FCC Wants to Allow Nudity & Profanity During “Family Hour”

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is seeking public comment until May 20 on a proposal that would ease off on the regulations that enforce the decency standards set by Congress, which prevent showing nudity and the most profane language during hours when children are likely to be watching. The FCC would like to allow “fleeting” uses of profanity and “isolated (non-sexual) nudity” and focus only on “egregious” indecency incidents.

If enacted, the new FCC policy would allow network television and local radio stations to air the f-word, the s-word and to allow programs to show frontal female nudity, even during hours when they know children will be watching and listening. Current broadcast decency law prohibits expletives and nudity, even if brief or “fleeting.” The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld the law as constitutionally enforceable by the FCC, despite lawsuit attempts by networks NBC and FOX to overturn it.