PTC Files Amicus Brief in Support of FCC Fine Against ‘NYPD Blue’
The Parents Television Council is asking the court to take seriously ABC’s clear violation of the broadcast decency law during a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue. Abiding by the law should not be too much to ask from a network that uses the publically-owned airwaves for free. ► more

PTC Urges Democrats and Republicans to Focus on TV Decency, Cable Choice

Being that millions of parents are deeply concerned at the messages being directed towards their children on television, we expect that both parties will establish clear positions on issues of broadcast decency and consumer cable choice.  Our 1.3 million members, who hold a variety of political positions, can all agree that there needs to be some level of responsibility on the entertainment industry to help ensure that their children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and in other media. ► more

After PTC Criticism, CW to Allow Some Screenings of ‘90210’

The CW Network decided to make “90210” content available to industry monitoring services who work directly with advertisers, after being criticized by the Parents Television Council™ for its initial decision not to allow sponsors to prescreen any of the content in the series. ► more

PTC Chides Time Warner for Supreme Court Brief

The Parents Television Council™ responded to Time Warner’s U.S. Supreme Court filing which argues that prohibiting indecent content on broadcast television could lead to regulating cable network programming for indecent content.

The Supreme Court has already established a legal standard for indecent content on broadcast television – a standard that is completely different from cable television.  Time Warner’s brief is a solution desperately searching for a problem. ► more

CBS’s ‘Big Brother’ Drops an F-Bomb on Families

The Parents Television Council™ called out CBS today for yet another airing of an unedited “F-word” – the latest instance being on last night’s broadcast of the show “Big Brother.” The program aired at 9:00 pm in the Eastern and Pacific time zones and during the 8:00 pm hour in the Central and Mountain time zones. During last night’s broadcast, a woman named Libra was arguing with a man and said: “Memphis was in the f***ing room!” ► more

► TAKE ACTION NOW! File your official indecency complaint with the FCC today.

Happily Never After: New PTC Study Reveals TV Favors Non-Marital Sex

The Parents Television Council released a new study, Happily Never After: How Hollywood Favors Adultery and Promiscuity Over Marital Intimacy on Prime Time Broadcast Television, which revealed that broadcast networks depict sex in the context of marriage as either non-existent or burdensome while showing positive depictions of extra-marital or adulterous sexual relationships with alarming frequency.

Across the broadcast networks, the new PTC report found that verbal references to non-marital sex outnumbered references to sex in the context of marriage by nearly 3 to 1, and scenes depicting or implying sex between non-married partners outnumbered similar scenes between married couples by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1. ► more