In January, Titan pulled its library of content from NakedSword due to a lawsuit pitting Titan against video-on-demand service AEBN, which had merged with NakedSword.
Michael Stabile, director of marketing for NakedSword, told XBIZ Thursday that he was extremely pleased to have put the conflict in the past and to get back to doing business with Titan.
“There was never any animosity between NakedSword and Titan,” Stabile said. “This is a real mending of the fences, and a very big deal for us.”
Keith Webb, vice president of Titan Media, told XBIZ that the deal is “one of the largest, if not the largest, gay adult VOD distribution deal ever made.”
“The partnership we have formed with Scott Coffman and Tim Valenti at NS/AEBN will make the Titan Media brands the most widely distributed gay VOD brands on the Internet,” Webb said. “Our premier quality content combined with their tremendous online sales and marketing reach make for a team that is unmatched in the industry.”
As noted by NakedSword CEO Tim Valenti, the deal also represents a family reunion of sorts, re-establishing a business relationship that harks back to the early days of the adult Internet industry.
“NakedSword worked with us to build the first TitanMen.com website way back in 1997,” Webb said, in reference to Cubik Media, NakedSword’s web development division. “Having been a part of Titan Media’s online development since the beginning, we feel confident that NakedSword understands the TitanMen brand. We believe the partnership will be extremely beneficial to both companies and creates one of the strongest online gay brands the industry has ever seen.”
According to Stabile, NakedSword expects to have the full run of Titan titles online by the end of June, and new Titan releases will be added to the VOD library at the same time that they come out on DVD.
In addition to securing rights to all new titles produced by Titan for distribution on NakedSword’s VOD site, Stabile said the deal also provides an opportunity for NakedSword to build and promote new VOD properties with a brand-specific identity for Titan Media, and to work with affiliates to push the brand into new markets.
“Titan is one of the best-selling brands in the world, and we’re very, very excited to have them back on board,” Stabile said.