McDowell: FCC Quietly Dismissing Indecency Complaints

The Federal Communications Commission has quietly dismissed indecency complaints against television stations and more than 6,000 programs, which should clear the way for some of the 315 pending TV license renewals, most of which are being held up by the complaints, to be processed, said FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell.

Commissioner McDowell told an audience of broadcasters at the NAB State Leadership Conference that after his staff had been in touch with the Enforcement Bureau about how some of those license issues could be resolved "we discovered that the bureau has actually been quietly dismissing complaints that fall outside the scope of our authority." That includes complaints against programming that had aired between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., when the FCC's indecency rules do not apply, and ones dealing with violent content, over which the FCC has no authority. FCC sources in the past have also pointed to the dropping of some complaints due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. There were over a million complaints in the pipeline, Commissioner McDowell has said previously. Monday he did not talk in terms of complaints, but programs, saying that about 15,000 broadcasts were the subjects of those complaints as of last year, and that those had now been whittled down to 8,700 by last month. Commissioner McDowell, who has said the FCC needed to work through that backlog, gave FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski props for progress, and said he hoped it would continue.