My local CBS affiliate is not carrying the “Victoria’s Secret Lingerie Show” which CBS is broadcasting at 10:00 PM tonight, Tuesday, December 5. Is yours?
I live in a southern state, but my gosh, CBS is the most conservative of the four major networks and the models aren’t naked, they’re wearing lingerie. Plus it’s at 10:00 PM, long after Junior’s bedtime. I know there are better ways to expand my horizons than watching this, but if I want to watch it, I think I should be able to. If little old ladies don’t want to see it, they don’t have to watch it.
They are filling the hour with a series of provocative reports recycled from their newscast during last months sweeps about, what else, child predators.
Do you have the choice of whether to watch this or not in your market?
Guessing “SI/VS” means “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue / Victoria’s Secret”.
I’d like to see this Thread include discussion of what freedom is allowed the affiliates in their contracts with the major networks. This is not the first time I’ve heard of local affiliates choosing not to broadcast a particular network program.
Now the individual television stations are owned by the affiliates, so I’m sure they’ve got their rights protected. However, I can’t believe the networks, the more powerful party in these contracts, would agree to a contract that allows the affiliate complete discretion to trump network programming.
As I understand it, the affiliates are given their timeslots and the networks are given their timeslots.
Are the affiliates completely within their rights, as in a case like that described by the OP? Or is it that they are in breach of contract but since it’s for a one-time airing, rather than a recurring weekly program, the network deems fighting over it to not be worthwhile? Or perhaps, are the affiliates in breach of contract but make the decision that paying a penalty fee to the network is preferable to pissing off their market?
Also, even if the program were to be controversial in a particular market, do the angry letter-writing / moral boycotting types actually get pissed off at lowly affiliates in the face of objectionable network programming? Why not direct the ire to the network? Isn’t the affiliate in an easy position to just pass the buck?
Here in Sacramento, our local CBS affilliate, KOVR will be airing the VS show at 9pm. We have “early prime time” here so everything is on an hour earlier.
What? Are you saying that I don’t have access to racey material (something you could not possibly know) because I don’t know who Belladonna is? Senseless.
I’d also like to hear from anyone with knowledge about a local affiliates right to not broadcast their networks programming as this is at the heart of my OP.
Wouldn’t the ad agencies that bought time in a network show for their clients be peeved if the show wasn’t being carried in all markets. If I were a client, I’d be peeved.
It’s been a long time since I worked in TV advertising, and then I was with an independent station, but I do believe that the network would be aware which stations would not be airing the special in time to tell their advertisers. Also, it’s possible that the network ads will still run on that station, but in a better time slot. When I worked for a network affilliated radio station, I found that CBS didn’t care too much as long as the ad ran in an equal or better timeslot.
Well, yes, if your definition of “racey material” is Playboy, et al. Your use of the phrase “racey material,” while not exactly damning, is suggestive. Your excitement over Veronica’s Secret is telling. Belladonna is a porn god, my friend, we’re talking baseball bats up the a*se, if you don’t know her, you don’t know porn and apparently don’t have access to jack shit. :dubious:
This is totally away from what I was posting about, but I know the difference between Playboy and hard-core pornography. I’m not as well versed on the “performers” as some but such is life. While the DVDs in my personal collection don’t include sex with sporting equipment, I’m satisfied with what I have and I have access to the exact same stuff anybody else does. Including the stuff from Europe and Japan if you know what I mean and I’ll bet you do.
I wasn’t particularly excited about the Victoria’s Secret show, but was more interested in finding out if many other CBS affiliates were declining to carry it, but you only have to read the OP to see that.
I have since spoken with a friend who lives 25 miles east of me and therefore sees a different CBS affiliate and she reports that they are airing it.
I haven’t checked, but I think I remember reading that it wasn’t airing here (also in the South). Or maybe they are airing it at 2 am or something like that.
I’m pretty sure the local affiliates don’t have to air anything they find objectionable – for example, that show last year about the Episcopal priest - The Book of Daniel - was not aired here after the second episode or so, because the local NBC(?) affiliate received so many complaints about it.
