Price said in a statement. "We're confident our fan base will totally embrace this product and reinforce our position as the top provider of on-demand adult video."

The adult entertainment industry, which was at the forefront of so many technological leaps long ago, found itself sitting on the sidelines as the biggest revolution of the past 10 years occurred.

While Netflix and Apple found ways to persuade customers to pay for songs and programming that were once regularly stolen, porn companies relied on the DVD model, which devastated the industry. Now, one of the industry's largest companies is hoping to play catch-up.

Pornhub, a division of porn uber-conglomerate Mindgeek, announced on Thursday a new service offering unlimited, ad-free, high definition streaming of adult films for a monthly charge of $9.99—a model that should sound familiar to Netflix customers.

The company hopes that by offering a deep catalog of films—featuring current and well-known porn stars from previous generations, including Jenna Jameson and Christy Canyon—fans will be willing to pay a nominal fee for high-quality video content.

"Users will benefit from enhanced access to all of the content they already enjoy on Pornhub.com—with improved streaming quality—as well as over 100,000 full-length premium exclusive scenes at the touch of a finger or click of the mouse," Pornhub Vice President Corey Price said in a statement. "We're confident our fan base will totally embrace this product and reinforce our position as the top provider of on-demand adult video."

Due to the nature of the service, dubbed Pornhub Premium, many streaming devices are unlikely to support it. Officials at the company, though, say the service will be available at launch for users of Android devices and on Roku.

The company says it also plans to roll out virtual reality integration sometime next year.

The service is one that Mindgeek has seemingly been contemplating for some time. Nearly two years ago, officials quietly were talking about a similar service that used films and scenes from the company's many studios—as well as original content.

The model has shifted slightly, but there are many similarities in the two. Pornhub Premium will feature content from many of Mindgeek's holdings—including Brazzers, Digital Playground and Reality Kings. Mike Williams, a spokesman for Pornhub, says the studio has also struck licensing deals with several other non-Mindgeek studios.

"It is not an amalgamation of various Mindgeek studios holdings into one subscription service," he told CNBC.com.

Pornhub and Mindgeek aren't the first adult entertainment service to attempt to emulate the success of a mainstream streaming company. Last year, a service called SkweezMe launched a video-on-demand service that closely followed the iTunes model.

The big challenge for Mindgeek is persuading consumers to pay for something they're used to getting for free. Consumers can easily download pirated versions of films from BitTorrent sites or watch free clips on tubesites, but the question is: Will they be willing to pay a premium to avoid the pop-up and banner ads, which often infect a user's PC with malware?

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