A new study says the boob tube is undermining traditional family values and creating a world where adultery and pre-marital sex are the new normal.

The study by The Parents Television Council, titled "Happily Never After" finds that television broadcast networks depict sex within marriage as "either non-existent or burdensome while showing positive depictions of extra-marital or adulterous sexual relationships with alarming frequency."

"These study results suggest that many in Hollywood are actively seeking to undermine marriage by consistently showing it in a negative manner," said Tim Winter, president of the PTC, in a release.

He goes on to say that in addition to its mostly negative portrayal of marriage, television has also become a stage for sexual expression that would have been unacceptable less than a generation ago.

Those include, according to the survey, threesomes, partner swapping, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality and sex with prostitutes.

Add to that depictions of strippers, references to masturbation and sex toys, and television has created the perfect storm to blast away the last remnants of family values in Hollywood, the report suggests.

Winter said the phenomenon will undoubtedly influence the values of future generations.

"Throughout much of the history of broadcast television, the networks adhered to a voluntary code of conduct which stipulated that respect should be maintained for the sanctity of marriage and the value of the home. Our report finds that not only are the boundaries no longer respected - they have been obliterated," Winter said.

The researchers who conducted the study examined all prime time entertainment programs on the five major U.S. networks over a four week period last fall. Movies, news, sports and reality programming were not included.

The networks ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and the CW were included in the study.

Following are some of the key findings of the study across all networks:

  • Verbal references to non-marital sex outnumbered references to marital sex three to one.
  • Scenes depicting or implying sex between non married couples outnumbered by a ratio of four to one, scenes between married partners.
  • References to adultery outweighed by a ratio of two to one, references to marital sex.

Following are some of the study's findings broken down by network:

  • ABC has the most references to marital sex, but many of them put it in a negative light, while almost all referenced to non-marital sex were positive or at worst, neutral.
  • In 46 hours of programming NBC has only one reference to marital sex while there were 11 references to non-marital sex and one reference to adultery.
  • Also on NBC, references to incest, pedophilia, bestiality, prostitution, transsexuals/transvestites, partner-swapping and necrophilia outnumbered references to marital sex 27 to one.
  • And a tally showed NBC's depictions of adults having sex with minors as equal in number to scenes implying or depicting sex between married partners.

But Rob Salem, television critic for the Toronto Star, said the PTC is naive if it believes television has a role as an ambassador for family values.

"There's the expectation that television is some reflection of reality. Reality television isn't even a reflection of reality," Salem told CTV Newsnet.

"Have these people been living in a cave? I mean, pre-marital sex, extra-martial sex, it's not like this is new to television. It's been around for a while."

The study mentions the steamy "Grey's Anatomy", "Boston Legal" and "Desperate Housewives" as harmful to families, while the shows "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Friday Night Lights" are listed as depicting solid family values.

But Salem said TV has always pushed the boundaries and is continuing that trend.

"The thing I find encouraging is a lot of these shows are going beyond that and reinforcing non-traditional families with single parents or same-sex parents," Salem said.

Winter, on the other hand, is calling for a return to more modest prime time programming.

"Broadcasters, knowing television's ability to influence behavior, must exercise greater responsibility when handling sexual situations during primetime hours -- opting for less graphic visual content, and favoring storylines that don't celebrate promiscuity, glamorize criminality, or denigrate monogamy," he said.

"The American people need to hold the networks and their local broadcast affiliates accountable for pushing questionable content into their homes over the publicly owned broadcast airwaves."