You said it. The networks and the performers and MTV are all protecting the NFL. Why? - because the NFL has the product and they decide who gets the television rights and the half time freak show. The NFL holds all the cards except one. They want to avoid what happened to baseball. The NFL doesn't want its product to be perceived as an old fogey sport that the previous generation watches. That's why MTV is involved in the half time show. Its MTVs job to deliver the next generation of viewers. So just remember who you are Fathers. You may think you are passing a tradition - football - to your sons and daughters. But, the moneymakers who protect the NFL franchise couldn't care less about you.
Well this time they went too far, as these types always do. I bet my bottom dollar that even most of the young viewers in the audience were appalled. Otherwise, why all of the handwringing at Viacom? They're obviously getting negative feedback from even the targeted audience.
They just don't get that times they are a-changing.