Ramblings' Journal

Canadian cable company offers free porn this weekend in Ontario

Rogers Cable customers in Ontario have to worry about their kids this weekend -- especially if the kids know the PIN to the digital cable box.

Rogers if offering -- get this -- three hardcore porn channels for free to cable subscribers as an attempt to boost sales.

The cable giant is offering customers free previews of three hard-core adult channels -- a movie channel, an XXX "action clips" channel and a gay-oriented channel called Maleflixxx -- from tomorrow at 8 p.m. to Monday at 2 a.m. in an effort to boost subscribers to those channels, which normally cost $19.95 each a month.

Rogers Cable spokeswoman Taanta Gupta said that the company has offered free viewings of adult channels a few times over the past four years and "have not had any issues."

She explained that unlike free viewings of Fox News Channel, Bloomberg News and MTV Canada -- which can be watched simply by tuning into the channel -- customers have to confirm that they want to watch this weekend's offerings by entering a personal identification number.

Each digital box comes with a preassigned PIN of 0-0-0-0. However, Ms. Gupta said, "We strongly encourage people to put in their own PINs."

PIN numbers must be entered on digital boxes to order pay-per-view events such as professional wrestling, new-release movies and adult flicks. Parents can also use the PIN system to block channels they don't want children to watch.

"That's what PIN numbers are for," Ms. Gupta said.

Now. How many of you know the PIN for your digital cable or satellite box? How many of you have changed it from the default setting in the first place? That's what I thought. Neither have I.

My readers up in Ontario probably ought to take a gander at your cable setups before Friday night. Otherwise, your kids may get an eyeful of something you probably don't want them to see.

Posted by mhking at April 28, 2005 10:33 PM