How is it decided whether or not a TV show will censor its swearing?
I was watching Deadpool the other night on FX. There's a lot of vulgar language in the movie. However, it was uncensored.
Some movies or shows on TV censor their profanity, while others don't. How is it decided whether or not they will do so?
This is a question about FCC policy, and therefore limited to broadcast television within the United States. Streaming services (like Netflix) are irrelevant here.
Best Answer
Broadcast (over-the-air) television in the US must conform to FCC rules (we have something similar here in Canada). Under penalty of fines, content must not exceed certain boundaries. Movies produced for theatrical presentation must be rated; children may not be unaccompanied (if admitted at all) to movies of certain ratings. When a movie (such as Deadpool) originally produced for theaters comes to TV, it must be cleaned up for regular commercial broadcast.
Cable is a different matter. Cable isn't treated like over-the-air broadcast, so is not subject to the same content restrictions. That is why cable-only channels (like FX) will often carry more permissive content. If you're on cable, you might watch a movie on a channel that is basically an over-the-air channel distributed on your cable service, and find the movie heavily censored, but find the same movie presented uncensored on a cable-only channel.
Pictures about "How is it decided whether or not a TV show will censor its swearing?"
Why do TV shows not say the F word?
As a cable channel, FX is not regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, and therefore doesn't face any outside restrictions. But unlike premium channel cables such as HBO and Showtime, where f-bombs are a dime a dozen, FX is accountable to advertisers, so it keeps swearing to a minimum.Why do TV shows censor swearing?
Bleeping has been used for many years as a means of censoring TV and radio programs to remove content not deemed suitable for "family", "daytime", "broadcasting", or "international" viewing, as well as sensitive classified information for security.Can TV shows swear?
Rules by the Federal Communications Commission restrict the broadcasting of profane and indecent speech to the evening and night and forbid obscene speech. But these rules don't apply to subscription-based television such as cable or streaming services.How do they bleep out curse words on live broadcasts?
When the expletive, nudity, or moment of violence is about to occur, he or she presses the so-called \u201cdump\u201d button, which can suppress the audio, pixellate the video, or black out the entire feed.Swearing in movies and series - how they cover it up and censor
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