A Brits Guide To US TV-Page 4
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
REGULATION
All of this makes US TV a very peculiar beast, but there’s one other thing to remember and that’s the regulation of US TV. The American equivalent of Ofcom is the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), who are in charge of issuing licences to TV stations and who also set the rules on what is and isn’t considered permissible on over-the-air stations in terms or sex, violence and language. It’s only these local stations they cover, so cable programming isn’t under their control at all. So when Janet Jackson’s nipple flashed on screens during the Superbowl on CBS, the FCC could have issued a fine to every local station across the country that showed it, as according to US rules, it’s the individual stations not the network that has to ensure they don’t overstep the mark. However in the Janet Jackson case the FCC tried to fine only the affiliates that CBS owned and operated itself (the fine has since been struck down by the courts). However if Jackson had done the same on Comedy Central, the FCC couldn’t have done anything at all.
The tendency is that the more you pay, the more graphic the programming gets. So on over-the-air broadcast networks you can’t swear, you have to imply sex and you can’t be too violent (which is why shows like ‘CSI’ and ‘Bones’ are so gleeful about the gruesome aftermath of crime, as they’re allowed to gross you out with that, but they would have to be a bit more coy about the actual crime itself). Basic cable tends to be a big more edgy, and there might be some swearing and more explicit sex and violence. However it’s when you get to premium cable that all bets are off, with the likes of ‘The Sopranos’ not pulling any punches on the violence and swearing front. So if anyone say ‘fuck’ on a US TV show, it’s most likely to originate on premium cable, although possibly basic cable, but definitely not network TV.
While this is restrictive enough in itself, probably an even greater regulator of content than the FCC are the advertisers. Networks are absolutely terrified of upsetting their advertisers. For example in 2006 NBC attempted to hit back at cable TV’s success with edgy series by launching ‘The Book Of Daniel’. The series starred Aidan Quinn as a vicar who literally talked to Jesus to help him with his problems. However the reverend was addicted to painkillers, had a dysfunctional family and, worst of all for the conservative Christians who protested the series, a gay son. Initially NBC stood by the series, even when affiliates in Indiana and Arkasas refused to air the first episode. Even dismal ratings for the first couple of episodes didn’t dim their determination. However the protesters weren’t just complaining to the network and the press, they also targeted companies who advertised during the programme, and it was only when these corporations got skittish about the series that NBC yanked it off the air.
This happens far more than you might think, and it is partly because HBO doesn’t have adverts (all its revenue comes from subscriptions) that it can get away with far more sex and violence than either basic cable or the networks. It is therefore, in essence, massive corporation who are afraid of having their products’ image tarnished, who regulate most American TV.
CONCLUSIONS
So there you have it. You might have thought Americans just made programmes and then they got shipped over here, but US TV is just about the most labyrinthine system imaginable. What we watch and enjoy only exists because of complex networks of affiliates, weird ownership rules, a system of different types of channels, all of which are allowed to show different types of content, need to increase viewership during arbitrary sweeps months and want to make buckets loads of cash out of syndication. Somewhere in all that there is a desire to entertain audiences, but to be honest, that’s only one small part of a system that may produce some of the best TV in the world, but does so almost in spite of its own monolithic complexities.
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