Americans watching less porn

American cable and satellite TV subscribers are watching less adult entertainment than in the past, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

Some big TV distribution companies' revenue from highly profitable video on demand (VOD) and pay-per-view pornography trended lower in the second financial quarter as consumers spent more time online.

Satellite TV firm DirecTV cited "lower adult buys" as one cause of weaker pay-per-view revenue in its second quarter.

Last week, Time Warner Cable had said that lower adult spending accounted for more than a third of a $14 million drop in VOD revenue.

TWC's total revenue was $4.9 billion, making adult fare a small contributor. But the Journal said porn is one of cable operator's most profitable segments.

"There's been a fairly steady trend over some time period now for adult to go down largely because there's that kind of material available on the Internet for free," said TWC CEO Glenn Britt.