Porn is the driving force of the internet and now suddenly sexy to cable TV companies who once considered the industry prude. "People want it, so we are trying to provide it," "Adelphia" spokes-woman "Erica Stull" said. "The more Xs, the more popular."

The spokes woman stressed that the programming, supplied by Playboy Enterprises Inc., would not be advertised and could be blocked to prevent children from watching. It will be delivered through video-on-demand technology, available now to about two-thirds of "Adelphia's" 1.2 million Southern California subscribers. Some industry experts say explicit programming has helped satellite providers carve out a 20% share of the pay TV market.

"It's scary how much money is made on porn," said Tim Connelly, editor and publisher of Adult Video News, an industry trade magazine that estimates that when strip clubs, magazines, the Internet, TV and DVDs are included, porn is a $10-billion industry. "That's more than Hollywood makes at the box office. And it just grows and grows and grows. It's mainstream now."

Insiders and analysts estimate that consumers spend more than $1 billion a year buying sexually graphic movies and other explicit fare on TV and online through pay-per-view and video-on-demand services. (That's not counting orders from hotel rooms, where 50% of all movies purchased are from the adult category.)

Today, analysts say, adult content with X-rated programming gives cable, satellite distributors and internet PORN SITES their highest profit margins. Such suppliers of adult programming as New Frontier Media Inc. and Playboy get from 5% to 15% of the average $9 consumers pay for a movie, according to industry sources. By comparison, distributors typically give Hollywood studios half of the revenue on pay-per-view movies, which usually costs under $5 per rental.