Networks, Get Going on Ratings

Perhaps the TV networks agreed Wednesday to implement some form of content-based program ratings because they realized they are guardians of a public trust. It would be brazen of them to continue ignoring the clear mood of Americans--conservative and liberal, young and old--who say they want ratings based on levels of sex, violence and strong language, not the current age-based ratings like TVPG and TV-14. More likely, however, the networks decided to negotiate because Congress was threatening to impose its own ratings system and take away a $70-billion portion of the airwaves it gave them without charge in April.

In any case, the networks must make good on their promise to meet with groups like parent-teacher associations and the American Psychiatric Assn. to begin devising a new formula that allows parents to make quick decisions with no advance information on a TV program. But already NBC is balking, claiming its shows don’t need content ratings because they are free of risque material. Perhaps NBC forgot about shows like the “Seinfeld” episode on orgasms, laughably rated PG, or the “Friends” episode wherein two women fight over the last condom in their apartment.

NBC executives no doubt know that if they can drag out the ratings controversy long enough, then the V-chip, a developing technology that will allow parents to block shows they don’t want their children to see, will end up being based on the present age-ratings system.

That should not be allowed to happen. If recalcitrant networks are unable to see that a content-based system is in their viewers’ best interest, Congress should make good on its threat of sanctions.