Bust

I can't say for sure, but the cable channels don't broadcast themselves. Cable companies have to carry them to our televisions and they have contracts for each channel. I'm sure there are some cable companies that would threaten to not carry your station if you didn't observe some kind of standards.

For instance, Comcast could say, "We will not carry the E! channel if they don't censor the Stern show." Comcast, being a private company has every right to make that decision, just as Clear Channel (may they rot in hell) had every right to make that decision about Stern's radio show this week.

Trigger

Indeed - everyone in america shares one brain and one conscious thought and we are all afraid of curse words and nudity.

Roto

It's called the vocal minority. They freak out and make a nuisance of themselves and the sponsors listen to them for some reason.

balancer

Sadly, this minority are the ones that are deadly serious about voting, when the majority are too lazy.

mikewendt

It's all a matter of each networks personal prefrence. E! seems to choose to keep things at a TV-14 no matter what time of day it is. Where as channels like Comedy Central & FX let swears and nudity on after a certain hour. But even they have some standards, decpite all the stuff that goes on in The Shield, Nip/Tuck and others, I've never heard one "f//k" on FX. And in Comedy Central's case, they aired South Park: BLU with plenty of F-Bombs but I've never seen nudity on their station.

I think that's all I have to say on the matter.

Rypro 525

south park blu, does have nudity.
and there has been nudity on the shield and nip tuck (ass, but thats good enough)

mikewendt

Read it again... I said, I never heard f//k on FX... I know there's nudity on those shows.

And I forgot about Sadam's cut-out c//k... Oh well, I guess CC has no standards.

Rypro 525

actually, there was an f bomb on the shield (its not loud or blatent, but its there) its in the episode where the strike team kidnaps the basketball player

mikewendt

actually it's a implied f-bomb.

He says, "What the fu..." and stops himself before completing the word.

kurupt

When Comedy Central shows South Park The Movie at 1 am, they never censor it. While the FCC pays lip service to "leveling the field" by holding XM radio or cable tv to the same standards as broadcast radio and tv, I don't see them being able to actually do it. The main argument for the broadcast decency law is that the broadcast airwaves will come into your home "uninvited". Anyone with a radio or tv will is, in theory, able to pick up the signals and since the airwaves are "public property" they are under government control. One must pay a premium and make the conscious choice to recieve programming from cable tv and satellite radio, and therefore should do their research as to what programming they will recieve before making said choice. If they don't, it's their own fault when they hear Tony Soprano tell Johnny Sack to "fu-- himself".