[BC] Indecency bill

[Greg Newton]

Correct; the technological and economic distinctions are used to justify 
treating broadcast radio and television differently from print media or 
cable/satellite services in statutes and FCC rules when those rules are 
challenged in court as violating the First Amendment.

I'm not aware of a challenge to the indecency rule for television based on 
the presence of the V-chip (and I would guess that there would still be 
some concern in the halls of government that not *every* set in use has 
one). But it's an interesting argument, and one that could be made from a 
level playing field perspective.

Obscene material can be prohibited by federal law anytime, anywhere (every 
time, everywhere) according to the Court's interpretation of the First 
Amendment.

I leave to greater minds the questions of whether or not any of the 
regulatory assumptions are valid in terms of the presence of children in 
the audience at 9:59 versus 10:01 p.m.; the harm a single exposure to 
allegedly indecent content might or might not cause to "children" of 
varying ages; or what constitutes "patently offensive" material to the 
average viewer/listener. There's not much actual empirical evidence for any 
of them, however. Like Justice Stewart, the FCC commissioners just know.
--
Greg


--On Friday, June 09, 2006 10:20 AM -0700 Harold Hallikainen 
<harold at hallikainen.com> wrote:

> I don't think the Communications Act distinguishes between a paid or free
> service. Satellite and CATV both use radio spectrum (CATV through the CARS
> service and satellite distribution of programming). I think the
> justification used to put tighter restrictions on broadcast is that people
> pay to receive nonbroadcast programming, so if they don't want to hear/see
> it, they just don't have to pay for it. It SEEMS that, as far as TV goes,
> the V-chip should have put television on an equal footing with paid
> services since viewers can program their television to reject programming
> based on the V-chip code. Perhaps a similar rating system could be
> implemented on radio using RDS or IBOC datastreams.
>
> In any case, "indecent" programming on broadcast is permitted during the
> "safe harbor" of 10pm to 6am when it is assumed few children are
> listening. Obscene programming is not permitted at any time (and, I
> believe, is also not permitted on CATV).
>
> Harold
>
>
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