Adult HDTV Comes to DIRECTV

[Gregg Lengling]

Not sure how to end your Super Bowl soiree this Sunday night? Well, DIRECTV may have an interesting party idea for owners of High-Definition TVs.

Shortly after the game, the satellite TV service will kick off its first offering of adult movies in HDTV, TVPredictions.com has learned.  The films, which will come from Playboy and the Spice channel, will be available on DIRECTV's Pay-Per-View channel from midnight to 6 a.m. ET.

Following Super Bowl Sunday, DIRECTV's adult HDTV lineup will air every Thursday through Sunday from midnight to 6 a.m. ET. Robert Mercer, a DIRECTV spokesman, said the adult fare will be sold in three hour blocks for $14.99 per block.

This could be the first launch of adult HDTV in the United States. Cablevision's VOOM satellite TV service has announced that it will carry the Spice HD channel, but has yet to reveal a launch date.

Many industry experts have speculated that HDTV could be a new revenue driver for the adult industry. The format's incredible picture is so life-like that it's been compared to looking through a window, which could heighten the sensation of watching an adult film.

However, Playboy TV president Jim English sounded a note of caution last summer when asked if adult films would fare well on HDTV.

"A lot of the girls are not that pretty. You can only do so much with hair and make-up," English said in an interview with TVPredictions.com. "HDTV is perfect for National Geographic and the National Football League where you don't expect people to be pretty. But adult films are all about the close-up. With surgeries and implants, I don't know if you want to see everything in HDTV."