FCC GUIDELINES

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It is a violation of federal law to air obscene programming at any time. It is also a violation of federal law to air indecent programming or profane language during certain hours. Congress has given the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the responsibility for administratively enforcing these laws. The FCC may revoke a station license, impose a monetary forfeiture, or issue a warning if a station airs obscene, indecent, or profane material.

Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and cannot be broadcast at any time. The Supreme Court has established that, to be obscene, material must meet a three-pronged test: 

• An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; 
• The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and 
• he material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.