Study: TV ratings system is "a failure"

Who thought it would be a success? Certainly not I or anyone else I knew. Anyone who was aware of what was going on at the time would have known that the ratings system was just a sham concession to concerned groups. The FCC standards for what can be shown were never changed, just a voluntary ratings system was added, much like the movie industry did in the late 60s. The only real change in network standards in the past 15 years occurred after the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” of a few years ago and the ensuing fines. Now all “live” events are on tape delay, and the standards are tighter on other programming as well. Unfortunately it will take another incident like that for standards to change again.

TV ratings are actually worse than the film ratings, which at least had an independent board rating the films. TV ratings come from the show’s producers, and are therefore almost entirely useless, and oftentimes deliberately deceptive.