Quote:
Originally Posted by OTW
If people don't watch, they'll (hopefully) pull out, and no more TV show.
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That's the way it really works.
Some things to note:
First, the "government," through The Federal Communications Commission cannot censor broadcast programming. The Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecom Act of 1996 does not allow censorship. What the Commission CAN do is punish broadcast stations for breaking rules pertaining to language and other social issues. Censorship (at least to me) implies stopping something BEFORE it is distributed. That's not the case in broadcasting.
Second, it's questionable whether the FCC (government) could do anything in this case anyway because ABC Family is NOT an on-air network. It is a cable channel and does not use the "public airwaves" and the FCC has considerably less power. Most of the Act(s) regarding cable pertain to franchise issues and how many public access channels a system must provide, etc.
Third, a quick word on "ratings." There is a big difference between a programs rating (PG, etc) and ratings as what affects whether a show survives. The first is something to supposedly give people an advance idea of whether the content of a program is something they want to watch. The second, and most important one in this situation, is a supposedly scientific measurement of how many people actually watched the show. That's the thing that advertisers and network executives look at when deciding whether a show survives or not.
Finally, regarding use of language in records (pertaining only to broadcast -- not sale in stores), a radio or TV station itself may choose to censor what is played on the air -- including the deletion of offending words, etc. In fact, it is in the stations best interest to do that or it's likely to lose it's license or face heavy fines -- the "punishment" I alluded to above.
In reality, though, OTW hit the nail on the proverbial head. If people don't watch, it will go away. If people do watch, it won't.
Hybrid Mode
