CBS - PTC DEMANDS FCC RESCIND INDECENCY DECISION

PTC DEMANDS FCC RESCIND INDECENCY DECISION

L. Brent Bozell's Parents Television Council, whose members generate virtually all the complaints of indecent programming to the FCC, is demanding that the commission reverse its decision to set aside two rulings regarding indecent language on CBS's The Early Show and ABC's NYPD Blue. In the case of the latter show, the commission had said that it had rescinded its previous decision on procedural grounds since it had not received complaints from people in the Midwest, where the program airs at 9:00 p.m., an hour before the "safe harbor" for indecency begins at 10:00 p.m. However, the PTC said Wednesday that it had sent the FCC 96 complaints from 28 states in that region and asked that they be reviewed. An FCC official told Broadcasting and Cable magazine, "We're not aware of other complaints, but we will look at the material provided to us." The PTC also complained about the FCC's decision regarding The Early Show, which said that, as a news program, it was exempt from the indecency rule. However, Bozell said in a statement, that the commission "arbitrarily created a 'news exemption' for indecency where none existed before."

09/11/2006