Let me get this straight, FCC...

[FuzzyPlushroom]

I'm 17 and don't smoke anything, i don't do any drugs, and I don't drink. Sadly, that's a feat in today's society

Good, I'm not alone, then. I swear we're a minority.

Wait, I said minority. It's okay for me to say minority, right? Just making sure.

Honestly? I'm not a fan of government restrictions in general; as far as I'm concerned, there's two four-letter words (one starts with an F, the other with a C) which should be censored before ten or so, and things should be free afterward... but then, as PLAR said, the parents would actually have to do something.

Which they won't. I didn't even know the "C-word" until I was fourteen. Meanwhile, I see eleven, twelve-year-old kids using it... obviously because of its shock value. I think we've got to stop letting ourselves be surprised and offended by these "bad" words - it's the only way they'll lose their shock value.

(And yes, I agree with the consensus - if a group of urban blacks insists that "n***a" is a term of endearment, like "man" or "dawg" or "homie", then people of any race damn well ought to be able to use it in that context without fear of persecution. It seems stupid to me, anyway - you don't see Latinos calling each other "beaner", do you? I sure don't.)

[PartyLikeARockstar]

@ Fuzzy...

this might not be the norm but latinos at least on my fiancee's side of the family do call each other beaners (lol). I know that others may flame, if so i'm sorry.

my $0.02

[J-Roc]

If you dont like it, dont watch it. Thats how tv should be. Case Closed! They have disclaimers before the show and inbetween every commercial just so you know whats coming. If you get offended, just remember they did state that "some viewers might be offened". Quit bitching about it.

In person is a little diffrent. I dont go walking down the street saying N***er. I use it alot though. I'm nothing but a N***er to my boss. He says do this and i have to do it. I dont use it to describe a race but rather an action which im forced to do with little or no means of avoiding.

[Omega]

While I do always love a good argument I still stress that you all watch your language very closely. I do not want to issue any infractions or temporary bans for somebody saying something that could be misinterpreted in a harmful manner. As much as I'm completely fine with the discussion, TBCS still has it's rules.

Though I must admit there's some very fine arguments being presented.

[dfigravity]

HISTORY of the FCC (Taken from wikipedia)

Communications Act of 1934
In 1934 Congress passed the Communications Act, which abolished the Federal Radio Commission and transferred jurisdiction over radio licensing to a new Federal Communications Commission. Title III of the Communications Act contained provisions very similar to the Radio Act of 1927, and the new FCC largely took over the operations and precedents of the FRC.


[edit] Report on Chain Broadcasting
In 1940 the Federal Communications Commission issued the "Report on Chain Broadcasting." The major point in the report was the breakup of NBC (National Broadcasting Company), which ultimately led to the creation of ABC (American Broadcasting Company), but there were two other important points. One was network option time, the culprit here being CBS. The report limited the amount of time during the day, and what times the networks may broadcast. Previously a network could demand any time it wanted from an affiliate. The second concerned artist bureaus. The networks served as both agents and employees of artists, which was a conflict of interest the report rectified.


[edit] The "Freeze" of 1948
In assigning television stations to various cities after World War II, the FCC found that it placed many stations too close to each other, resulting in interference. At the same time, it became clear that the designated VHF channels, 2 through 13, were inadequate for nationwide television service. As a result, the FCC stopped giving out construction permits for new licenses in October 1948. Most expected this "Freeze" to last six months, but as the allocation of channels to the emerging UHF technology and the eagerly-awaited possibilities of color television were debated, the FCC's re-allocation map of stations did not come until April 1952, with July 1,1952 as the official beginning of licensing new stations.

The FCC's "Sixth Report & Order" ended the Freeze. It would take five years for the U.S. to grow from 108 stations to more than 550. New stations came on line slowly, only five by the end of November, 1952. The Sixth Report and Order required some existing TV stations to change channels, but only a few existing VHF stations were required to move to UHF, and a handful of VHF channels were deleted altogether in smaller markets like Peoria, Fresno, and Bakersfield to create markets which were UHF "islands." The report also set aside a number of channels for the newly emerging field of educational television, which hindered struggling ABC and DuMont's quest for affiliates in the more desirable markets where VHF channels were reserved for non-commercial use.

The Sixth Report and Order also provided for the "intermixture" of VHF and UHF channels in most markets; UHF transmitters in the 1950s were not yet powerful enough, nor receivers sensitive enough (if they included UHF tuners at all - they were not formally required until the early 1960s), to make UHF viable against entrenched VHF stations. In markets where there were no VHF stations and UHF was the only TV service available, UHF survived. In other markets, which were too small to financially support a television station, too close to VHF outlets in nearby cities, or where UHF was forced to compete with more than one well-established VHF station, UHF had little chance for success.

Denver had been the largest U.S. city without a TV station by 1952. Senator Edwin Johnson (D-Colorado), chair of the Senate's Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, had made getting Denver the first post-Freeze station his personal mission. He had pressured the FCC, and proved ultimately successful as the first new station (a VHF station) came on-line a remarkable ten days after the Commission formally announced the first post-Freeze construction permits. KFEL(now KWGN-TV)'s first regular telecast was on July 21,1952. [2][3]


[edit] Telecommunications Act of 1996
In 1996 Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996, in the wake of the break-up of AT&T resulting from the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust suit against AT&T. In part, the 1996 legislation attempted to create more competition in local telephone service by requiring Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers to provide access to their facilities for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers.

This policy has thus far had limited success and much criticism. See. e.g. Robert crandall The development of the internet, cable services and wireless services has raised questions whether new legislative initiates are needed as to competition in what has come to be called 'broadband' services. Congress has monitored developments but not as of 2007 undertaken a major revision of applicable regulation.

[dfigravity]

I hate the FCC too Omega.

[halcyonforever]

As the wikipedia quote shows, the FCC really only has a minor role in content censoring anymore. They set some bare minimum and said "here is the line" don't cross it. And for the most part that is where they need to be. Any more and we are just increasing their power to control the broadcast content to an unacceptable level

[gaz_the_chav]

One thing in england (not sure about US) is that blacpeople actually call them selfs the 'n' word so TBH IMO is should be socially aceptable. One thing to remeber is though (wether this would make me biased) is that the city i live in has the most different cultures in the UK.

-gaz

[DaJe]

Doesn't the FCC basically just have control over what's on the airwaves? I think with cable, they can basically show what they want, because you're paying to see it. They just like to censor certain things out of decency, and so their advertisers won't leave them. Now as for signals you get with an antenna, anyone with the right equipment (simple an antenna) can get it. So because it's the open public airwaves, they have control over it, because any innocent person can easily see it. But cable, you're paying it, you don't have to watch it, you're agreeing to it. I thought someone would've mentioned this by now.

[halcyonforever]

Only kind of. You hear about the FCC and deceny issues, but that is really a small portion of what they do.

Primary role is allocation and protection of the electromagnetic spectrum. They issue station liscenes, try to limit interference, track down pirate broadcasters, and a host of issues with broadcasting.

The censorship issue comes up under their liscening capacity. The station liscenses are held "in the public trust" to support the "public interest" and meet subjective community standards as part of the qualification for keeping your liscence.

As far as cable goes, they have very little impact at all. Their broadcast model was used create the cable standard which established the prime/evenging time shift. After that it actually falls to in-state regulations as to what can be shown by their local decency laws. That's why Comedy Central can say what ever they please, most of their *beep* in is for comic effect rather than decency. That's why there are rules on what porn channels can be shown in what zip code on satellite. The decency clause doesn't apply to cable because they are not FCC licensed.

If you have the money and the equiptment you can have a cable channel tomorrow. Unless you want a tv station in Montana your not going to be able to upstart like that because the FCC has the station bands pretty well locked up in every DMA (Direct Marketing Area).