Monday, Oct 5, 2009    Text size: 

Penthouse's three HD channels — the first adult HD linear channels in Europe — are being showcased to thousands of attendees who are visiting the five-day Cannes, France, event, which is essentially a gathering for those co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content.

Penthouse is offering softcore erotic content on Penthouse HD, while Penthouse HD1 and Penthouse HD2 offer hardcore fare.

Jacky Wauters, CEO of NOA Productions, which markets the three HD channels in Europe said that Penthouse “is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this critical market share."

"Sales of HD hardware including HD televisions and HD enabled set-top boxes have been on the rise for quite some time in Europe resulting in high consumer demand for top-quality HD programming,” Wauters said.

Penthouse said that major distribution carriage agreements, targeting the majority of European platforms including cable, satellite, IPTV and hotels, are expected to be finalized by the end of 2010.

Monday’s rollout marks the first time adult hi-definition channels will be fully available throughout the region.

In July, when Penthouse announced the initiative, Anthony L. Previte, COO of Penthouse parent company FriendFinder Networks Inc., said the deal was intended to capture the lion’s share of adult viewers throughout Europe.

“Early on, Penthouse saw the future of the HD market, making the transition of our production exclusively to HD in 2006,” he said. “We’re poised to dominate the adult European broadcast market for years to come.”