5:09pm UK, Monday April 08, 2002

The growth in internet pornography is threatening to put traditional soft porn magazines out of business, the man behind Penthouse has claimed.

SP-penthouse

Publisher Bob Guccione said there was no future for adult mass market magazines.

"The future has definitely migrated to electronic media," the 71-year-old told the New York Times.

Slump

Penthouse's circulation has fallen from a peak of five million copies a month to just 650,000.

The magazine's parent company General Media is £36m in debt and may not be able to meet interest repayments of nearly £9m this year.

Guccione, along with Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, was a pioneer of mainstream soft porn.

Lad mags

First published in London in 1965, Penthouse established itself as Playboy's raunchier rival.

Women who have posed nude for the magazine include Paula Jones, who accused former US president Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

Former Miss America Vanessa Williams also posed nude for the magazine.

The boom in pornography on video and DVD and the rise of so called "lad's mags" are also blamed for the problems facing Penthouse.

'Still going'

Mr Guccione, who has suffered throat cancer, said he is addressing the concerns and expects to be in business for years to come.

Anti-porn activist Andrea Dworkin said: "I'm delighted that Mr Guccione may be going out of business.

"The problem is that he is being replaced, quite possibly, by something that is much worse."