NBC Adopts Content Ratings
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/28/2005 8:39:00 AM
NBC has joined ranks with the rest of the networks on the TV-ratings system.
The network said Wednesday that it would immediately begin including content descriptors in its TV ratings -- “V” for violence, “S” for sexual content, “L” for vulgar language, “D” for suggestive dialogue and “FV” for fantasy violence -- as do the other networks. It will also air the ratings icons coming out of each commercial break
ABC already airs the ratings coming out of commercials, and Fox does coming out of the 15-minute break for half-hour shows and on the half hour for hours, while CBS airs them at the top of the hour and the half-hour.. NBC said the changes would be "fully implemented" by the start of the new fall season.
NBC had been airing the age-based classifications (“TV-G,” “TV-14,” etc.), but it had refused to add the descriptors. The network was among the strongest critics of the adoption of the ratings system on First Amendment grounds.
Back when the system was instituted in 1997, NBC resisted pressure from the White House and Congress to adopt the descriptors. Arguing, in the words of one executive at the time, that they could be misleading and result in indiscriminate blocking and censorship, NBC said it would instead increase parental warnings when appropriate and monitor public opinion on the ratings system.
Of the turnabout, Alan Wurtzel, President of Broadcast Standads, said changes in the times and technology were behind the shift. "Eight years ago, when content descriptors were first implemented, we questioned if they would cause more confusion than they would help. We're in an environment where the number of channels has grown exponentially. It's increasingly hard for viewers to know what's on all those channels. We want to give them more information, and our research shows that they are interested in choice and control, not in being passive."
But self-regulation is a business decision as well as a public service, he said. Our advertisers pay a premium for a certain environment, he said, and there are more than 200 affiliates to think about.
NBC will also boost its ratings-system public-service-announcement campaign, including airing them in all dayparts, though it is not making its ratings icons bigger, as NCTA pledged yesterday.
"These changes provide our network and cable viewers with more frequent and more detailed information about our programs," NBC chairman Bob Wright said. "By enhancing the visibility of content ratings and raising awareness of the V-chip, we believe parents have the tools they need to make informed decisions."
The move follows Wednesday's announcement by the cable industry that it would boost its PSA campaign on parental controls, enlarge its on-screen ratings and air them coming out of each commercial break.
ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover said of the NBC announcement: "The changes NBC is proposing have been standard operating procedure at ABC for years.
"With respect to the ratings of programs with full descriptors,BS&P professionals at ABC are responsible for the evaluation and administration of the Parental Guidelines Rating System for all programs.
"Since the inception of the Parental Guidelines Monitoring System in 1997, each episode of entertainment programming has carried with it a ratings icon complete with content descriptors where necessary, as well as the imposition of Parental or Viewer advisories.
"In fact, Last March, we implemented a significantly larger ratings icon which is displayed on screen for 15 seconds at the start of each program, or on the hour for multi-hours programs. We also instituted the 5 second display of that same ratings icon at the return from every commercial break."
Hoover said ABC is also currently in the final planning stages on a new PSA campaign on the ratings and V-chip to launch this year.
The most recent cable and broadcast initiatives are the continuing fallout from singer Bono's errant “F-word” on NBC and Janet Jackson's anatomical slip-up during the Super Bowl on CBS, which resulted in an ongoing indecency crackdown by the Federal Communications Commission and pressure from Congress for stiffer fines and tougher enforcement.
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