6/10/1999

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Parents who rely on TV show ratings are out of luck half the time, according to a study released by Michigan State University.

Fifty percent of the age and content ratings that appear on air are different than what is published in TV Guide, said Bradley Greenberg, MSU professor of communication and telecommunication.

Of that half that was incorrect, 32 percent of the shows had no rating published in TV Guide. In 18 percent of the shows, the published ratings were wrong. And, the study showed that when mistakes were made, they overwhelming erred on the side of reporting a show to be less severe than its on-air rating. For example, a show listed as TV-PG aired as TV-14 or a show reported to be TV-PG aired with a TV-PG-V.

"There's a big gap between the information the TV program ratings are supposed to provide and what they're doing," Greenberg said. "If the rating system is to be taken seriously and used well, it has to have a level of credibility that it does not currently have."

The voluntary rating system began two years ago, when broadcast and cable stations agreed to include ratings that would alert viewers to age-appropriate shows, as well as to violent and sexual content in programming of all shows except news, sports and public affairs. Eventually, the ratings will integrate with the V-chip - an electronic gatekeeper that will be standard on all televisions with a screen 13 inches or bigger.

TV Guide is a major weekly source of TV listing information with a national circulation of 13 million. Greenberg and his graduate students taped one week of television in November 1998 from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and cable stations Family Channel, TNT, USA and Lifetime. A total of 456 shows were taped during prime time, morning and afternoon hours, as well as weekend mornings and evenings.

Among the findings:

• Of the 77 shows rated differently, 69 had a less severe rating in TV Guide than on air.
• Broadcast television was accurate 58 percent of the time; cable television was accurate 44 percent of the time.
• Of broadcast networks examined, CBS ratings were most accurate, matching 78 percent of the time. ABC and NBC were accurate 58 percent of the time, FOX 46 percent.
• Of cable networks examined, TNT ratings were most accurate, matching 93 percent of the time. Lifetime was accurate 69 percent of the time, Fox Family Channel 30 percent and USA 5 percent of the time.
• Soap operas were most accurate, having identical ratings 93 percent of the time. Talk shows were the least accurate matching ratings only 19 percent of the time.
• 41 percent of youth programming had no rating in the TV Guide and 25 percent had TV Guide ratings that differed from the rating shown during airtime.
• Morning programming was least accurate, listing no ratings 48 percent of the time. Afternoon and prime time had identical ratings 66 percent and 64 percent of the time, respectively.

The research was funded by Michigan State University's College of Communication Arts and Sciences.