FCC: Obscenity, Indency Complaints Way Down in Q2

Q2 2007 Saw Dramatically Fewer Obscenity, Indecency Complaints Compared with Prior Quarter

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2008 12:31:00 PM

The Federal Communications Commission said indecency and obscenity complaints were way down for the second quarter of 2007, the most recent quarter for which it has figures.

That's according to its latest report on consumer complaints.

There were only 4,368 complaints in the quarter ending June 2007 compared with 149,457 the previous quarter. Several-thousand of the complaints in that previous quarter were attributable to Parents Television Council complaints against a National Football League broadcast on Fox.

The FCC's hands are tied somewhat in enforcing its indecency rules with both nudity- and language-related rulings currently being challenged in court -- a point FCC chairman Kevin Martin made to reporters in a press conference earlier this week.