Viacom's Nickelodeon channel has always enforced a policy of refusing commercials for R-rated motion pictures and has accepted ads for PG-13 fare on "a case-by-case basis," Dan Martinsen, a spokesman for the channel, told today's (Friday) New York Daily News.

The policy came to light earlier this week when it was revealed during a Senate Commerce Committee probe of the movie studios' marketing practices that Nickelodeon had resisted pressure from Sony's Columbia Pictures to run spots for the PG-13-rated The Fifth Element. Sony President Mel Harris described the effort as "a judgment lapse."

Source: Studio Briefing