Wired for Raunch:
A Content Analysis of expanded basic cable's Original Prime-Time Series

Executive summary

Although basic-cable television probably still is best known for news, sports, and reruns, it also boasts a great many original prime-time series. A new Parents Television Council study of thirty-three original prime-time basic-cable shows suggests that they are, as a group, considerably raunchier than are the prime-time programs on the broadcast networks.

Wired for Raunch, the PTC's first comprehensive study of original prime-time basic-cable series, analyzed three types of material: sexual references, coarse language, and instances of violence. Among its findings:

The series' overall combined rate of offensive content was 21.7 instances per hour. Comedy Central's South Park was the worst series, with a per-hour combined average of 126.0. Two MTV shows, Undergrads (73.2) and Celebrity Deathmatch (66.0), were second and third. The combined average found in the PTC's last study of prime time on the broadcast networks, which examined fall '99 programming, was 9.8.

The overall per-hour rate of sexual content was 3.6. Undergrads was the most sexually oriented program, with a per-hour average of 28.4. Comedy Central's The Man Show (19.2) was second, MTV's The Andy Dick Show (19.0) third. The fall '99 broadcast rate also was 3.6.

The overall rate of foul language was 13.3 uses per hour. South Park easily led in this category, with an average of 106.0, followed by The Andy Dick Show (44.0) and Undergrads (37.2). The fall '99 broadcast rate was 5.0.

"The overall rate of violence was 4.7. Celebrity Deathmatch was the most violent show, at 36.4. Second was TNT's Witchblade (16.2); third was TNN's Raw (11.7). The fall '99 broadcast rate was 1.3.

The four Comedy Central series analyzed averaged a combined 52.2 instances of offensive content per hour; the eight MTV series averaged 42.7.

None of the eleven original Nickelodeon series analyzed contained any sexual material or foul language, but they did average 2.4 instances of violence per hour, and three of them were among the ten most violent shows.

Those troubled by these findings don't have the option of complaining to the FCC, which has minimal authority over cable program content. They might, however, make their case to sponsors, since expanded basic cable, like broadcast TV but unlike pay cable, is advertiser-supported; to the cable networks themselves; and to their local cable systems.

Given that basic cable now reaches more than 75 percent of households, the potential audience for South Park and other vulgar fare is large indeed. That ought to give parents, and anyone else concerned about what children watch on television, pause.

The present generally sorry state of original prime-time basic-cable series is not inevitable, but it will continue as long as the cable industry's mindset - edgy equals entertaining, wholesome equals boring - persists.

 Executive Summary