[RichardCoulter]

I did some research about three years ago when I briefly considered becoming involved in the business of telephone call charge funded channels (not soft porn).

The business model is that the girl, clairvoyant etc are effectively self employed and only earn a cut of the phone calls, so it's in their interest to take as many calls as possible and keep them on the line for as long as possible.

Many pay a fee to the company too in return for being given the chance to earn some money, so they have to cover this before they start to earn a profit.

Sometimes a cut is taken by their telephone service provider too in return for the facilities that they provide, unless the equipment is leased or bought outright.

The usual costs of insurance, premises, EPG fees, uplink costs, electricity, Ofcom licenses, business rates, PPL & PRS fees for the music played etc etc all have to be met from this income stream as well (I think some will show adverts too to raise a little additional revenue).

jj20x is correct in that Sky only receive the normal EPG fee and any Platform Contribution Charge payable.

These types of channels would also have to pay VM for the privilege of going onto a private closed system, so you can see why, with all the associated costs having to be already met, there is less of them on cable.