FCC Indecency Complaints Sextuple in 1Q

FCC SMUT COMPLAINS SEXTUPLE IN 1Q
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The number of TV and radio broadcast indecency and profanity complaints filed with the FCC jumped to 275,131 in the first quarter of 2006. That was up more than six times the 44,109 filed in fourth quarter 2005, and over 10 times the number filed in the third quarter (26,185). There were only 1,798 complaints in January, but that exploded to 138,527 in February and 134,865 in March. B&C had predicted a big boost back in February after a FOIA request turned up at least 134,000 complaints between the beginning of the year and the end of February, driven by a campaign against NBC drama Las Vegas. The FCC said at the time those were all it had logged, not necessarily all it had received. American Family Association had told B&C it filed over 170,000 complaints about a Las Vegas scene in a strip club.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6338759?display=Breaking+News

* FCC Report on Consumer Complaints
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-265565A1.doc

* Test Your Indecency IQ
First Amendment attorney John Crigler knows indecency. Or at least he thinks he knows what the FCC thinks is indecent. So Crigler, of Washington law firm Garvey Schubert Barer, penned a quiz to see if broadcasters can read the minds of the FCC.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6338764?display=News

* Tell the People
[Commentary] "It is likely that, within the next two weeks, Congress is going pass a Senate bill that will raise the FCC's indecency fines to a maximum of $325,000 a pop. That is a staggering figure, especially because we're sure most of the nation is not aware of the bill's ramifications. It means, for example, that the next time the storyline for Without a Trace acknowledges that young people have sex lives, the fine could be $30 million-plus. That would make the already onerous $3 million FCC-proposed fine seem paltry by comparison."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6338767?display=Opinion