Rogers Cable had planned to offer its customers PIN-enabled access to three adult channels beginning April 29 and ending May 2 at 2 p.m.
The promotion was intended as a sort of test drive to help generate interest in $19.95 monthly subscriptions to its AOV Adult Movie Channel, AOV XXX Action Clips TV and AOV Maleflixxx TV. To guard against children viewing hardcore content, customers would have been required to enter a PIN to access the preview.
The weekend-long event was nothing new — Rogers Cable has run similar promotions several times since 2001 — and spokesperson Taanta Gupta said the company has never had any complaints in the past.
But this time around, protestors came out in force against the porn giveaway.
“Quite frankly, I’m shocked they’re going this route,” said Susan Shelter, founder of Canadians Addressing Sexual Exploitation. “I don’t know what the purpose of this is. If people want that kind of entertainment, they know where to get it. I don’t think we need it for free viewing.”
CASE and another “watchdog” group, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, took their complaints to the Toronto Globe and Mail, the province’s largest newspaper, which set off a wave of fast-spreading negative publicity.
By morning, Roger Cable’s Gupta had announced the company was canceling the preview because company president Edward Rogers “felt it was not something he wanted to facilitate going forward.” She added that the company is not likely to run any adult-themed promotions in the future.
