Time Warner Airs Playboy Programming on Kids Channels, Apologizes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Officials at Time Warner Cable were forced to apologize Tuesday after airing adult programming on two children’s television channels.
The mistake affected the company’s North Carolina markets and was caused by “equipment failure,” Melissa Buscher, director of media relations for Time Warner in the Carolinas said Tuesday.
The error resulted in Playboy programming showing up on Channel 553 Kids on Demand and Channel 553 Kids Preschool on Demand.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to WRAL.com, while the programming menu listed information for children’s shows on the left side of the screen, previews of nude women in explicit conversations played on the right side of the screen.
Parents and viewers reportedly inundated the company with calls about the error. It took workers about two hours to fix the problem, WRAL said.
Buscher said the content aired from 5 to 7 a.m., although spokesman Keith Poston later said the error occurred between 6:15 and 8:15 a.m.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We’re very, very sorry it happened,” WRAL quoted Poston as saying. “We know parents are concerned. I have a 9-year-old. I’m a dad. I’d be concerned too. It was a technical malfunction that caused the wrong previews to be shown on our kids on-demand channels."