Now we know why Playboy TV reinvented itself with raunch-talk and porn-queen celebrity profiles, as noted in the previous item.

Turns out the channel’s been clobbered in subscription enrollment and cable-system carriage, first by the censored hardcore porn of the Spice Channel (which Playboy bought) and then by the more minimally censored hardcore porn of the Hot Network (which Playboy chose not to take over at the time of the Spice acquisition, but is buying now). When it comes to costly and unsatisfying 2-D substitutes for actual sex, the lonely-guy audience of America prefers the lewd ‘n’ crude over the comparatively soft and feminine.

Then there’s the phallus factor. AT&T Broadband can get away with charging $2 more for a Hot Network pay-per-view feature than for the slightly more discreet edit of the same production on Playboy or Spice. That’s because enough officially-hetero men crave the sight of other men’s parts in action.

A year or two ago I thought this portended some great change in men’s attitudes toward other men’s bodies, and might eventually lead to a more gender-equitable, less homophobic society. Now I don’t know if it means anything.