The new FCC chairman is making noise that he "decency standards" will be coming to Cable TV if it does not voluntarily clean up its act.
>The FCC's new chairman warned cable companies yesterday they need to do a better job of addressing growing concerns over television indecency if they want to avoid regulation from Congress. . . .
>In reaction, Stevens and others in Congress have indicated they think cable companies should be regulated similarly to broadcasters when it comes to indecency rules.(link)
Why does the US government feel they need to protect me from myself? I subscribe to this service, if I had issues with its content I could just cancel.
Here is another article on the same issue
>Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and the new FCC Chair Kevin Martin want to extend censorship to cable TV (something one must pay for and which does not use the public airwaves) and even to satellite radio, according to the reports I have been reading.(link)
Despite being unregulated by the FCC all cable channels regulate themselves. Most channels will bleep out cuss words and blur nudity. The obvious question is why do they do this when they are not required to? It is because the market regulates what is acceptable. If a channel offends its target audience they will lose viewers and advertisers will be less likely to fund programs. If the FCC thinks that cable is becoming more indecent than it can only mean this sort of behavior is becoming more acceptable in society. If everyone felt the same way as the FCC shows like south park would instantly be pulled due to lack of viewers.
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