HBO has quietly dropped erotic late-night programming from its lineup, including edited adult movies and unscripted series like “Real Sex” and “Cathouse.”
The move,first reported by the Los Angeles Times, has been happening gradually on the pay network, but HBO confirmed that such material has officially been gone since earlier this summer.
HBO — like CNN, a part of WarnerMedia — is operating under new ownership, but a spokesman said that parent AT&T was not responsible for the decision, which had been in the works for more than a year; rather, the network said demand has waned for such programming, in part because more explicit fare is “readily available” elsewhere.
HBO’s principal rival, Showtime, continues to schedule such fare, including such series as “Gigolos” and movies with titles like “Daddy’s Sexy Mistress,” “Wild, Wild Sex” and “Naughty Namaste.”
In the past, HBO’s sister channel Cinemax was well-known for airing erotic movies, so much so that it earned the nickname “Skinemax.” Adult programming has consistently been confined to late-night hours.
Separately, HBO’s dramatic series about the early days of the porn industry, “The Deuce,” will begin its second season in September.
