A Canadian wireless provider, under fire from customers and the Catholic Church, ended a month-long service that supplied pornography to subscribers.
Canada's second-biggest phone company Telus canceled the program, which delivered wireless porn on demand to cell phones, after many complaints from customers, shareholders and religious groups (including the Catholic Church), the Toronto Star reported on its Web site. Photos had been available for $3, while one-to-two minute videos had cost users $4. The service also provided content from Playboy TV, Sex TV and Hustler channel.
Before the decision, in a video statement posted on the Web, Archbishop Raymond Roussin denounced the porn-at-your-fingertips program and directed all Catholic churches and schools to boycott Telus as long as it was providing the sexy service. Roussin, whose archdiocese oversees about 400,000 parishioners, also called on all Catholics and “concerned Canadians” to speak out against wireless porn programming.
Faced with the controversy, Telus (TU) chose to try to salvage its image and the Vancouver company canceled the program on Tuesday night, according to the Toronto Star.
Telus was the first Canadian wireless provider to test the “sex cells” concept on handsets, a market that is estimated to generate $900 million globally by 2008, according to industry researcher SeaBoard Group.
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