2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

III. THE ADULT ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY Industry Trends Adult entertainment is a multi -billion dollar, international industry that includes an ever changing and expanding. range of activities.30 The latest additions to the industry _include phone -sex lines, international computer networks that offer sexually explicit messages, lingerie modeling shops, and "upscale" topless bars or strip clubs catering to businessmen. It is difficult to obtain data on adult use organizations - they often consist of a maze of smaller companies that operate retail or service businesses, or distributorships. Linkages have been reported between sexually -oriented businesses and organized crime.31 Although it has experienced some significant changes in recent years, by most accounts the industry is booming in the United States. The tremendous growth in adult video sales and rentals and the resulting decline in the number of adult movie theaters is one significant change in the industry over the last ten years. Another is the entry of lower -end triple -X video entrepreneurs whose operations have recently emerged in many New York City neighborhoods. Adult Video Sales and Rentals As documented in recent newspaper and magazine articles, adult video sales and rentals are a segment ofthe industry that has experienced significant growth since 1980. Industry insiders contend that despite a 1986 Reagan Administration "all-out campaign" against pornography, "the number of adult -video makers and their videotapes has risen, cheap amateur videos have proliferated and the industry has expanded beyond magazines and videos to computer networks. "32 One trade monthly, Adult Video News, reported adult video sales and rentalsin general interest video stores have soared 75% since 1991 to $2.1 billion last year, and by hundreds of millions more if adult -only outlets are included.33 Thus, adult publications and videos are readily available at newsstands, general video stores and other outlets that are not characterized as adult entertainment establishments for purposes of DCP's study. 70 Information contained in this section is based on an extensive review of recent newspaper articles on the adult entertainment industry. Given the recent proliferation of adult video stores and topless entertainment in New York City's neighborhoods, the literature review focused primarily on these uses. 31 State of Minnesota, "Report of the Attorney General's Working Group on the Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses," June 6, 1989. ]] "Despite U.S. Cam aig J p y p n, A Boom in Porno�ra h The New York Times, July 4, 1993, p. A-20. 33 The Wall Street Journal, July 11, 1994, p. ]. 15 EVER00114