The agreement calls for the Playboy to provide all of its content, including social networking options and interactive elements to Sex.com. The revamped site also will include Playboy TV Jukebox, Naughty Amateur Home Videos, Spice VOD’s 35,000 movie collection and Club Jenna, Playboy’s latest acquisition.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed to XBIZ Tuesday evening.
Playboy’s Matt Kalinowski told XBIZ that “It’s a great fit — Sex.com and Playboy. The company is putting more emphasis on its online presence.”
Escom's Jay Janarthanan said that it became clear since his company’s $14 million Sex.com purchase in January that the obvious choice for partnership would be Playboy. “They are unequivocally the premiere provider of entertainment programming for adults,” he said.
“Given Playboy's commitment to operating their business in a socially responsible manner, we could not think of a more trusted partner,” Janarthanan said.
Janarthanan was tapped earlier this year to help Boston-based Escom. At the time, Janarthanan said that Escom didn’t see the venture just in the short-term.
“The new owners understand business, even though this is their first adult venture,” Janarthanan said.
Playboy in a conference call Friday told investors it plans to put more emphasis on its Internet division, as well as sell more noncompany advertising on its sites. It also was an opportunity for the company to introduce Bob Meyers, the newly appointed media president.
In other company news, Playboy’s Kalinowski said that the adult entertainment giant on Wednesday plans to launch four new channels on DISH Network, while partially retiring the four Spice channel brands.
Playboy will rebrand them as the Club Jenna channel; Fresh!, which focuses on fresh faces and amateurs; Shorteez, a collection of short videos; and Spice Xcess, which broadcasts ethnic and fetish niches.
Besides DISH, the new Playboy network is available on cable and satellite systems worldwide.