Parents group complains about ABC's Live 8 show

A parents group on Thursday accused the ABC television network of violating broadcast decency standards when it failed to censor all profanity uttered during the recent Live 8 concert, an event held to draw attention to poverty in poor countries.

The Parents Television Council, which has filed numerous complaints about potentially indecent material on television, asked the Federal Communications Commission to levy a fine on ABC stations for failing to censor the July 2 performance of "Who Are You" by The Who.

"The program was aired on a tape delay, which should have given ABC ample time to edit all obscenities from the concert prior to broadcast," Tim Winter, PTC executive director, said in a statement.

The complaint was filed against the Washington, D.C., ABC affiliate WJLA, but the council asked the FCC to take action against all the ABC stations that aired the profanity, according to a spokeswoman for the organization.

U.S. law bars radio and television broadcasters from airing obscene material and are limited to airing indecent material, typically profanity or sexually explicit content, to late night hours when children are less likely to be in the audience.

"Unfortunately, one inappropriate phrase sung by one performer was initially missed and made it into the East Coast network feed," ABC said in a statement. "It was subsequently edited out of the West Coast feed."

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.

The FCC in the past has gone both ways in handling profanity on television. It decided against taking action when ABC aired the profanity-laden film "Saving Private Ryan." Yet the agency said NBC stations violated the law when Irish U2 rocker Bono swore during the 2003 Golden Globe Awards program, however issued no fines.




what urks me most is that these people who complain about profanity at a rock concert, have no problems taking their children to see violent movies and tv shows - ugh!!!