Censored! The CBS And ABC “Programs & Practices” Kill Buttons

On the left is the CBS censor box with a “Video Delete” button. On the right is the ABC version with an audio and video delay option. They are used differently on live and taped shows. I’m sure CBS would have loved to have had this box handy in 2004 for Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction. See it crystal clear in this clip…

On a pretaped show, after the show is taped and delivered to the network for air, it has to be viewed for quality control as it is played into the servers where it is archived and made ready for real time playback. This is when the censors take a look too. The editors at the show have probably already edited out any of the “7 Forbidden Words”, but if not, the censor would hit the button and mark the tape with a tone and further editing would be done.

If there was a live event, like a big football game where the fans and players were intense rivals, they may choose to run the show with a delay of a 5 to 7 seconds. Should someone give the finger to the camera or call someone an A hole, they could hit the button and go back to live coverage instantly, by which time the “obscene” event would have passed.

By the way, “Nipplegate” caused CBS to be fined $550,000 but the fine was appealed and never paid to the FCC, but you and bet that about ten times that much was spent on lawyers.

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