Ratings soar from South Park screening 

CanWest says the screening of a controversial South Park cartoon on its C4 channel resulted in a massive boost in its ratings. 

The television company says seven times the usual number of viewers watched an episode that included the Virgin Mary menstruating. 

CanWest says about 30,000 people normally watch at that time, but last night about 210,000 viewers tuned in. It says it is pleased with the ratings and does not believe there will be any further repercussions following the screening. 

But the Catholic Church says it will be making an official complaint about it to the Broadcasting Standards Authority on the grounds it breaches the standards of fairness, decency and good taste. 

Its spokesperson, Lindsay Freer, believes many individual Catholics will be switching off other CanWest channels as well.

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