Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Telecom Subcommittee plans to vote his broadcast indecency bill out of subcommittee Thursday. The bill would increase FCC fines for broadcast indecency violations tenfold. The current maximum commission fine for one instance of indecency is $27,500. If passed, H.R. 3717 would increase that amount to $275,000 per violation.
Upton hopes the full Commerce Committee will vote on the bill by the end of the month. At that time, he hopes to add a so-called “three strikes” provision, meaning 3 such violations and the license would be revoked.
At Wednesday’s hearing on the bill, lawmakers also raised the possibility of making networks responsible for paying indecency fines, rather than their affiliate stations. They also raised the possibility of bringing back a version of the defunct broadcast programming standard.
Vote Planned for Bill to Increase Indecency Fines
Vote Planned for Bill to Increase Indecency Fines
