Archives: TV & Radio

Recently, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People and the Press issued a study finding that Americans overall support strong measures to thwart indecency but are concerned about government intrusiveness – providing more fuel in the push for cable channel choice, which would allow people to choose cable networks in tiers or individually. 

The study found that Americans overall are concerned about indecency on television, but that they are wary of too much of a government role in regulating content.  According to the study, 61% of Americans are concerned about what kids see on TV.  Two-thirds of Americans say that entertainment television shows are worse now than they were five years ago, and 17% of these think reality TV is to blame. 

As for how to address indecency, however, only 32% think that government regulations and fines are the most effective way to reduce sex and violence on TV.  A vast majority – 86% -- believe that parents ultimately have the responsibility for keeping children from watching indecent programming.

One way to give all consumers, including parents, more control over the television their families watch is through cable channel choice, often called “a la carte.”  A cable channel choice system would allow people to choose channels individually or in bundles. 

Currently, consumers have “all or nothing” choices that require them to choose a huge bundle of channels even if they want to have access to just one or two channels in that bundle.  This can create indecency concerns; for example, if a cable watcher finds something on “Comedy Central” indecent but wants to have “Nickelodeon” for their kids, they can’t just buy Nickelodeon – they have to also buy Comedy Central on the expanded basic tier.  They therefore are forced to subsidize Comedy Central, even though they may find the material objectionable.

Read more about cable channel choice, visit the TV, Radio & Cable section of HearUsNow.org.