Televangelists Fight for Racy Programming
Proving that the desire for ratings is the mother of hypocrisy, televangelists now find themselves fighting a push by anti-indecency groups to avoid paying for cable channels with provocative programming. The dispute centers around efforts by consumer advocates and legislators to let cable subscribers choose their channels rather than pay for ones they don't watch and may find objectionable. According to the Federal Communications Commission, people on average regularly watch only 17 of the more than 100 cable channels they typically receive. As the Los Angeles Times puts it, "The debate has created unusual bedfellows: religious broadcasters that want to keep getting their messages out, and free-speech advocates who are fearful that the unbundling of cable channels is being used by anti-indecency advocates as a tool against provocative shows. It also pits televangelists against their usual allies in trying to clean up language and sex on TV and radio." Televangelists, it seems, don't have much faith in the power of moralizing to draw an audience.
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