After more than seven years of trading, VOD specialists Strictly Broadband and sister site Anywhere.xxx have closed their affiliate programmes as the company as an on-going business is shut down prior to being sold to the US.
Earlier this year Strictly Broadband MD Jerry Barnett warned that it would be impossible to run a UK-based VOD business and comply with regulations introduced by the UK VOD censor, ATVOD [the Authority for Television on Demand]
Following the closure, Barnett told ETO’s Paul Smith:
The real story isn’t what’s happened to us, it’s ATVOD, which has made difficult trading conditions unmanageable. It’s a shame the wider industry and media has essentially ignored this. Basically there’s an on-going, all-out attack on the adult industry which, since it was launched by ATVOD, has forced several websites to close and driven others out of the UK. Strictly Broadband — with Anywhere.xxx — is just the latest in a series of firms to have to take this radical step.
To move forward, and continue a service for our content providers and paying customers, the business has been sold to a US start-up firm called Velvet Rose which is a real shame, not just for the me, but for the staff who’ve I’ve had to let go, and for the UK treasury as the PAYE and VAT I was paying them now goes elsewhere.
