On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Kymberleigh Richards <[email protected]> wrote: > Here is the page at the FCC website dealing with "obscene, indecent, > and profance" broadcasts: > http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html > > Under the section on context, near the bottom, the "safe harbor" hours > are made clear: > "Indecent or profane speech that is broadcast between the hours of 10 > p.m. and 6 a.m. is not actionable."
Couple of things about this. First, some commenters have noted that the obscene, indecent and or profane word in question last night, while broadcast for air after midnight, was seen and heard by some people on the West Coast who were able to pick up the feed. It is not clear from the linked material above how this plays into it, but I have to assume that by "broadcast" the FCC means the time period the material was formally broadcast in each time zone, otherwise the safe harbor period would be much shorter than advertised. Two, the FCC puts in bold letters: "In making obscenity, indecency, and profanity determinations, context is key.". i seem to recall that this was the subject of some litigation recently, but I am not clear what the result of all that was. Even if the word was not in safe harbor, could NBC argue that the F-Bomb was clearly accidental, evidence by the context of the skit, the look on the actors face, and the dubbing of the offensive word when it was re-broadcast? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
