TV programmers’ tactic of running racier material online than on ...
TV programmers’ tactic of running racier material online than on TV drew fire from Parents TV Council. The group cited Viacom’s Comedy Central for its unexpurgated streaming of a “roast” of Flava Flav, the ex-rapper turned reality TV star.…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
On Comedy Central at 10 p.m. Aug. 13, the show was shorn of obscenities, though later that night it ran again unedited. By putting the unedited version online, too, “Comedy Central has done an end run on parents,” PTC President Tim Winter said. “Comedy Central should make Web viewers prove their age with an age verification system.” Streamed material evades the V-chip content blocking tool that the industry touts as a success, undermining its usefulness, Winter said. Other networks have used the Web to stream uncensored material. NBC Universal posted a Saturday Night Live short featuring a mock video for a song parody, “Dick in a Box.” When the skit was broadcast on national TV, the word “dick” was removed.