We just had a nice discussion a couple of days back about the role of the FCC and what they ban, etc. That was about radio, but I was under the impression they would use the same standards for TV, too. Yesterday, Southpark said "sh*t" something like 130 times, uncensored, unbleeped. I believe it was on at 9pm -- even before the 10pm time that the rules get more relaxed. Does the FCC not regulate regular cable TV? Has the ban on this word just been voluntary up until now? Anyone know? ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
That's my 19 MO daugher's favorite new word. Anyone know how to un-train a child? She has overheard it a few times. ------------------ "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak. Because someday you will have been all of these."
zap2it.com sayd Chicago Hope used the word a few years ago too so this wasn't the first time. The final tally was 162 for SP. ------------------
shanna, I do not believe raw profane expletives are banned before 10pm, except at cc.net. I pretty sure about that. Do you want a link to the Supreme Court ruling on it. I know for sure the FCC says that they do not ban Profanity (as they define it to me expletives with no offensive intent to express sexual acts or bodily functions). Certainly on the radio they are not banned before 10pm. However, each station or newspaper can choose to make their own filtering rules. **** is ok on tv ass is ok **** is ok p***y is ok piss is ok but you cannot use them to describe an action. only as a raw expletive. but, **** **** ********** mother****er are limited to after 10pm. What I am confused about is: uncle****er
Oh, and remember when Letterman pissed off Madonna, so she decided to ruin the interview so they couldn't air it. She say f..k in every sentence into the interview was over in order not to have to resort to walking out on him.
Comedy Central is on cable, so I think they can say whatever they want. ------------------ "Bada Bing!"
Comedy Central is on cable, so I think they can say whatever they want. Sure, but every other non-premium (HBO, etc) cable-network bleeps out things like that. Is that just a voluntary thing, then? ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
hbo doesn't bleep stuff out. Sex and the City always uses the words p***y and ****, and also ****... and I guess sometimes ******************* and... Hell, this past weekend had Samantha getting a girl's smeggum on her face! Oh my sheez!
Right -- the Premium networks don't bleep anything out. However, the regular-cable networks that everyone has access to has always bleeped out things like that. ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
Shanna, The Supreme Court decided that radio did not have total 1st Amendment rights like a book does, because it can be transmitted into you home, and thus Justice Stephens (I believe) said that it has a measure of unavoidability that books don't. He explicitely states that the court considered the argument regarding one's ability to change the channel to avoid objectionable material, but they voted against that argument. I do believe this argument applied to TV broadcasts as well. But most certainly, they do not treat cable TV broadcast differently than airwave TV broadcast. Also, the FCC is mandated to follow the definition of Obsence and Indecent as defined by local communities...so watch out Achebe, Utah can ban Sex in the City. As a side note, they do in fact treat Internet "broadcast" differently. It has 1st Amendment rights with no special laws to prevent anything that isn't already prevented (like p*rn with minors). I think the reason for that is because it has no boundaries that can be enforced by laws, so it is futile for one country to limit something when others are not.
The reason non-premium cable channels bleep words out and don't show nudity (but lots of violence is okay!) is mostly to keep from offending advertisers. It really has nothing to do with regulations. If you air programming that most people consider offensive than you run the risk of advertisers pulling their money (at least during that particular program). In addition, a station has more to lose than to gain by airing offensive words. Most people won't have a problem if they don't hear a bad word, but many people do have problems with hearing them and will let the station know! I used to work in radio for a now-defunct classic-rock station and we would not air commercials from adult night-clubs, even commercials that never mentioned dancers or ladies (only sports or drink specials), because too many of our listeners would complain. Despite the fact that topless bars spend lots of money on advertising and a classic-rock station's demographic (adult men) is a perfect target for them. Drove the salesmen nuts! (Of course, this could be one reason the station is off the air! No revenue! Plus really bad management.) KLOL makes a ton of money but there are many advertisers who won’t use them (or at least not the morning show) because they don’t want their products associated with that kind of content. Of course the ratings were so good (I have no idea what the ratings for Pruett, et all are now) that many advertisers just didn’t care. So, the saying “follow the money” is really the best explanation. Premium channels (like HBO) get away with it because people expect “adult” content on them and you have to subscribe to those channels separately so the subscribers are voluntarily choosing to have that content in their homes. Plus, if I remember correctly, they don’t have commercials! No advertisers, fewer restrictions. Also (and I could be wrong about this) the FCC doesn’t really control cable as it doesn’t use the publicly licensed airways. ------------------
