Televangelists on Unusual Side in Indecency Debate

[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jube Shiver Jr]
Media executives, televangelists, government regulators and consumer activists will come together at the open forum on decency and what televangelists have to say may surprise you. A Federal Communications Commission study shows that people on average regularly watch only 17 of the more than 100 cable channels they typically receive and pay for. Consumer groups are pushing to let people choose their channels rather than pay for ones they don't watch. Lawmakers and advocacy groups have seized on the a la carte system as a way to give cable TV subscribers more flexibility to drop channels with adult fare, citing such programs as the plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" on FX that regularly features sex and gore.But Christian broadcasters, including such big names as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, worry that changing the current system will cut into viewership. If that puts them on the opposite side of where they usually stand in the indecency debate, they say, "so be it." Tim Winters, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council, says that religious broadcasters oppose more cable choice because they "are very fearful of losing any market share." To preserve viewership, big religious broadcasters such as Trinity, which owns 33 TV stations, and Daystar, operator of stations in San Francisco and 44 other U.S. cities, are pushing the government to expand regulations requiring that cable operators carry local, over-the-air channels such as theirs. That has put them at odds with other religious programmers that don't own TV stations, such as INSP and Gospel Music Channel. They fear their shows will be crowded out by channels that cable operators have to carry.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-indecency29nov29,1,3792249.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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