Under the terms of the revenue-sharing deal, New Frontier will receive less revenue per signup from rates initially set with DISH in a contract signed in 2000, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But the deal still is a coup for New Frontier, which counts the DISH Network as its largest customer.
According to data obtained by XBIZ, 26 percent of New Frontier’s pay-per-view income comes from DISH. In comparison, DirectTV accounts for 13 percent, Time Warner is 12 percent and Comcast is 11 percent.
The Boulder, Colo.-based adult entertainment company had been supplying content to DISH without a contract for a lengthy period of time.
New Frontier, which received $4.1 million and $6 million in the last two quarters from DISH, has been facing increased competition amid a rebranding effort by Playboy Entertainment, which recently signed a similar three-year deal with DISH Network parent EchoStar Communications.
In that deal Playboy signed on with five channels — 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. It previously was broadcasting three.
Earlier this month, New Frontier’s Ken Boenish told XBIZ that his company’s services have replaced Playboy’s in more than 60 million network households. "We believe we approach the adult business from a smarter perspective," said Boenish, who was unavailable for comment to XBIZ on the latest DISH deal.
The three channels supplied to DISH are available for consumers per pay-per-view block ($9.99-$10.99), monthly ($22.99-$27.99) and annually ($252.99-$417.89).
