| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide (via C-band satellite) |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Home Dish Only Satellite Networks Inc. |
| Sister channels | Tuxxedo Network |
| History | |
| Launched | Early 1980s (as American Extasy) |
| Closed | March 9, 1990 |
| Former names | American Extasy |
American Exxxtasy (often styled American EXXXtasy and originally launched as American Extasy) was an American subscription satellite television network that specialized in pornographic films. The service was operated by Home Dish Only Satellite Networks Inc. (also referred to as Home Dish Only Satellite Network or Home Dish Satellite), a New York-based company that marketed programming directly to owners of C-band satellite dishes. [1] [2]
Emerging from an unscrambled softcore movie service in the early 1980s, American Exxxtasy was among the first satellite channels in the United States to offer largely unedited hardcore adult films to home viewers. [3] [1] The network ceased operations in 1990 following state and federal obscenity prosecutions that targeted the channel, its satellite distribution partners, and its owners. [1] [2]
American Exxxtasy originated as a satellite movie channel branded American Extasy in the early 1980s. [3] In that incarnation the service operated unscrambled and carried edited softcore features and sex comedies, sharing satellite capacity with other early adult-oriented outlets such as the Fun Unrestricted Network. [3]
According to later accounts from viewers and satellite hobbyists, American Extasy filled daytime hours with trailers, text information screens and promotional segments, while evenings featured edited versions of popular adult films of the period. [3] The channel was originally available to owners of large backyard C-band satellite dishes without additional hardware beyond the dish and receiver. [3]
In 1985 the operator rebranded the service as American Exxxtasy (often marketed as American EXXXtasy) and shifted toward uncut hardcore films in its evening-specific schedule. [3] The relaunch introduced encryption and a subscription model. Advertisements offered viewers a dedicated descrambler box and one year of service for $399 USD, positioning American Exxxtasy as a premium adult network. [3] [4] [1]
The channel targeted home viewers with C-band dishes across the continental United States. Programming was uplinked by U.S. Satellite Inc. from a facility in Murray, Utah, to a GTE Spacenet communications satellite, then delivered directly to individual subscribers. [2] Home Dish Only Satellite Networks marketed American Exxxtasy as one of a cluster of satellite programming services aimed at dish owners, which also included the softcore Tuxxedo Network and the movie service StarDust Theatre. [1]
By the late 1980s Home Dish Only reported approximately 30,000 subscribers to American Exxxtasy, each paying several hundred dollars per year for access to the encrypted signal. [1] [2] Non-subscribers could watch one free feature each night that aired unscrambled as a teaser for the full subscription service. [1]
American Exxxtasy's schedule consisted primarily of feature-length pornographic films produced for the theatrical and home-video markets, along with shorter loops and promotional interstitials. [3] [2]
According to Stanwyck’s retrospective account, the channel used themed nights and host segments to introduce film blocks, a format that set it apart from some more tightly edited adult cable channels of the period. [3] Promotional material and on-air announcements emphasized that the programming was explicit and restricted to adult home viewers, and that commercial exhibition in venues such as hotels or cable headends was prohibited. [1] [3]
During the mid-1980s, American Exxxtasy and similar adult services drew criticism from religious groups, anti-pornography activists and some public officials who argued that children could access their programming too easily. [1] [5] In 1988, Congress amended federal law to prohibit the transmission of obscene material by cable and satellite services, a provision that explicitly applied to subscription channels as well as in-the-clear signals. [1]
Commentary in Reason magazine and legal scholarship later cited the case of American Exxxtasy as a prominent example of how the new statute could be used to target pay television services for content that some communities considered obscene. [5] [6]
In 1989 authorities in Montgomery County, Alabama, investigated reports that high school students had recorded American Exxxtasy's nightly unscrambled teaser movies and sold copies to classmates. [1] [5] A Montgomery County grand jury subsequently indicted Home Dish Only Satellite Networks, GTE Spacenet, U.S. Satellite Corp. and several individuals on multiple counts of distributing obscene material by satellite into the state. [1] [7] [8]
Montgomery County district attorney Jimmy Evans, who had previously prosecuted local adult bookstores, framed the case as an effort to protect local community standards, while critics argued that using an Alabama jury to determine the legality of a nationwide satellite service would effectively impose one community's definition of obscenity onto the entire country. [5] [7]
After the indictments were filed, U.S. Satellite announced that it would no longer uplink American Exxxtasy from its facility in Murray, Utah, stating that it had voluntarily terminated its contract with Home Dish Only Satellite Networks. [9] The withdrawal left the channel temporarily without a transmission facility.
Shortly thereafter, GTE Spaceview, the satellite operator that provided transponder capacity for American Exxxtasy, notified Home Dish that it would no longer carry the service, citing concerns about the obscenity charges and potential liability. [1] [8] On March 9, 1990, Home Dish broadcast an on-screen message stating that, upon receiving a letter from GTE accusing the company of transmitting films that law enforcement officials had deemed obscene, its board of directors had ordered transmissions of American Exxxtasy stopped immediately. [1]
American Exxxtasy's on-screen messages cycled for several days, after which the channel went dark. [3] [1] Home Dish Only attempted to compensate subscribers by offering extended monthly access to its softcore Tuxxedo Network as credit. [1]
Federal prosecutors pursued a parallel obscenity case against Home Dish Only Satellite Networks arising from American Exxxtasy's broadcast of the film Hardcore Girlfriends and other hardcore titles. [2] In November 1990 the United States Department of Justice announced that Home Dish Only had agreed to plead guilty to a felony obscenity charge in federal court and pay a fine of US$150,000. [2] [10]
As part of the plea agreement, Home Dish Only Satellite Networks and its founders Paul Klein and Jeffrey Younger agreed to cease all satellite transmissions of American Exxxtasy and related adult services, pay the fine and turn over their adult film library to the federal government. [1] [2] Civil liberties advocates criticized the settlement as setting a troubling precedent for the regulation of pay television and for First Amendment protections for adult entertainment. [1] [5]
American Exxxtasy effectively ended regular operations in March 1990 when its satellite uplink and transponder carriage were withdrawn in the wake of the Alabama obscenity case, and the channel never returned to full-time service. [3] [9] [1] The later federal plea agreement formalized the channel's closure and marked the complete end of Home Dish Only Satellite Networks' adult satellite business. [2] [10]
Home Dish's companion channel Tuxxedo Network, which carried softcore adult films, also ceased operations following the legal proceedings. [1] Both services have been cited in later writing about defunct adult-oriented pay television networks in the United States. [3] [1]
Later commentary in a law review article, a Reason magazine feature and retrospective writing by satellite-TV hobbyists have cited American Exxxtasy as an early example of hardcore adult programming delivered directly to home satellite subscribers, and as a case study in the interaction between new broadcast technologies, obscenity law and federal regulation [3] [5] [6]
Clips of American Exxxtasy's promotional material, descrambler advertisements and sign-on or sign-off messages have circulated on video-sharing platforms and have been featured in retrospective programs about defunct adult channels on C-band satellite. [3] [4]