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FACT: According to the FCC, obscene material may not air on TV or radio at any time. The Supreme Court says in order to be obscene, the following three things must all be true:
(1) an average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest (i.e., material having a tendency to excite lustful thoughts); (2) the material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and (3) the material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
FACT: Material that doesn't rise to the level of being obscene may still be considered profane or indecent. Profane or Indecent programming can't air between 6 am and 10 pm.
FACT: With the switch to digital television, I believe every television set in the country has some way to block channels that the viewer believes are inappropriate. Any 13" or larger television made in the last 10 years is required to have the "V-chip" built into it (this includes computers with a digital tuner and a 13" or larger monitor). Any cable, satellite television, or digital converter box has the same. All that leaves is people on non-digital cable using 10+ year old televisions who don't have a cable box. The FCC requires that the cable companies have a "lock-box" available to these people on request.
Therefore, I submit to you that it is possible to have a broadcast channel that airs soft-core pornography between 10 pm and 6 am. I think you could argue that this programming does not fit category 2's definition of obscene, because it is not patently offensive; and it does not fit category 3's definition of obscene, because it is not void of artistic value (i.e. the storyline).
All day long the channel would air shopping infomercials, plus air a 5 minute PSA every half hour advertising/explaining that it airs adult programming between the hours of 10 and 6, along with providing information on how to block the channel should the viewer so wish. Commercials at night would include the normal phone sex / dating commercials that already air on less reputable channels.
Please either tell me where I have misunderstood the laws, why you think this wouldn't become the most popular channel at 10 pm, or how much money you are willing to provide to make this happen. -
I'm willing to bet that the programming would be considered patently offensive for the purposes of broadcast. I don't necessarily agree with that, but those are the neighbors with whom we live.
Personally my money will be going to lift the puritanical restrictions on public nudity. Yes you'll occasionally have to see old man junk, but that's the price you pay for awesome. -
look at Cinemax late night programming, i.e."skin-amax". i would agrue that you might be able to get away with it
my only concern would be how would one apply to general rules of 18+ to view pornographic material? -
Cable programing is not regulated by the same set of rules, because it is A) not over-the-air, and B) Is a pay service. The vast majority of censorship on cable Television is self imposed, to atract the maximum number of customers to their pay services.
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Posted By: Captain Monkey PantsThe vast majority of censorship on cable Television is self imposed, to atract the maximum number of customers to their pay services.
For the pay channels, at least. For non-pay cable channels they are interested in attracting the maximum advertiser revenue. There's a relationship to viewership there, but ultimately they're serving the advertisers' interests. That may be a deciding factor as to why ad-supported channels don't air any risqué content.
That brings us to the other minefield. Those phone sex lines may buy every last damn bit of advertising space at night, but they're clearly getting those spots at bargain-basement prices. In order to be financially viable, you'd need to either figure out how to attract solid daytime advertisers (but what megacorp wants to be associated with "the pr0n network") or attract enough viewers to make the traditional nighttime advertisers pony up a LOT more cash.
You could potentially air nothing but infomercials during the day, but you'd still have the problem of brand association.
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- Captain Monkey Pants February 2010
- coveredwagonkid February 2010
- Mike Brady February 2010