Martin: Denial of Fox Indecency Appeal Was Reasonable

Fox Exceeded Page Limit by 12 Pages, Didn't File Request to Exceed Limit 10 Days Beforehand

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/24/2008 8:18:00 PM

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that he thought it was reasonable that the FCC Enforcement Bureau rejected Fox's appeal of its Married by America indecency fine without considering the merits.

The FCC's reason for dismissing it? Fox exceeded the page limit of the filing by 12 pages and did not file a request to exceed that limit the requisite 10 days before the filing.

At a press conference, Martin said he thought it was "reasonable" for the bureau "to consider the way that our rules, including the rules about filing pleadings, work. Sure."

Fox wasn't so sure. In challenging that dismissal at the FCC earlier this week, it countered that the deicsion was arbitrary enforcement of a technicality that allowed the commission to avoid dealing with the substance of Fox's complaint.

Fox pointed out that the joint petition could have been seven separate petitions of more than 175 pages -- the page limit is 25 -- but because the parties combined them, they were penalized.