Ad on CEO pay censored by cable networks

What would make a commercial on CEO pay too hot to handle? Could it be that it hit too close to home?

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WASHINGTON-- Cable networks MSNBC and Comedy Central have refused to air a Change to Win ad that contrasts the vanishing middle class with runaway CEO pay.

Despite coverage of rising income inequality in mainstream publications such as the New York Times and USA Today over the last two weeks, cable network parents Viacom and General Electric refused to run Change to Win's ad, which launches its nationwide Make Work Pay! campaign.

"American democracy is threatened when pointing out that income inequality is rising and the middle class is in jeopardy is somehow controversial?" asked Greg Tarpinian, Executive Director of Change to Win, a labor federation of seven unions and 6 million members.

"One has to wonder if the real reason this ad isn't being run is because MSNBC and Viacom are worried that it will offend Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, who made $24 million dollars last year, and GE CEO Jeff Immelt who made $15 million," Tarpinian said. "The people who should be offended are the millions of hard working men and women who can't even afford cable, let alone healthcare. We call on Viacom and General Electric to show this ad nationally on their networks, and acknowledge what the American people already know -- the middle class is shrinking and it's time we did something about it."

See the spot.