'Las Vegas' Blasted at FCC

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton and Ben Grossman]
A campaign by the American Family Association against NBC's 'Las Vegas' is generating lots of indecency complaints at the FCC. By the Commission's count, about 134,300 complaints had been filed about that program alone by the end of February. In contrast, the FCC received 44,109 complaints against all shows for the three months ended Dec. 31, which was up from the 26,185 filed for the previous quarter.FCC Deputy Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Jay Keithley says the bureau could not determine whether all the Vegas complaints were about the AFA’s target episode but “sufficient review” confirmed that the majority concerned the Feb. 6 broadcast which included a scene in a strip club. The FCC has not acted on any indecency complaints since 2004 -- in part because it settled numerous complaints through consent decrees, in part because Hurricane Katrina and FCC commissioner turnover helped delay release of a group of complaints that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants to issue all at once. The commissioners are expected to release the actions, apparently a mix of proposed fines and complaint denials. But agency sources have been saying for months that their release was imminent.
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