ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070071
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
One possible effect of the new V-chip may turn out to be the exact opposite of its intent. It may help make television smuttier and more violent. ``I think you'll see the raunching up of a huge chunk of TV,'' predicts a high-ranking executive at one of the four broadcast networks.
The V-chip is a device to be installed in future TV sets (at least those having a 13-inch screen or larger) that, when activated, will block out explicitly sexual or violent programs, thus giving parents a new safeguard to protect their children. The chip will work in conjunction with a new rating system which the networks recently promised will be ready by next January.
Ratings for motion pictures (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) are placed in print ads and TV commercials and outside theaters where the movies are playing. But the TV ratings, in addition to being displayed, will be encoded into the video signal itself, and that signal will trigger what might be called censor-chip if the program is deemed unfit for kids.
Once a parent buys a V-chipped set and properly programs it, the choice on whether or not a show or movie can be watched will be made by technology - a technology imposed by government mandate. George Orwell would say, ``I told you so.''
The V-chip will turn the family TV set into a Robot Parent.
But in addition to the scary Big Brotherly implications, there are practical problems - one being that networks may decide they no longer have to police the content of their own shows since a chip is doing it for them. The equivalent of R-rated programming that includes full nudity and graphic gore would be a logical next step, especially at the 10 p.m. hour considered safe harbor for adult fare.
Says the network executive I talked to: ``If there's a rating and a V-chip in place, then I want to put `Terminator 2' on and I will no longer edit it.'' Parents who complain to the networks will be told to complain instead to Congress or Bill Clinton, who have ordered the V-chips installed and pressured the TV industry to devise the rating system.
Producers may be able to use the V-chip as a license to commit more mayhem on the air, arguing that the chip and the rating relieves them of responsibility for what kids might see. Bare breasts, simulated sex and all kinds of vivid gashings and bashings could become standard fare, at least in the last hour of prime time.
It could make ``NYPD Blue'' look like ``Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.''
Will sponsors shy away from such programming, thus making it unprofitable and keeping it off the air? Some advertisers will. Procter & Gamble may sponsor many a smutty soap on daytime TV, but it won't want to be associated with R-rated TV. Other companies, however, might - especially those targeting young adults looking for cheap, or expensive, thrills.
One of the few remaining niceties of commercial TV is its prohibition of commercials for hard liquor. This ban has already started to crumble on some stations (though not on the networks). But within programs clothed in an R-rating and made theoretically inaccessible to children, such advertising might well be considered appropriate. Already in major urban markets, some stations carry late-night ads for 900-number phone-sex services. With the chip in, they could advertise earlier and even on national networks.
We are looking at the possible creation of a Smut Zone in broadcast TV, a red-light district that will be able to flourish because the V-chip is supposedly standing sentinel and keeping minors out.
When is the V-chip due? The Telecommunications Bill that mandates it isn't clear on precise timing. It could be that the V-chip and the ratings will, indeed, limit some of the most worrisome aspects of modern TV. But it could also be that the chip will only create more problems than it solves.
We may find ourselves looking back at the first half of the 1990s as the good old days of lost innocence.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB