Jun
26
Homoactive Challenges Maleflixxx, NakedSword
June 26, 2008 | 13 Comments
Press Release Roundup: European distributor Homoactive has announced the launch of their new “VOD portal” website Homoactive.tv, which they are billing as “the first European gay-owned and -managed gay streaming site on the market” (I’m not sure if that claim is accurate, but it sounds impressive). The portal site offers instructions on how to get yer mitts on your porn in Dutch, English, French and German, as well as options to pay for it in American dollars (ha!), the British pound or the Euro. “Despite being much longer in production than we would have wished for, we are very pleased with the final product,” says Homoactive Managing Director Stephen Thompson. “We do not intend to drown the site with any old rubbish we can get our hands on, but instead we shall do all we can do keep the quality high.” In the press release, Homoactive throws down the VOD gauntlet; Project Manager Jason Rose says that the new site “is a real challenge to the current duopoly”√¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthat would be Maleflixxx and NakedSword√¢‚Ǩ‚Äù”and has been conceived from the ground-up as a high-quality and infinitely superior product,” citing “heavy investment in usability” and “groundbreakling new features.” A little competition is good for everyone. But to call it “a real challenge to the current duopoly”…? Shit, them’s fightin’ words.
Comments
13 Comments so far
Stephen Thompson and his company Homoactive are crooks – Fair warning to all – Don’t believe the hype.
Easy enough to make those claims anonymously. Proof?
Anonymous – I’ve never actually ordered anything from Homoactive but have had some e-mail correspondence with them and they seemed thoroughly professional to me. What is your beef?
Also, I see this as a very positive development, since I imagaine there will be many European releases on the site that are not readily accessible in the U.S.
I have never bought anything from them as I have always found them more expensive than others!
I have never bought anything from them as I have always found them more expensive than others!
They tried to blatantly copy Bel Ami’s packaging a few years back and finally stopped after retailers in the US claimed brand confusion and Bel Ami threatened them with a lawsuit. I don’t have to prove anything, I only have to tell you that someday soon you will have heard it here first.
Anonymous – Just a point of clarification: I think I’ve read that the owners of the company also own porn production studio(s) (Eurocreme, perhaps?) and this seems to be what you are referring to, correct? It can get confusing, because this story just concerns the online retailer.
The Homoactive and Eurocreme brands are very closely related, particularly within the business here in Europe.
All the films on their VOD are owned by them.
I wonder if they would feature other studios?
Will
KFEX (wholesale) = homoactive (retail) = Eurocreme/Raw Films
Anonymous
Crooks is not quite the term I’d use myself. Thugs and bullies is much more fitting. Beside the “Beau Mec” affair explicitly aimed at copying and destroying Bel Ami, when they launched a line aimed at the hairy/hunky market, they called it “Alphamale”, even though Mike Esser’s own company in Australia had been called Alpha Males for quite some time before. And the original publicity material coming from them about it explicitly targeted Titan and Hothouse as the guys they meant to put out of business. Which other company does this? So this new venture is really business as usual for them.
Over the last few weeks, most European studios have been inundated with e-mails from homoactive.tv, begging them to provide content for this VOD service. So far to no avail and homoactive.tv is strictly eurocreme.tv. Eurocreme which not so long had announced an exclusive deal with AEBN (:-)) has been finding out the same thing as all other studios: VOD is the greatest heist of the century, with content providers getting a paltry 20% from rental revenues. So of course, if EC set up their own system, they will get all the money from it. But what they are offering other studios is basically the same kind of deal as AEBN/Naked Sword and Maleflixxx. And with the kind of reputation and past history they have, no one in Europe is eager to give them the opportunity to make yet more money. So they will operate here as they always have, try to undersell everyone, start a price war, etc… Is this how a prosperous financially healthy business proceeds? I think this is just one more symptom of their desperation.
Ask Channel One and ChiChi about Eurocreme and their ethics……
I told you! Trust me – They’re crooks, thieves and should not be supported! It’s a warning – mark my words!
what a load of rubbish from anonymous – AlphaMale is owned and started by gavin and is merely distributed by Eurocreme. we had nothing to do with the name etc etc. Our prices on Homoactive TV are higher than anyone else so how this can be seen as starting a price war i have no idea. We have plenty of european studios who will be exclusively releasing material on homoactive at sustainable prices over the coming months – so yet another lie by you exposed. Look forward to Citibeur, berlin star, Berry prod,jalif, sk8terboy, clair coming very soon – so yet another myth busted. Bel Ami story also rubbish – we were never contacted by their lawyers or anyone else on this issue and the range he refers to is still in production and on sale – Beau Mec – so another lie exposed. we have a very good relationship with bel ami which we sell on our site. In fact just ignore every posting he makes as it is all lies – i think i know the ex-producer behind all this who is clearly very sad and very bitter and rather than blame himself for his own demise he has decided that somehow it is our fault?
Anyone that would like their own version of the site, just go to AdultBoxOffice.net or demo.adultboxoffice.net. You can buy the website and template right out of the box. Anyone can be a VOD distributor these days….