Stern's safe! So's Pay TV
Good news for Howard Stern fans. The FCC isn't going after satellite radio for indecency. Broadcasting & Cable note that because satellite radio (i.e., XM and Sirius, which is where Stern is going) are subscription services they aren't regulated like terrestrial over-the-air radio; they're allowed much more latitude (much like Pay TV on cable and satellite). Apparently, L.A.-based Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters had asked the FCC to modify its "Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service Rules to include an indecency provision analogous to that for over-the-air broadcasters." That's not going to happen. This is very important for those Pay TV providers, for as Multichannel News points out, any extension of indecency rules to pay radio could set the stage for also spreading them to pay TV-land. That would mean no more naughty words or bared (female) nipples on HBO or Cinemax!
posted by hdougie at 12/16/2004 11:04:00 PM
1 Comments:
I’ve been hearing a lot recently about the whole satellite radio craze. My family somewhere within the last few months even became obsessed and my dad has it for every car in our house now! However, just the other day on a regular broadband radio talk show I heard a listener call in to complaining about the stock prices for Sirius falling. I think a lot of people, this man included, forget that satellite radio is still to be considered somewhat new to technology. While Howard Stern moving to satellite radio definitely gave them a lot of publicity, he can’t be responsible alone for raising the stock prices. Not to mention that Sirius is probably still taking care of enormous amounts of start-up costs, while working to gain customers. A great deal of there new listeners probably switched to satellite as not to have to deal with FCC regulations and rules. I have a feeling that sometime within the next couple of years however, if satellite radio really takes off, then there will be a need for some sort of regulation.
Laura Salvalzo
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