Expect more 'oops' on live TV

When Justin Timberlake ripped Janet Jackson's bodice during the final moments of the Super Bowl halftime show, most viewers experienced a delayed reaction. "Did you see what I think I just saw?" could be heard in living rooms across the country.

CBS's reaction has been to apologize - and order a tape delay of up to five minutes during its next live broadcast: Sunday's Grammy Awards. The move, coupled with stern warnings to musicians to be on their best behavior at the awards show, is an effort to regain some control over artists who routinely use shock as a marketing tool. Few observers could miss the fact that Jackson launched a new single this week.

But the mea culpas by everyone from CBS and MTV to Jackson for what Timberlake initially tried to pass off as a "wardrobe malfunction" won't halt the growing trend of "stunt TV." Far from being an aberration, media watchers say, last Sunday's shenanigans are part of desperation tactics by networks who are waging a losing war for the big audiences they used to command.

Whether it's Britney and Madonna kissing or Bono uttering unexpected epithets, network viewers should expect more risqué "surprises" during live broadcasts. And, these experts say, the responses from the FCC and network will do little to stop the trend in this direction - despite the deluge of calls CBS received from a disgusted public.

"There will be lots of public clamor," says Roger Desmond, director of the school of communications at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. And ultimately, nothing will change. "The networks will continue to do more of what they know works, which is big stunts," he says, particularly when they can be "positioned" as an unplanned surprise to everyone.

CBS, for its part, maintains that it knew nothing about the stunt. "Everyone at CBS is shocked," says Gil Schwartz, vice president of communications. Even so, the network will allow Timberlake and Jackson to perform at the Grammys.

FCC chair Michael Powell has promised an immediate investigation, but some media watchers say that organization should share in the blame.

"This is just another blip as we slide down the trajectory to the bottom of our culture," says Rich Hanley, director of the Graduate School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. "This trend is going to do nothing but accelerate," he says, in large part due to existing FCC policies. "The interesting point with Michael Powell protesting is that this is the spawn of his doing."

Professor Hanley says that FCC policies have encouraged the consolidation of a handful of huge media companies all struggling to survive in an increasingly cutthroat business environment.

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