TAKE ACTION: File E-Complaint with FCC for “F-Word” during NBC’s NHL Coverage
NHL Champ’s “F-word” May Cost NBC $325,000 Per Station in Western U.S.
CLICK HERE TO FILE AN FCC COMPLAINT ABOUT NBC AIRING THE “F-WORD” ON ITS 6/19/06 NHL BROADCAST
The nationally-televised broadcast of the NHL Stanley Cup hockey championship game (6/19/06) on NBC television included the live broadcast of an exuberant hockey player using profanity. (CAUTION: This video clip contains profanity.) The incident violated long-standing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines, and may trigger the largest penalty in the agency’s history because of recent legislation passed by Congress that President Bush signed into law just days before the infraction.
Family Policy Network President Joe Glover told the Raleigh News & Observer (link) that his group plans to urge viewers in the Mountain, Pacific, Alaskan and Hawaiian time zones to electronically file an official complaint with the FCC to invoke the agency’s power to levy fines on broadcasters who violate decency standards during the mandated “family viewing time.”
Glover said today, “Families should be permitted to watch national sports championships without exposing their children to blatant vulgarity. If the networks won’t use readily available technology to delay and clean up those broadcasts, the federal government is right to force them into compliance.”
Just last week, President Bush signed a new law that increases penalties against broadcasters for airing obscenity. While addressing reporters about the legislation, he said, “Broadcasters also have a duty to respect common decency, to take into account the public interest and to keep the public airwaves free of indecent material, especially during the hours when children are most likely to be watching and listening.”
The FCC will only sanction local NBC television stations for this infraction, and only if a complaint has been made by a citizen in your local area. Therefore, it is important that as many citizens as possible file a complaint with the FCC. If you or someone you know watched the June 19 broadcast of the NHL Stanley Cup championship post-game show on the NBC station in your area, please be sure a complaint is made to the FCC about the NBC station in your area. Then encourage your friends in other local television markets to do the same.
NOTE: You MUST live in the Mountain, Pacific, Alaskan or Hawaiian time zones in order to file a complaint about this incident, since the infraction had to be aired before 10 p.m. In fact, the violation occurred at 9:10 p.m. in the Mountain Time zone and at 8:10 p.m. in Pacific Time zone.
ACTION ITEM:
- Click here to view a clip of the incident involving profanity during NBC’s Stanley Cup coverage (CAUTION: This video clip contains profanity.)
- Click here to file a complaint about the 6/19/06 NHL broadcast
- Forward this email to friends in other TV markets to urge them to file an FCC complaint, too!
RELATED INFORMATION:
Raleigh News & Observer: FPN President calls indeceny infraction “deliberate negligence”
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Family+Policy+Network%22+NBC+Whitney%27s&btnG=Search+News
Read President Bush’s remarks from 6/15/06 when he signed a new law creating stiffer penalties for broadcasters airing obscenity:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060615-1.html
FCC Guidelines on obscenity, indecency and profanity:
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/oip/
Read about the new FCC fines, signed into law this month:
http://familypolicy.net/us-p-492
See a recent FCC complaint filed by FPN President Joe Glover against FOX for a similar incident during a recent NASCAR race:
http://familypolicy.net/files/Profanity_NASCARonFOX_5-35pm_03-26-06.pdf
FCC decision looms from recent FPN complaint against “NASCAR on FOX”:
http://familypolicy.net/us-a-p-421
NEWSWIRE: Group files complaint with FCC about NASCAR, Fox and the ‘S-word’:
http://familypolicy.net/news-p-427
FPN NEWS: Gordon, Earnhardt Echo FPN Call for Broadcast Delay:
http://familypolicy.net/releases-p-431