[IP] POWELL: CABLE SMUT REGS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Reply-To: <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 06:30:29 -0800
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@warpspeed.com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] POWELL: CABLE SMUT REGS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

POWELL: CABLE SMUT REGS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell thinks that extending indecency
regulation to pay TV and radio is a nonstarter. "It's very likely
unconstitutional," he said. "I personally do not support an extension."
Powell said a cable-indecency law would encounter trouble because the
Supreme Court is unwilling to allow regulation of programming that
consumers purchase and have the technical means to block. "The Supreme
Court affords much more significant First Amendment protection to
[media]
other than broadcasting, like newspapers and cable and the Internet," he
added. Powell indicated that a close look at the legal issues would
dissuade Congress from passing a new law that applied to cable and other
pay media. "When the Congress takes a hard look at this, if they really
study the constitutionality, they'll find, as they have before, that it
is
difficult and unwise to extend it," he said.

[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA508546.html?
display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP>
<http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA508543?
display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP>


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