Broadcasters Be Warned: Increased Indeceny Fines Are Here
Broadcasters beware, yesterday President Bush signed the bill and made it official. The statutory maximum fine for broadcasting material that the FCC deems to be obscene, indecent, or profane is now $325,000 per incident. With fines that large, a small slip can become expensive in a hurry. (For more details on the increased fines see our earlier blog.)
A further set of indecency decisions, this time potentially addressing a number of pending radio indecency complaints, has been expected to be released by the Commission for some time now. It will be interesting to see how aggressive the Commission is in fining broadcasters now that it has the ability to levy fines up to ten-times greater than before.
