Supremes: No Decision Yet on Indecency

Broadcasters and the FCC will have to wait at least a few
more days to find out what the Supreme Court thinks about the constitutionality
of the FCC's indecency enforcement regime.

According to SCOTUSblog's live blogging of the release of
orders and opinions Monday, a decision in Fox v. FCC was not among them.

More opinions are expected on Thursday as the court winds
down the session.

The court is actually weighing in on both the FCC indecency
finding against Fox stations for swearing in awards shows, and the fine against
ABC stations for airing Charlotte Ross' naked backside in NYPD Blue, which were combined in the appeal.

The FCC has asked the court also to hear an appeal of the
Janet Jackson half-time show fine against CBS stations, but also asked it to
wait to decide whether to hear that appeal until after it comes out with the
Fox decision, since that could obviously affect the case.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.