PTC not happy about cable fare recycled on MNT

0

News Corporation's MyNetworkTV recently aired two episodes of a show originally seen on basic cable's FX. Parents Television Council says that MNT at least edited out some profanity and changed the rating, but left objectionable program elements intact. According to PTC, the program "Damages" was shown on FX with a rating of TV-MA. The first episode had descriptors warning of sexual and language content, and the second added violent content to that list. When the programs resurfaced later on MNT, PTC said it was rated TV-14 with sexual, language and violent content descriptors. Originally seen at 10PM Eastern/Pacific on cable, one episode aired at 8PM and the other at 9PM on broadcast.


Referring to Fox exec Peter Liguori's recent testimony before Congress to the effect that it takes protecting children in the audience seriously, PTC's Tim Winter said, "But if News Corp. intended to demonstrate any responsibility to its viewers, there wouldn't be such a glaring and egregious discrepancy between the ratings for the FX and MyNetworkTV broadcasts when the content, other than language, was virtually unchanged." The broadcast versions replaced a concert on the MNT schedule, leading PTC to speculate that advertisers may have been caught off guard. If so, Winter suggested they get their cash refunded.