Pennsylvania – A coalition of several statewide and regional anti-pornography organizations called on the PA State Senate yesterday to withhold approval of a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone for the Comcast Corporation until it removes hardcore pornographic programming from its pay- per-view cable menu. With the KOIZ designation, Comcast stands to gain at minimum tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks from the City and State over the next 15 years. Though the company refuses to divulge revenue figures for the sale of pornography, one estimate puts it at nearly $50 million per year. For the month of June, Comcast offers upwards of 15 pornographic shows each day, including titles like “Extreme Behavior,” “Wicked Sex Party 5,” “Barely Legal #45,” and “Best Butt in the West #6.”

The coalition is made up of anti-pornography groups from across the state, including the Urban Family Council, the PA Family Institute, Pennsylvanians Against Pornography, the American Family Association of PA, Dr. Mary Anne Layden, Director of the Center for Cognitive Therapy at University of Pennsylvania; and Survivors and Victims Empowered (SAVE), Lancaster. They will be contacting PA State Senators in order to postpone Comcast’s KOIZ deal from going through until programming changes are made.

“If Comcast is going to get a multi-million-dollar per-year tax break, certainly they can afford not to deal in the pornography business,” said William Devlin, founder of Urban Family. “Comcast has contributed to the decline of American culture by insisting that their company continue to demean women by depicting them engaged in acts of hardcore pornography.”

“There is a direct link between pornography and violence towards women,” Devlin said. “The Pennsylvania State Senate should not give tax breaks to a company whose programming increases the rate of domestic violence in the United States.”

Now, the State Senate has a chance to make them do it. “If Comcast wants a KOIZ, they should pull the porn,” Devlin said.