[opendtv] Re: NYPD Blue commotion

  • From: "Hunold, Ken" <KRH@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:48:15 -0500

Personal rant here...

In the statement by commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate she seems to
threaten that the fine would be worse if the show aired today. (So the
stations should be thankful?) She also says that "(t)he law is
simple(.)" and that "(t)his is neither difficult to understand nor
burdensome to implement."  I don't know about the difficult to
understand part (is it really just a time issue?) and I don't want to
hide behind a technicality, but it is not easy to make sure that content
that airs after 10 PM on both coasts does so in all the other time
zones.  

"American families continue to be concerned about protecting
children..." by monitoring what their children watch!  Broadcasters put
in parental advisories and "V-chip" triggers to do what *they* can to
help.  Actually, I am surprised how often my set-top box blocks a
program, even during the day, on all kinds of channels.

I also wish there was a way to determine if these complaints were made
by people who actually saw the event and were offended by it.  There is
a back story about how a group may have orchestrated a letter-writing
campaign against programs such as this in general, and this episode in
particular.

Do commissioners actually read these complaints or just weigh them on a
scale?

End of rant.

Ken Hunold


-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of John Shutt
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 11:37 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: NYPD Blue commotion


----- Original Message -----
From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>

> My question is, especially in view of the last quote above, how come 
> only the OTA affiliates and OEOs are socked with this fine? How come 
> each MVPD net that aired it between 6 PM and 10 PM isn't also being
fined?

From the Notice:

"Although we are informed that other stations not mentioned in any
complaint also broadcast the complained-of episode of "NYPD Blue," we
propose forfeitures against only those licensees whose broadcasts of the
material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. were actually the subject of viewer
complaints to the Commission."

NYPD Blue aired from 10-11 PM Eastern and Pacific time.  Hence only the
Central and Mountain references.

As for Dennis Franz, again from the Notice:

"Three principal factors are significant to this contextual analysis:
(1) the explicitness or graphic nature of the material; (2) whether the
material dwells on or repeats at length depictions or descriptions of
sexual or excretory organs or activities; and (3) whether the material
panders to, titillates, or shocks the audience."

Apparently Denis droping his towel in the locker room wasn't sexy.

John


 
 
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