Super Channel breached codes by airing horror films, video game shows before 9 p.m.

Allarco Entertainment 2008.’s Super Channel violated the Pay TV Violence and Programming codes by airing violence, coarse language and sexuality and nudity on its channels before the “Watershed” hour of 9 p.m., the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled. In a ruling released Tuesday, the council found Super Channel aired numerous programs containing violence intended for adult audiences, nudity and coarse language before 9 p.m. on its Vault, Fuse and GINX eSports TV Canada channels. The broadcast of three video game review programs -- The First Hour, Squad and GINX Plays -- plus five movies (Friday the 13th: Part VII, Saw 3D, Pet Sematary, A Cure for Wellness and Zero Dark Thirty) contravened the Pay TV codes, the CBSA's English-language panel found. Each of the movies contained coarse language that should not have been aired before 9 p.m., the panel found, while A Cure for Wellness, Saw 3D and Friday the 13th contained violence intended for adult audiences. The panel also found A Cure for Wellness contained sexuality and nudity that should not have been broadcast outside of the “Watershed” period from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Each of the video game shows were found to have used coarse language not suitable for its time slot. Two of the seven panellists produced dissenting opinions that the coarse language in all shows and movies did not breach Article E(1)(a) of the Pay TV Programming Code, arguing that “the CBSC is out of touch with community standards of what constitutes appropriate and acceptable mature material for broadcast purposes especially in relation to the use of coarse or offensive language on a pay TV service.” The CSBC also found Super Channel breached its responsibilities by failing to provide complete and official recordings of three of the broadcasts. According to the ruling, Super Channel told the complainant that it was a pay TV service and had included appropriate viewer advisories and classification disclaimers at the beginning of each broadcast, but said “there seems to have been a few occasions where scheduling practices resulted in some mature content being aired prior to the prescribed late-night viewing hours,” and indicated it was “taking steps to make sure this type of oversight does not happen again.” The breach of the pay TV codes is the second time a regulatory body has reprimanded Super Channel in the last month. On June 29 the CRTC simultaneously renewed and suspended Super Channel’s broadcasting licence, finding it had failed to comply with licence conditions relating to script and concept development expenditures. In September, the company filed a lawsuit against four Canadian retailers — Best Buy Canada Ltd., Staples Canada ULC, Canada Computers Inc., and London Drugs Ltd. — for selling what the company says are media boxes that feature pirated content. It has since dropped that Federal Court case and filed a similar action seeking $50 million of damages in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.

Super Channel breached codes by airing horror films, video game shows before 9 p.m.

Brief | July 8, 2020

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Super Channel breached codes by airing horror films, video game shows before 9 p.m.

Brief | July 8, 2020

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