More Stations Bleeping Eyes on The Prize

WGBH Boston, one of PBS' anchor programmers, says that some two-dozen stations have now notified it that they will bleep a profanity from the Oct. 16 airing of its civil rights documentary, Eyes on the Prize.

PBS is re-distributing the acclaimed series, having just renewed its distribution rights, with airings planned over three Mondays in a row (the first aired Oct. 2). In the Oct. 16 episode, an activist captures the tension between the ploughshare and sword camps of the civil rights movement, saying: "If we can't sit at the table, let's knock the fucking legs off, excuse me."

Station spokesman Daphne B. Noyes said that the stations did not give their reasons for bleeping, but that WGBH had anticipated that it would be a mix of sensitivity to their local markets and concern over the FCC's profanity crackdown.

Below are the stations/networks that plan to bleep:

KSMQ - Austin MN
Nebraska Public Television
New Hampshire Public Television
WFWA - Fort Wayne IN
WJCT - Jacksonville FL
WMSU - Michigan State University
WOSU - Columbus OH
WPBT - Miami FL
WSPA - Pensacola FL
WTCA - Chatanooga TN
WTVI - Charlotte NC
WUFT - Gainesville FL
Alabama Public Television
Iowa Public Television
KCOS - El Paso TX
KNPB - Reno NV
KVPT - Fresno CA
WEDU -Tampa FL
WFSU -Tallahassee FL
WFUM - Flint MI
WLVT - Bethlehem PA
WMHT - Schenectady NY
WPBA - Atlanta
KOCE - Huntington Beach CA
Rocky Mountain PBS - Denver CO
GPB (Georgia State Network)

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.