TV Boss

by Brian Reich | 25 Jul 2006, 2:00am

All three major television distributors — broadcast stations, cable networks and satellite services — have united for the first time in a media campaign to educate parents on how to block objectionable programming from their children, as cable and satellite outlets fear that the government crackdown on broadcast indecency will spread to them.

Check out the website.

The Washington Post writes up the campaign here.

I like the simplicity of this campaign.   Too often these PSA campaigns, and their web  components in particular, are too complicated or try to be too cool.   The blocking of content that people find objectionable is about personal choice — give people the option to pick what they want to  watch. More importantly, for a campaign like this to succeed, the TV industry must give  actually give parents the tools to block content they find objectionable.   They have successfully done this.  

Once this education campaign gets a foothold, the government should back off and let the television  industry make whatever shows they want.   They’ll learn their lesson if the viewership goes down when the sex and violence goes up (so far that doesn’t seem to be the trend - with Sopranos, CSI, and others out there).   They won’t if the punishment is more fines and public embarassment.   The television viewing audience can  show the TV industry what kind of  shows we want to see on TV by blocking, or not blocking, what  we find appropriate.   And in the end, the system should sort itself out.

Happy watching!

TAGS : TV