Could Tony on A&E bring restrictions to cable?

COULD TONY ON A&E BRING RESTRICTIONS TO CABLE?
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
When HBO introduced The Sopranos in 1999, critics applauded the smartly crafted stories about a modern-day crime family. They saw the obscenities, sex, nudity and violence as part of what made it so realistic. But it's unclear how audiences will react beginning Jan. 10 when a version of the series moves from the 30 million homes paying a premium to get HBO to the 90 million that get A&E Network in their basic cable TV package. Some of the more graphic elements have been edited out, but it may still cause a stir. That's because an army of fed-up parents and lawmakers already are making an issue of what they see as the spread of child-unfriendly programming on basic cable that has followed the success of taboo-breaking basic cable shows including FX's The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck, Comedy Central's South Park and MTV's annual Spring Break. “There are cable network programmers whose clear and sole objective is to break any boundary without regard for what the consequences are for society,” says Parents Television Council Executive Director Tim Winter. Some shows, he says, have glamorized rape, pedophilia, incest, racism and misogyny. The risk cable now faces is that if edgy shows such as The Sopranos lead many more people to conclude that Winter is right, that could result in government restrictions for these basic networks, which now largely regulate themselves. Although such a change would raise free-speech questions, critics say that the fact that 86% of all homes get TV via cable or satellite services makes basic cable and broadcast programming virtually indistinguishable. About 60% of adults endorsed programming standards for basic cable in a recent Pew Research Center survey.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20061201/sleazecov.art.htm

* How broadcast rules differ from cable
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20061201/sleazebox.art.htm