PORN: BUSINESS OF PLEASURE

While there have been numerous documentaries about pornography -- some reviewed here -- leave it to MSNBC to take a look at the business side of adult entertainment. Porn: Business of Pleasure is an hour-long program that's essentially a "state of the industry" piece.

Hosted by Melissa Lee, Porn: Business of Pleasure has lots of statistics and interviews about porn -- and its current problems. While adult entertainment is hugely profitable -- the show estimates porn is worth $13 billion in the U.S. and $100 million globally each year -- dvd sales for adult movies were down between 30% and 50% last year. The paradox, reflected on by several people, is that while technology has made porn more accessible, it's also made free materials more available, hurting sales. (There's also the contradiction that while we're told porn is less taboo, many here did not want their faces shown.)

Interviews are plentiful, including: adult star Jesse Jane talking about her drive to build a business empire; Max Hardcore, speaking right before going to prison for his obscenity conviction; female executives at Wicked Pictures, a writer for Wired magazine; and Michael Leahey, porn opponent and "self-diagnosed sex addict."

Porn: The Business of Pleasure does a decent job covering what's happening in adult entertainment today. If there's a flaw (apart from their incorrect statement that YouTube allows porn and ignoring 2257 laws overapplied to the Internet), it's what gets lost in its selected focus. There's very little history here, nothing on print adult entertainment (which may be suffering a lot more than movies), and anti-porn viewpoints are either ignored, given little discussion, or answered by those in the industry. Still, Porn: Business of Pleasure is a solid update of how technology can both help and hurt an industry at the same time.

Overall grade: B-

Reviewed by James Lynch