The Pay television content descriptors give viewers of American pay television services and pay-per-view an idea of the content included in a film or television program. The system was implemented on June 10, 1994 on HBO and Cinemax then was implemented on Showtime and The Movie Channel the following month [1] and later on Starz and Encore by the fall of 1994, and is similar to the content descriptors used in the TV Parental Guidelines, that were added with the Guidelines in 1998.
The content descriptions are shown during ratings bumpers aired prior to the start of a film or television series, immediately after the program's rating. Each premium channel labels its own programs separately, so it is conceivable that a film that obtains a "GV" rating for graphic violence on HBO and Cinemax would only get a "V" rating for violence when if the same film aired on Showtime and The Movie Channel.
Prior to the creation of the content descriptions, premium television channels did not reference the content within a film, television series or special on-air (though program guides provided by the pay cable channels did reference the type of content in each program); instead pay channels usually only used descriptions using the program rating (i.e., "The following movie is rated "PG" by the Motion Picture Association of America, parental guidance is suggested"). Before the use of announcers to read ratings bumpers became less commonplace on premium channels than it was in previous years, the content in a program is generally never verbally announced when the content descriptors are shown, though Showtime and The Movie Channel did have the program content verbally referenced during ratings bumpers from 1994 to 1997, read by its longtime staff announcer Bill St. James.[2]
Contents |
| Rating | Descriptor's meaning | Entailing program content |
|---|---|---|
| AC | Adult content | This indicates that the film or program may contain suggestive dialogue, crude humor or in extreme cases, drug references or depiction of drug and/or alcohol use that may not be suitable for children. This does not necessarily account for usage of mild profanity. Films rated "PG" or TV series rated "TV-PG" or higher often use this. |
| AL | Adult language | This suggests that the film, special or program may contain profanity, ranging from either mild profanity (such as "damn", "prick" or "ass") to expletives, with or without a sexual meaning; expletives like "shit" or "fuck" may be used once or under four times in a film/program, the program may be tagged with a "GL" descriptor for any additional uses of expletives. Films rated "PG" or TV series rated "TV-PG" or higher often use this. |
| GL | Graphic language | This descriptor suggests that a movie, special event (e.g., a stand-up comedy special) or series will contain a large amount of profanity, often with expletives with or without a sexual meaning. Criteria for the "GL" description is usually for films or television programs that contain the use of two or more expletive profanities (i.e. "shit", "cunt" or "motherfucker", etc.) more than four times during the run of the program. The use of this content descriptor is usually exclusive to films that are rated "R" or television series rated "TV-MA". |
| MV | Mild violence | This suggests that a movie or series contains a mild amount of violent content, either comedic or non-comedic in nature, that may or may not include some bloodshed. Films rated "PG" or TV series rated "TV-PG" or higher often use this, however this descriptor is seldom used in "R" or "TV-MA" rated programs. |
| V | Violence | This is indicative of the program containing a moderate to significant amount of violent content (such as a physical altercation or shooting), which may include mild to moderate amounts of bloodshed. This does not necessarily account for incidents in which scenes may contain gory material or the depiction of dismemberment. |
| GV | Graphic violence | This means that the program or film may contain a high amount of violence, blood or gore, that is unsuitable for younger audiences or those who are squeamish to such content. The usage of this descriptor depends on how long the blood or gore is actually shown and how much of it is included. The use of this content descriptor is often exclusive to films that are rated "R" or television series rated "TV-MA", though there is rare use of this for films rated "PG-13". Premium cable channel Epix sometimes uses this descriptor in films with only a "PG-13" rating, though all other American premium channels typically limit the usage of this particular content descriptor for "R"-rated films or "TV-MA" rated television series, based on the above description. |
| BN | Brief nudity | This is indicative that the film or program contains a minimal amount of moderate nudity, that may either be depicted in a sexual or non-sexual nature (such as a brief glimpse of a man's buttocks), as such the program or film may not necessarily contain full-frontal nudity. |
| N | Nudity | This means that the film or program contains a moderate to significant amount of moderate or full-frontal nudity, that may either be depicted in a sexual or non-sexual nature. This may either be for anything such as the display of topless women or male rear nudity, to in some cases, exposed genitalia; this covers both live-action and animated films that may contain such content. The use of this content descriptor is generally exclusive to films that are rated "R" or television series rated "TV-MA", and only occasionally used in films rated "PG-13" or television series or made-for-TV movies rated "TV-14". On softcore adult programs airing on channels such as Cinemax and The Movie Channel, this descriptor is generally referenced alongside the descriptor "SSC", for strong sexual content, as films that contain simulated or graphic depictions of sexual intercourse will often contain some degree of nudity, whether partial or full-frontal. |
| SSC | Strong sexual content | This signifies that the program may contain scenes of simulated (or in rare cases, actual) sexual intercourse, often seen of a pornographic nature, with moderate or full-frontal nudity included. Scenes of men (or sometimes women, though this is not often shown) receiving oral sex may also fall within the criteria for an "SSC" rating. An SSC rating means the sexual content in the program may be unsuitable for those under the age of 18. The use of this content descriptor is strictly exclusive to films that are rated "R" or television series rated "TV-MA". However, premium cable channel Epix sometimes uses this descriptor in films with only a "PG-13" rating (revised to reference general sexual content (used as "SC"), rather than content of a graphic sexual nature); all other American premium channels typically limit the usage of this particular content descriptor for "R"-rated films or "TV-MA" rated television series or films, based on the above description. On softcore adult programs airing on channels such as Cinemax and The Movie Channel, this descriptor is generally referenced alongside the descriptor "N", for nudity, as films that contain simulated or graphic depictions of sexual intercourse will often contain some degree of nudity, whether partial or full-frontal. |
| RP | Rape | This denotes the film or program may contain graphic scenes of forced sexual intercourse, depicted in a realistic and often violent, but fictional nature. Any program that contains such content is not suitable for children under the age of 18, or anyone who objects and/or is uncomfortable with scenes containing rape. The use of this content descriptor is strictly exclusive to films that are rated "R" or television series rated "TV-MA", but is rarely used unless the program contains scenes of rape. |
Virtually all softcore pornographic adult films broadcast on pay television networks are given content ratings for strong sexual content, nudity, adult content and adult language; although occasionally, an adult movie may be tagged for a scene that contains some degree of violent content, if included. G-rated films, however, are typically not given content ratings as most do not feature any objectionable content.
A key example of these content ratings is in the 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek, which made its premium cable debut on HBO and Cinemax in 2011; the film (originally rated "R" for its theatrical release, but assigned a "TV-MA-L,S,V" rating by HBO and Cinemax, due to its broadcast of the unrated version of the film) was tagged for adult content (due to its pervasive sexual dialogue, drug references and moderate alcohol and drug use, and crude humor, including two scenes involving vomiting), strong sexual content (due to two scenes in which Jonah Hill's character Aaron Green is seen having intercourse with two separate women on two different occasions, neither of which included any nudity, though one featured Green getting a dildo inserted in his mouth and rubbed on his face), graphic language (due to the inclusion of 100+ expletives in the film) and nudity (because of two scenes involving topless women, and one scene including partially exposed male buttocks).
| Movie/TV Rating | AC (Adult content) |
AL (Adult language) |
GL (Graphic language) |
MV (Mild violence) |
V (Violence) |
GV (Graphic violence) |
BN (Brief nudity) |
N (Nudity) |
SSC (Strong sexual content) |
RP (Rape) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G/TV-G | (unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
| PG/TV-PG | (used) |
(used) |
(unused) |
(used) |
(used) |
(unused) |
(rarely used) |
(very rarely used) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
| PG-13/TV-14 | (used) |
(used) |
(unused) |
(used) |
(used) |
(rarely used) |
(sometimes used) |
(occasionally used) |
(unused) |
(unused) |
| R/TV-MA | (sometimes used) |
(used) |
(sometimes used) |
(rarely used) |
(used) |
(used) |
(used) |
(used) |
(exclusive use) |
(exclusive use) |
Regularly, the Chicago font is used for content descriptor icons with either white type on black blackground, or black type on white background. Currently, only the Showtime Networks continue to use the original 1995 version, Sundance Channel also used the 1995 icons until coming under the ownership of Rainbow Media. HBO uses Houschka Regular and Cinemax uses Impact for their ratings icons. Starz use variant icons with a Helvetica font on a square background, while Encore and Pay-Per-View use variant icons with a Helvetica font used for the descriptions on a circle. Epix uses the Blue Highway font for the descriptors and is the only premium channel to display the content descriptors alongside the film/program rating instead of after the rating information.