NBC May Opt of Deal on TV Ratings

NBC is considering not joining the rest of the TV industry in adding symbols for sex, language and violence to the 6-month-old ratings system, network sources said Tuesday.

No decision has been reached, but network executives were said to be leaning against signing on to the deal to revise the ratings, which has been in the works for weeks and could be announced Thursday.

The major broadcast and cable networks have been negotiating with critics of the ratings system at the behest of key congressmen, who have threatened to legislate ratings if the industry doesn’t change its voluntary system to provide parents with more information about programming content.

Sources involved in the negotiations said they did not believe such a move by NBC would stop the other networks from moving ahead with the new ratings, or Congress from providing the assurances the industry has been seeking that it will impose a three-year moratorium on legislation pertaining to ratings and TV content. But NBC would be exposed to the wrath of the ratings critics--which include the National Parent-Teacher Assn. and the American Medical Assn.--and Congress.

“The assurances apply to networks who are providing the ratings; they don’t apply to networks who aren’t,” one congressional source said.

NBC has been a reluctant participant in the negotiations from the outset. NBC President Bob Wright, NBC West Coast President Don Ohlmeyer and other executives object to what they believe is government coercion and infringement of the networks’ 1st Amendment rights.

NBC executives could not be reached for official comment Tuesday, but Wright articulated his concerns in a speech to broadcasters in Upstate New York last week.

“Our industry seems to have lost the sense of where to draw the line,” Wright said. “It’s our job to provide program content. It’s the job of Congress to pass legislation. For broadcasters to be negotiating with Congress over content . . . should be completely out of the question.”

If NBC decides not to join in the agreement to add new symbols for sex, language and violence, sources said, the network will continue with the current ratings, with some modifications.