From time to time Comedy Central, a basic cable channel, shows the move South Park: Bigger Longer Uncut. Not such a big deal really, until you watch it and realise that they show it completly un-edited! Every f-bomb, cock sucking word is in the movie! Even the dildo scene with Saddam H. is in there!
Now they do show the movie after midnight, with a disclaimer, but still! How do they get away with that? The movie was Rated R in the theaters, but they can show it on a basic cable channel? I know cable has a few less rules than broadcast “free” channels, but its not like CC is a pay channel, if you have cable it it’s usually included with all the other channels.
Can anyone explain the FCC rules that allow CC to show this movie with not a single person complaining about it? FTR, I love this movie and I am not complaning, I just dont understand how this works.
This is completely anecdotal, mind you, but this is how it was explained to me: The FCC regs are much more lax later in the evening. A program airing after 10pm can get away with a lot more than a show that airs before then. That’s how South Park got away with their now infamous swearing episode. It’s also how Anthony Edwards was able to yello “Shit!” on a prime time episode of ER. Many shows could get away with a lot more than that, but most don’t (FX Original Programs excepted). They don’t because they’re afraid they might alienate their sponsors. But CC’s South Park sponsors clearly know their audience, and are prepared to any backlash. Which, as far as I can tell, hasn’t happened.
Here ya go, the “Obscenity” Rules for the FCC. Looks like Comedy Central is well within the guidelines: it was only an R-rated movie, and it was already in both theatrical and video release, hence it can hardly be said to violate community standards, plus they broadcast it well past the 10 p.m. cutoff.
[quote]
Obscene speech is not protected by the First Amendment and cannot be broadcast at any time. To be obscene, material must meet a three-prong test:
[ul]
[li]An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; [/li]
[li]The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and [/li]
[li]The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.[/ul] [/li][/quote]
While I agree that #3 may be debatable (BTW, I loved the movie, too ), still, you can’t argue that overall it’s basically a “dirty movie”. It’s raunchy, yes, but it’s not “porn”. It wasn’t made for the specific purpose of being “obscene” or pornographic–it was made as a comedy, which happens to be really raunchy.
Does the FCC even regulate basic cable content? Broadcasting is different in that it uses public airwaves. Cable is delivered by a private network. Also, while CC is on basic cable for you, I’m not sure it is on all cable systems.
Congress and the courts have pretty much taken away any regulation the FCC has over basic cable service. The controlling current law is the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which incorporated the Communications Decency Act as its Title V.
The effect of this is that the only real teeth the FCC has is in requiring cable franchises to give parents the ability to block adult cable stations and avoid channel bleed so that the signal doesn’t leak over into other channels.
The FCC page that DDG quoted refers only to broadcast television.
Why, then, do most cable stations avoid adult language and nudity?
Every cable franchise is issued by a controlling local government. Few places issue more than one franchise, so in most cities cable is a monopoly. The cable company is regulated and overseen by the local government according to the terms of the franchising license. Cities have learned over the years what kind of language to put in these.
In practice, this mostly means that increasing leeway is given to stations that must be deliberately sought out and paid for. Basic cable is less adult than premium cable which is less adult than subscriber cable (HBO etc.) which is less adult than pay per view cable.
On the station side, the offerings are normally carefully geared to this distinction. The stations don’t want to hear complaints from the franchisers, especially when it comes time to raise rates.
The public has three means of complaint available. Complaining to the local cable owner (Time Warner, etc.). Complaining to the local government overseer. Complaining to the state attorney general.
I can’t give any general comment about the effectiveness of these complaints: it’s too site specific. But having been part of the office that first franchised my cable operation I can tell you that complaints are listened to, and that nobody likes to have to respond to them.
OK, this has been very long winded. In short, Comedy Central gets away with it because everybody knows what South Park is; it’s successful enough for them to want to defend it; and there’s nobody in charge to prevent it unless CC crosses an invisible line and upset too many people.
), still, you can’t argue that overall it’s basically a “dirty movie”. It’s raunchy, yes, but it’s not “porn”. It wasn’t made for the specific purpose of being “obscene” or pornographic–it was made as a comedy, which happens to be really raunchy.