Soft-Core Porn On Cable Too Accessible, Critics Say

Spokane’s Cable Advisory Board will look into complaints that channels offering soft-core pornography are too visible and audible to nonsubscribers.

“Folks, this stuff is very explicit,” said Penny Lancaster, representing the Coalition for Better Community Standards. “You can hear everything.”

She and about a dozen coalition members appeared at the board’s meeting Wednesday at City Hall.

The City Council advisory board promised to study the issue and ask Cox Cable if channels featuring sexually explicit material can be blocked entirely instead of scrambled.

Efforts to reach cable company representatives were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Cox offers customers the option to block channels upon request.

Lancaster wants all channels blocked that customers don’t pay for.

She fears many parents aren’t aware that kids can catch glimpses of unpaid-for adult programs, which she says aren’t scrambled enough. The audio of those programs can be clearly heard.

“It almost feels like it’s a subtle advertisement that Cox doesn’t want to give up,” Lancaster said. “With or without parental knowledge, this material is harmful to children.”

“I believe what you said has substance,” said Rick Mendoza, an advisory board member.

Mendoza said he was surprised to discover recently that the scrambled adult channels were so revealing.

Bill First, another board member, said responsibility for supervising a child’s viewing habits doesn’t rest with a cable company.

“I think in this situation the primary responsibility is with the parents,” he said.

, DataTimes