(LGL) Keep your censorship off my airwaves!

[DaddyTorgo]

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal regulators have the authority to clamp down on broadcast TV networks that air isolated cases of profanity, known as "fleeting expletives."
The 5-4 vote was a victory for Bush-era officials who pushed fines and sanctions when racy images and language reached the airwaves.

"It suffices the new policy is permissible under the statute, there are good reasons for it, and the agency believes it to be better," said Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the conservative majority.

BUT

The high court, however, refused to decide whether the commission's policy violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. It ruled only on the agency's enforcement power. The justices ordered the free-speech aspect to be reviewed again by a federal appeals court.

[DaddyTorgo]

I want my racy images and language on broadcast tv!!

[albionmoonlight]

I'm not a First Amendment guy, so I don't know the legality of it, but I never got why cable TV had to be censored at all. It is a service that you are paying to bring into your home. No use of the public airways, and no way that any "innocent" people will see it who don't want to see it (since you have to choose to get it and pay to keep it).

[flere-imsaho]

I actually agree with the ruling as it seems commonsensical that the FCC would have this kind of power over broadcast TV, and I'll note that the Court dodged the First Amendment issue anyway (for now)... but...

...it's amusing that, yet again, the "conservative majority" of the Supreme Court has effectively ruled against individual liberties and personal responsibility.



Seriously Scalia, make up your mind!

[Alan T]

I guess with technology the way it is today, I don't understand why the following couldn't be done:

Have programs marked for certain types of possible program material (nudity, language, violence, etc) as many currently do anyways.

Have the tuners include programming that interprets the programming material and allow the users to set what type of programming is allowed or not. A parent could restrict certain things if they wanted to, or they could choose to not do so.

That way, the people who care about this are protected, and those who don't want stuff filtered are able to watch what they want. Everyone is happy.

I mean this is far easier to do than many of today's technological advances, so I don't see why this is not doable either.

[SirFozzie]

Because you can't predict when a F-bomb will be audible on Sports broadcasts, or in this case, when Bono will call receiving an award "Fucking Brilliant"

[flere-imsaho]

In my opinion this is just the backdoor introduction of a nanny state foisted upon us by activist judges.

[stevew]

I saw nekkid floppy boobs on the screen, but then realized it was just the Andre Smith pro day workout.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Because you can't predict when a F-bomb will be audible on Sports broadcasts, or in this case, when Bono will call receiving an award "Fucking Brilliant"

I'm fairly certain an audible f-bomb is predictable when they have a microphone within 50 feet of KG.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Because you can't predict when a F-bomb will be audible on Sports broadcasts, or in this case, when Bono will call receiving an award "Fucking Brilliant"

We should just ban any Bono's then. Covers us now and would have covered us in the 70's.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Because you can't predict when a F-bomb will be audible on Sports broadcasts, or in this case, when Bono will call receiving an award "Fucking Brilliant"

Or when a singer will rip part of someone's blouse off.

But the real problem I've got is they've already got ratings, they just ignore them for things outside of the actual show. Not just the Super Bowl halftime show that started this whole thing, or the F-bombs mentioned above, but all the freakin' CSI ads on during otherwise family shows, for example. The ESRB goes after violators of the ratings system, someone needs to do the same for TV shows.

[DaddyTorgo]

this is only broadcast tv and not cabe though - guess that's an overlooked point

[JediKooter]

People still watch the crap that's on broadcast tv?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

People still watch the crap that's on broadcast tv?

Individually? More than anything else by a pretty big margin.

Collectively? Not anymore, haven't in several years.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Individually? More than anything else by a pretty big margin.

Collectively? Not anymore, haven't in several years.

Maybe it's my synical eye, but, other than sports and maybe a handful of shows, there's not a whole lot of quality programing these days on broadcast tv. Which surprises me that people are watching that much broadcast tv.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Maybe it's my synical eye, but, other than sports and maybe a handful of shows, there's not a whole lot of quality programing these days on broadcast tv. Which surprises me that people are watching that much broadcast tv.

It's not that you're underestimating the quality of the program, it's that you're overestimating quality of the audience for mass appeal shows.

Most watched shows on cable - the top ten shows last week were all under 4 million households, a (broadcast universe) Household Rating of between 3.0 & 3.5

Most watched shows on broadcast - the top ten shows last week ranged from 16 million households to 9.7 million households, ratings between 8.0 & 14.0

And to add to matters, most of the most watched shows on cable are either cartoons or pro wrestling, not exactly the highest quality programming either.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It's not that you're underestimating the quality of the program, it's that you're overestimating quality of the audience for mass appeal shows.

Most watched shows on cable - the top ten shows last week were all under 4 million households, a (broadcast universe) Household Rating of between 3.0 & 3.5

Most watched shows on broadcast - the top ten shows last week ranged from 16 million households to 9.7 million households, ratings between 8.0 & 14.0

And to add to matters, most of the most watched shows on cable are either cartoons or pro wrestling, not exactly the highest quality programming either.

Wow, that's bad. Well, I do like South Park and Family Guy, so throw me in that group.

Broadcast tv has definitely jumped the shark when all the 'reality' shows started to flood the airwaves.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Wow, that's bad. Well, I do like South Park and Family Guy, so throw me in that group.

Broadcast tv has definitely jumped the shark when all the 'reality' shows started to flood the airwaves.

Or maybe the shark jumped tv (since that's where the viewers want to be).
And you're not in the cartoon group I was referring to actually.

Top 15 cable shows by total HH last week
1) WWE Raw (Mon 10p) (3.95 million homes, 5.66m viewers)
2) WWE Raw (Mon 9p) (3.93m homes, 5.98m viewers)
3) In Plain Sight (Sun 10p)
4) Sponge Bob (Sat 930a)
5) Sponge Bob (Fri 8p)
6) Penguins of Madagascar (Sat 10a)
7) Law & Order: CI (Sun 9p)
8) Sponge Bob (Sun 930a)
9) Hannah Montana (Sun 730p)
10) NCIS (Mon 7p)
11) Penguins of Madagascar (Sun 10a)
12) Sponge Bob (Sun 9a)
13) WWE Raw (Mon 8p) (extra hour for draft week episode)
14) Sponge Bob (Fri 830p)
15) NCIS (Thurs 7p)

And that's a pretty typical looking list from week to week, other than the absence of iCarly and maybe an extra NCIS rerun. By comparison, the #20 show on broadcast last week was Amazing Race 14 with 10.3m total viewers.

And before anyone asks about the difference in household ratings vs demographic breakouts, the WWE & South Park are the only shows that crack the top 10 on cable in all three main demos 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54. Otherwise it's basically MTV (The Hills) and VH1 (Love of Ray J) for 18-34, same but different order for 18-49, wrestling #1 & #2 for the 25-54, with NCIS repeats making up most of the rest of that list.

edit to add: Outside of the top shows, just general overall primetime viewing, USA is back to the top consistently once again, with an average audience for prime time in the low 2 millions. For broadcast that's territory that somewhere between Univision (broadcast) and the CW.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Or maybe the shark jumped tv (since that's where the viewers want to be).
And you're not in the cartoon group I was referring to actually.

Top 15 cable shows by total HH last week
1) WWE Raw (Mon 10p) (3.95 million homes, 5.66m viewers)
2) WWE Raw (Mon 9p) (3.93m homes, 5.98m viewers)
3) In Plain Sight (Sun 10p)
4) Sponge Bob (Sat 930a)
5) Sponge Bob (Fri 8p)
6) Penguins of Madagascar (Sat 10a)
7) Law & Order: CI (Sun 9p)
8) Sponge Bob (Sun 930a)
9) Hannah Montana (Sun 730p)
10) NCIS (Mon 7p)
11) Penguins of Madagascar (Sun 10a)
12) Sponge Bob (Sun 9a)
13) WWE Raw (Mon 8p) (extra hour for draft week episode)
14) Sponge Bob (Fri 830p)
15) NCIS (Thurs 7p)

Interesting. I don't watch a single one of those shows, with the very rare exception of Sponge Bob every now and then.

Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with mindless entertainment every now then, but, wrestling has those kinds of numbers? I don't know what to say.

No wonder a lot people look like they have absolutely no clue when Leno goes out on the street to ask people questions.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with mindless entertainment every now then, but, wrestling has those kinds of numbers? I don't know what to say.

Wrestling has pretty much always (since the WWF/WCW Monday night wars at least) been the most watched thing on cable.

Read something interesting just this morning as a matter of fact, as USA sets an all-time record for average viewers in major demos, first time a cable network has ever broken the 3 million average total viewers mark for a month, being hailed as the best month ever for an ad-supported cable network, etc., etc. Raw actually beat ABC head to head in viewers for their Monday time slot and the only demo where Raw wasn't the top rated show on cable was 18-34.
Media Life Magazine - USA wrestles away an April cable win