Financial channel strips the news bare

Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2000 | 10:30 a.m.

Viewers who tuned to a financial news channel over the Las Vegas-area cable television franchise Monday afternoon saw more than a stock-market ticket.

Would-be CNBC viewers instead saw naked bodies writhing around on the Spice channel, an adults-only selection that's usually pay-for-view.

A few minutes after the pornographic pictures came up, the local cable company discovered the error and put up a dark screen. Within an hour, the normal CNBC channel found its way back to the television system.

Steve Schorr, Cox Communications vice president of government affairs, said Monday night that the company doesn't know what happened but has a team of investigators working to find out.

One scenario is that "somebody, somehow" got into the computer-based system and switched the channel, Schorr said. The other is that the electronic system itself failed.

He said the investigators hadn't yet been able to duplicate the malfunction.

"We want to first find out what took place, then make sure it doesn't happen again," Schorr said.

He noted that the channel carries a relatively large number of viewers in the afternoon as people tune in to catch the closing financial numbers.

Greg Bunch, NBC's West Coast director of cable distribution, said the pornographic video would assuredly not be part of the company's regular CNBC programming.

"We had nothing to do with it," Bunch said.

While the incident may have provoked snickers in some quarters, Schorr said his company takes the snafu "very, very seriously."

He said the company has a longstanding commitment to the community, highlighted by the dropping off of thousands of nonperishable food items to the Boy Scouts on Monday to help feed the less fortunate during the holidays.