I'm not surprised. And quite frankly, I don't know what the big deal is. This can't be any worse than TV ads for phone sex or "all natural" male enhancement pills.

I'm shocked. Btw, does anyone know how you set the DVR to record a commercial? lol

The porn industry has a dilemma. They like to cry about social and religious conservatives trying to restrict their exposure yet as their 'product' gains more acceptance they make less money. The supply out paces demand. Now you have internet sites giving away the supply for free. I'll bet in hindsight they enjoyed the fight with social conservatives more than they enjoy fighting for relevance.

I thought newer TV's have features that block certain adult content with a simple input code that can be turned off/on at any given time? 

When I was growing up my mother thought the show "Three's Company" was perverted and she wouldn't allow my younger sister, brother and I to watch it but we'd find allllllll kinds of ways to sneak and watch it anyhow. Parental supervision is becoming harder for two parent working homes and more imperative than ever because of the 'loose' content being piped in via the telly.

Sex is natural and is nothing to be ashamed of between two consenting ADULTS.

Filmed p0rn is legal prostitution...no 'fenagling' a way around that one.

An old mentor of mine once said that "televsion is like a garbage dumspter; you may indeed find a treasure there, but you are going to have to wade and paw through a lot of crap to find it."  There are good programs, irreverent laughs, information and societal experience sharing (space launch, speeches, big game, etc.) to be had.  On the other hand, there are the commercials, propaganda, inane content, sensationalism and misinformation to be had.  My family and I do watch T.V., but my family and I are much more likely to select specific programs or films, and watch JUST what we planned to watch.  We do not engage in hours upon hours of continuous T.V. If something unexpected comes up, we parents divert or explain.  And as imperfect creatures, we are going to miss some stuff.  We have to remember that 30 seconds is not going to undo what we have done if we did our job in the first place!  Good habits can be just as hard to break as bad habits. Parents are the primary builders of good habits that their kids have!

Human beings, being such visual (and lazy at times) creatures, find television very attractive. It takes no effort at all to watch and a person can watch "successfully" without training.  Just think how much more difficult it is to teach a child to read, compared to plopping them in front of the tube. Each year, we fight a battle (which as a country we are losing) between literacy and television, not only for our children but as we adults age as well.

Our family's children (age 20 down to 1 month old), have always been encouraged to read, play, perform chores, engage in musical and artist projects as a priority.  They also watch and have  watched T.V., supervised at home (although without a doubt they broke the rules.  All kids do, it stands to reason we all did at one time because, well, odds are, we were all kids before, too) and of course they watch and watched unsupervised other places. You just hope that the work you put into parenting pays off in positive behaviors and choices.  Maybe "hope" is the wrong word.  I am not entirely sure what the word would be, but you parents out there understand.  You "know" they will be okay. Have faith in your kids.  When and if I have to bet between whether my kids or the government will make the right choice, I will take my kids, everytime.

As to regulation; a culture, nation, society does have to decide and regulate.  The mechanisims of this include advertiser management, viewership, additional education, legislation and other means.  What has to be decided is what those standards of regulation are to be.  Is the majority always right?  Do certain values transcend politics?  We can find ourselves very close to the edge of too much regulation, just a step after too little.  Do I think that a government is capable of making those decisions? That would depend upon the goverment. In the end though, I always believe that the individual has more power to change these things.

We all have the ultimate power, Divinely provided, to choose our path.  Contact the cable provider, contact the networks, contact the advertisers that get lumped in the same time slot as the offending material (porn, propaganda, etc.) or turn off the tube!

Many of you will not like this next part.  For that I am sorry, offense is not intended, just expression of my own point of view.  I think the greatest problem concerning the T.V. is not the networks' or governments' fault.  The greatest problem concerning our childrens' access and addiction to the GREAT GLASS ALTAR lies in their parents.

Are parents willing to pay attention to their kids, even after a hard day? Are they willing to forgo a measure of their own selfish desires to do the right thing?  Where do you suppose that children learn most of their lessons, good and bad?  When will we stop centering our nations lives around a piece of electronics?  Do both parents REALLY have to have a job, or is it more of a want?  It is a fantastic and amazing device, capable of much good, but like anything else, regulated or not, the individual can make choices to denigrate it.  Or the individual can make good choices.  Even with goverment regulation, in the end it comes down to the individual and their guidance from the Divine.

Bottom line:  we as individuals will always have the only real power to regulate anything in our lives.

"You can have Peace or you can have Freedom; just don't count on having both at the same time." - R.A.H

 "I'll take the harsh reality of liberty over the illusion of security...everytime!" - me

"...Though the spots may run in the early morning hours of 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., ..."

And therein lies the contradiction. The FCC has made it clear that it's authority on broadcast indecency is limited to the hours of 6 am to 10 pm in all time zones. That means almost anything, that's not against the obscenity laws we have on the books, goes. And since these specific channels are on cable and sattelite, it's already out of the FCC's jurisdiction anyway. Where is the importance of this story if you have clearly contradicted the usage of the FCC's own rules and guidelines? Nobody expects a child to be awake at the hours of 2 am to 6 am. Only caffinated hypochondriacs (like me) are usually awake at that time (In my case usually working at home.)