MTV’s Miley Move Raises Serious Issues for Parents

The Parents Television Council responded to the news that MTV chose Miley Cyrus as the host of its 2015 Video Music Awards Show. “MTV’s choice of Miley Cyrus as host for its annual Video Music Awards show makes clear the network’s intentions as to what kind of program it intends to air. This raises two serious issues. First, if MTV cannot guarantee that the program will be suitable for children, then the network must – must – rate the show TV-MA. Assigning any lower age-rating constitutes an express message to parents, and to corporate sponsors, that the program will be free of explicit material. Second, the network’s decision reminds us that subscribers should be able to pick up the phone and ‘unsubscribe’ to MTV. But we can’t. Viacom is able to force-bundle MTV onto every cable and satellite subscription in the country, squeezing nearly 50¢ per month per customer – half a billion dollars per year – regardless whether they want MTV or not. It is high time for Congress, the FCC and the courts to end the cable cartel’s extortion-like scheme of forced network bundling,” said PTC President Tim Winter.