Just Scrambling Cable Sex Channels Is Not Good Enough
Cox Cable has requested permission to transfer its Spokane market to another company, Telecommunications lnc., by January. This gives Spokane time to resolve a problem involving cable versions of hard core pornographic videos. These films, in which nude performers engage in actual or simulated hard core sexual conduct, are being broadcast into the homes of cable subscribers who don’t use set-top converter boxes.
Those signals are “semi- scrambled,” meaning they are designed to give the viewer an occasional peek with full, unaltered audio. Children can access these programs 24 hours a day.
It is no small matter when a child’s first view of sexuality may include homosexual, heterosexual, sadomasochistic or group sex scenes. Psychologists agree that early exposure to pornography can diminish a child’s natural development of compassion, sexual identity and respect for women.
The city and county have a right and duty to grant a franchise to a cable provider that respects our community standard of decency by not offering unsecured channels which are patently offensive because of sexual activities. Public morals are the business of the entire community and of officials empowered by the community to defend its welfare.
Commercial indecency is public business. The Spice Channel appeals to prurient interests, has no literary, artistic, political or scientific value and could arguably be defined as obscene. The city and county are profiting from these programs which sell to a certain population partly because of this forbidden look, which becomes a major marketing tool.
Cox will say technology has not been developed to totally block these pay channels but many communities are demanding and getting more protection.
TCI customers who want the Spice Channel in Middleton, Ohio, must obtain a special decoder and use a four-digit personal identification number when ordering a six-hour program through TCI’s automated toll-free phone number. After Congressman Mac Collins of Georgia contacted the congressional liaison for TCI in Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ga., also secured the system.
Cable companies say this level of security is costly. TCI, the nation’s largest cable provider, earned over $200 million nationwide from the Spice Channel in 1994. It’s not unreasonable to expect TCI to upgrade the system in Spokane if it wants to continue providing adult pay-per-view programs.
A mere generic notice on a customer’s billing once a year and a free line-trap are not sufficient. This puts an extraordinary obligation on subscribers to go out of their way to protect their children. And it still does not protect children exposed to this 24-hour-a-day material in a neighbor’s home.
In Montgomery County, Md., an 11-year-old boy told a judge he decided to experiment after watching a scrambled cable channel devoted to sex. The boy was found guilty of second-degree rape, attempted rape and battery of a 5-year-old girl. He will undergo extensive counseling.
Who will be next, in our city?
John Malone, chief executive officer of TCI, told House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a televised conversation that the company’s policy is to carry explicit programming only if requested by a community, a city council or if required by law.
Malone also said: “If people want it and it’s only going to people who want it, and not exposing people who don’t want it, I don’t see how I want to make that value judgment, to deny it to them.” This statement alone should justify requiring TCI to provide complete blockage or take it off the air.
I hope Spokane County commissioners and the City Council will recognize their responsibility by requiring complete blockage of all unsolicited programs. If TCI will not comply, then open the market to a cable company that will.
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