Wednesday, Aug 8, 2012    Text size: 

LOS ANGELES — Vivid Entertainment announced today the appointment of television executive Ken Boenish as President of its new VividTV pay channel set to be launched later this month.

Boenish, a 22-year cable and satellite TV veteran comes to Vivid after 14 years with publicly traded New Frontier Media, Inc., where he served as President, senior vice president of affiliate sales, and President of the company's transactional TV segment.

He resigned from New Frontier in August 2011 under unclear circumstances.

Vivid said its new unit will offer adult entertainment through its branded video-on-demand offerings as well as a branded linear pay TV channel. The company noted that it has already secured distribution deals with two of the top 10 television platforms in the U.S. that serve more than 20 million homes combined.

"I am thrilled to be a part of this exciting new venture for Vivid," Boenish said.

According to Vivid, Boenish is considered an expert on the viewing trends of adult TV audiences, and has successfully utilized research and performance analytics to reshape the programming, marketing and pricing structure of adult TV services to improve the consumer experience and maximize operator revenue.

"Vivid has what is undeniably the most notable and well-recognized brand in the business and the content to back it up. The studio is the most award-winning producer this industry has ever seen and I look forward to using my experience to enhance adult entertainment offerings for TV platform operators in the US and around the world," Boenish said.

VividTV programming will include the full range of Vivid Entertainment offerings from its adult studio archive. Viewers will also watch exclusive, never-before-seen footage from the Vivid Celeb line, which includes sexually explicit videos featuring Kim Kardashian, Pamela Anderson, Kendra Wilkinson, Montana Fishburne, Tila Tequila and many other pop-culture icons.

"VividTV already has very valuable distribution deals in place and under the leadership of Ken Boenish we should make rapid and important advances as we move forward in this vibrant space," Bill Asher, co-chairman of Vivid said. "He is exactly the right person to pull all the pieces together for success."

The new linear pay channel could deliver a sharp blow to Boulder, Colo.-based New Frontier that just last month released its annual report reflecting lower than expected transactional TV unit revenue in the past fiscal year and a downward adjustment to its 5-year economic forecast.