Comcast "Mortified" Over Porn Clip Leak During Super Bowl

Residents of Tuscon, Arizona got an eyeful during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast, when Comcast Cable accidentally aired a 30 second porn clip after an Arizona Cardinals touchdown.

Comcast sent out an apology to their customers saying, "We are mortified by last evening's Super Bowl interruption, and deeply apologize to our customers for the inappropriate programming." No apology can measure up to the anger stemming from parents. What was supposed to be a fun family gathering quickly turned into a sex education lesson. For this reason alone someone, if not the entire company, will pay dearly.

TMZ obtained a censored version of the actual porn clip, which can be seen here: http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/02/porn-clip-penetrates-super-bowl-broadcast.

Comcast believes this was a one time prank done by an outsider, and has contacted the Federal Communications Commission, as well as Marana Police Department to further investigate the airing.

According to Gary Nielsen from KVOA News 4 Tuscon, "What we do know is that it didn't happen at KVOA, and it didn't happen to subscribers of Cox, DirecTV, or Dish, or any over the air subscribers, it only happened to Comcast subscribers."

The feed that went from NBC to Comcast wasn't affected, which is how Comcast knows it wasn't an inside job.

Comcast Cable subscribers are horrified at the scene that put Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction five years ago to shame. To add insult to injury, Comcast is offering those who saw the porn clip a $10 refund towards their cable bill. On top of that, customers have to go on a wild goose chase of bad E-mail addresses and telephone numbers that send you to other numbers in order to get the refund.

Comcast already has a horrible reputation among its customers, with overpriced packages and poor customer service. In some small towns across the US, Comcast is the only choice for cable service. In these areas, Comcast is rumored to jack the prices up like a true monopoly. Customers can't afford satellite dishes, so they wind up paying more for fewer channels and bad service.

Not surprisingly, many people found the slip funny and sport a glib attitude towards those who were legitimately offended at the sight of pornography on their television screens. Parents with young children, however, aren't amused. Those who joke about the incident and tout a "Who cares?" attitude about the clip, don't realize how traumatizing a quick clip of porn can be in the eyes of a young child.

In 1986, The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography published a final report, which among other revelations, stated that a child who views even a few seconds of pornography can become obsessed with porn at a very early age. While not all children are affected in this manner, all are at risk.

How many children will be affected by the porn clip seen during the Super Bowl? No one knows, but if just one child is affected, a $10 cable bill refund won't cut it.

Source:

http://www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=9775157

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/02/02/comcast-apologizes-for-super-bowl-porn-glitch/