nudity rules on cable
 

Does anyone know what the rules for nudity on cable are? For example, Showtime shows a lot of soft-porn stuff, but are they restricted from showing more? Or are they just trying to tease us? Or both?

I am in the UK, where it is illigal to show an erected penis on TV, thus, use Kazaa.

edited for slamming

To my knowledge, there are no specific "rules" about what the cable channels can show, especially the pay channels. But the marketplace rules.

If they show too much, a lot of cable systems will stop carrying them. So they show as much as they think they can get away with and still be carried by the most systems they can.

The test for this is to look at the number of "adult" pay channels that cable systems carry. Some won't carry any, even though you have to pay to get them. Others will have several to chose from, including the Playboy channel.

in australia it's the same rules as the UK, can't show an erect penis, or show a chick's hoo-hoo up close or spread, and most nudity has to be on after 9:30. America censors pretty much everything, including nipples I think.

In the U.S., I believe you aren't allowed to broadcast anything that is "obscene"...which is why you don't see hardcore porn on TV...
Nudity itself is not illegal, though each network has a Standards and Practices department (internal censors) that make the call about what they'll let on the air. This way, the network can help itself prevent loss of advertising revenue from sponsors pulling ads, etc.
In special circumstances, you'll see full nudity on even network television, as when NBC aired "Schindler's List" uncut, or the occasional nipple on shows like ER or CSI.

Hmmmm.....it's good to be in Canada I guess.

Most of the regular cable channels won't show anything beyond cleavage and such. Showtime and some of the specialty channels will show soft core at late night. However if you got the movie channels (like me), you get treated to hardcore-ish films late at night (definately hardcore films but often have lots of soft core type shots....no visible bits, then all of a sudden you get treated to a nice close up of a reverse cowgirls and such. My finacee calls them "confused hardcore" i.e not sure if it's hard or soft)

As those folks with digital cable get the options of PPV adult films on demand, Playboy channel and all that good stuff

=)

us censors are run by Puritans. The list of what cant be shown goes way beyond even victorian standards.... Geesh I want to see more than just the guy in an occasional bun shot..

I've always wondered why the shows on cable or on the satallite that occasionally show breasts or behind's have to blur them out. You'd figure that on pay TV there wouldn't be as much censorship.
I know on show's like that Howard Stern, Girl's are always getting naked, but the blur out the naughty bits. I thought that since I am paying for the service, don't I get the full story.

i'm not sure about normal cable. but i know on much music (canada's mtv but as i understand a lot more music related) they said that they don't actually censor the videos, which i was surprised with. the production people i guess or whatever take out whatever they think won't be allowed and then much will either air it or they won't, which explains why some videos blur out things that others don't. so using that as an example it would make sense that what jvwgtr said would be accurate.

There are a lot of Artsy channels on Canadian cable (Showcase and Bravo! namely), and they show nudity quite often. I saw barechested women on showcase at 4:30 in the afternoon. Hell, even one of the major channels (CityTV) has softcore porn on at or past 11 p.m. on Fridays. But, CityTV is known as the channel with the lazy censoring team. Obscenities are often left untouched in primetime Movie presentations.
On another topic, there are some rules for movies. For example I think for a PG-13 rating, you can say "fuck" once as long as its not used in the context of sex. If its used more than once, or in the context of sex, then the rating is bumped up to R. I think.
Correct me if I'm wrong forumites.

as to why music videos on canada much music are pretty tame, its because they have to be shown in the US as well so they rather just make one version that will fly in both countries.

Depends on what you're speaking of. There are some cable channels that will show breasts in the us, not many, fx does sometimes, and flix, but these I think are pay channels or package channels. I don't think skinamax and hbo have rules, honestly, they are pay channels.

For the US...

There are specific rules regarding broadcast TV.

Cable/Satellite are not bound by these same rules- HOWEVER...

Everything is run by money, of course, and people who buy advertising space won't by time on a show that has nudity because the viewership will be very low. Same goes for the language. Language makes ad-buyers pull their ads. That's why on occasion you see cursing like on South Park. Showtime, HBO, etc. are completely different because they don't have regular advertising. They are paid by the people who pay money to have the specific channel(s). They still have people to repond to, however, which is why you will usually see movies with minimal nudity, and barely anything harder during the day when kids are maybe up, but at nighttime they don't worry about such things and the flesh-fest can begin!

Long live Skinemax!

-Mikey

In my area, you can get the extasy channel, which is hardcore. It is ppv.

I think there are specific FCC ratings for what has to be bleeped out and what doesn't. But like other people have said, different types of programs (public, cable, satellite, etc) have different codes of what's acceptable based on regulations or who is paying.

Googled: "cable regulations nudity"
http://www.worldmag.com/world/issue/...cultural_1.asp

I like the good stuff, I just don't want to pay for it.