MTV executive says that Janet changed TV forever, in particular no more "live" live TV:
- Viewer outrage over singer Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl stunt is forcing the U.S. television industry to change its live programming, music channel MTV said Friday.
"The artist sometimes can be unpredictable, which is difficult in a live format. We were absolutely mortified by it," said Bill Roedy, president of London-based MTV Networks International, part of the U.S. MTV cable network that produced Jackson's half-time show.
"Everybody's learning from our misfortune," he told Reuters in an interview.
....CBS, MTV's sister company, used an "enhanced delay" on its recent broadcast of the Grammy Awards and Walt Disney Co's ABC Network plans to implement a similar five-second delay on its Academy Awards broadcast later this month.
In addition to its own time delays, MTV has quietly consigned raunchy material, such as Britney Spears' video for her new single "Toxic," to evening from daytime slots.
"We don't intend to obviously put any strong censorship on our artists as that's not what we're about. But when you have an audience which is mass, broad appeal.. then we're obviously going to be very careful," Roedy said.
....Whether MTV, owned by media giant Viacom Inc whose CBS unit carried the event, is likely to be invited back to produce any future Super Bowl shows, looks extremely uncertain.
"Whether we're invited back, I don't know. Whether we want to go back is another question," said Roedy.
"Whether Janet Jackson goes back is pretty certain. No." [Reuters]
Article comments
1 - Jonathan
Well that's annoying.
2 - JR
MTV executive says that Janet changed TV forever...
Keep in mind, in MTV-years forever translates to about eighteen months in real time.
3 - Eric Olsen
good pont JR, but I think he has a point about live TV: the boradcasters will never want to risk being "negligent" by not doing whatever was necessary to preclude the worst offenses, so they will employ a delay of some sort - 5 seconds is time enough to bleep or switch to a commercial under the direst of circumstances - from now on. it's a form of "insurance."
4 - Pappy
What's the outrage over Live TV anyways? Boo hoo, the east coast and central time zone (where I unfortunately reside now) won't get anymore live tv?
Look at the west coast...THEY NEVER GET ANYTHING LIVE. Remember Bono saying f-word? Nicole Ritchie and the f-word? Both edited before the west-coast saw it.
At least you smug east-coast/central time zone viewers get a 5 second delay, not a 3 hour "let's review everything and edit bad stuff out" delay (and yes, things do get reviewed and edited before the west coast broadcast).
Get over it people.
5 - Eric Olsen
Good point about time zones, but the real issue here isn't the viewers per se, but the performers, ie, will they behave differently? Will tghe atmosphere be different? Will it no longer have the feel of live? this is what happened to the Grammys with the five-minute delay.
6 - sallie
"MTV has quietly consigned raunchy material, such as Britney Spears' video for her new single "Toxic," to evening from daytime slots."
Toxic is still shown morning, noon, and night. MTV is talking a bunch of BS. The whole thing is just too stupid.