The content available was DEFINITELY much lower; however, most of them came with some great reading material in addition to the pictures. I had a few buddies in college that we all split the subscriptions between with a few....rules on usage and cleanliness.
We still have Playboy and Spice channels
Interesting enough, if you're skillful enough, there was an article from 2600 (hacker magazine) that show you how to hack the cable in receiving clear signals.
That cable hacking skill brought me some weird friendships back in high school.