TopSatelliteRadio.com : Articles : Howard Stern
Howard Stern Show
March 3, 2005
FCC's Powell Not for Cable Indecency Rules
WASHINGTON - Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell said Thursday he does not support extending broadcast indecency guidelines to cable television and satellite TV and radio and said any efforts by Congress to do so would face legal scrutiny.
"I personally don't really support an extension," Powell said in an interview on Fox News Channel. "I think when the Congress takes a hard look at this, if they really study the constitutionality ... that it's difficult and unwise to extend it."
His remarks came several days after two congressional Republicans with influence over telecommunications issues indicated they would consider legislation to make cable and satellite stations adhere to indecency guidelines.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, head of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said Tuesday he would push for such a measure in part because most viewers don't differentiate between traditional broadcasting and cable so they don't know when they might be exposed to objectionable programming.
The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, also said he would support legislation "if we can work out the constitutional questions."
A similar proposal was narrowly rejected by the Senate committee last year.
Federal law bars nonsatellite radio stations and broadcast television channels from airing certain references to sexual and excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children are most likely be tuning in.
The FCC has no power to regulate cable and satellite stations. Cable groups have cited a 2000 Supreme Court ruling that said Congress violated free-speech rights when it sought to protect children from sexually oriented cable channels.
The anti-smut law enacted in 1996 had required cable systems to restrict sex-oriented networks to overnight hours if they did not fully scramble their signals for nonsubscribers.
A cable indecency standard would face legal uncertainties in part because subscribers have chosen to pay for the service, Powell said. Over-the-air broadcast programming is free.
Powell, in another interview Thursday with CNBC, said cable and satellite subscribers in most cases can block out unwanted channels.
"While I support the indecency enforcement that we do have, at the end of the day, what we really should be doing is making sure that consumers have the tools they need to make the choices be theirs," he said.
Powell and the other four FCC commissioners have supported efforts to raise indecency penalties. The House last month overwhelmingly passed a bill to raise the maximum indecency fine from $32,500 to $500,000. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate but has not had a hearing.
Yahoo! News
Howard Stern Takes over the airwaves - read more about his history Additional Howard Stern Articles:
Go To Articles Page
|
Satellite Radio
