For many years I have heard the legend that
the porn industry played a crucial role in the victory of JVC's VHS over Sony's Betamax.
It resurfaced during the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray.
From Macworld:
Just as in the 1980s, when the Betamax and VHS video formats were battling it out for supremacy, the pornography industry will likely play a big role in determining which of the two blue-laser DVD formats ... will be the winner ...
From Wired:
Long before the battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, there was another home-video standards war that pitted Sony against another Japanese company, JVC. It was VHS vs. Betamax.
Ultimately, VHS won the battle, and tech lore has it that the porn industry played a big role in that victory. Sony reportedly wouldn’t let pornographic content be put on Betamax tapes, while JVC and the VHS consortium had no such qualms.
From Businessweek:
One oft-recalled explanation for the failure of Sony's Betamax videocassette format in the 1980s was the Japanese company's ambivalence towards producers of pornographic videos. By contrast, proponents of VHS, Betamax's rival, welcomed adult content with open arms and, the legend goes, caused Betamax's demise.
My question:
How much truth is behind this lore?
To what extend, if at all, did the porn industry contribut to VHS winning the format war?
Further reading material:
Cracked.com - 5 Ways Porn Created the Modern World