Porn Valley- It sounds far-fetched but in the direction that FCC chairman Michael Powell is headed, Howard Stern may no longer be able to have porn stars on his radio show. According to the Drudge Report, FCC Chairman Michael Powell considered holding a dramatic license revocation hearing against CBS Viacom after last week’s Super Bowl furor
Drudge: A furious Powell vocalized the “license revocation” option against CBS-owned broadcast outlets to senior staff at the FCC in the hours and days after the event, a top source said from Washington.
The chairman has since moved away from exploring the possibilities of pulling CBS’s license, but word of any such consideration shows just how serious Powell and others at the FCC viewed the breast breach.
Powell believes that CBSVIACOM has repeatedly violated indecency rules.
“There is a feeling that CBSVIACOM head Mel Karmazin is reckless when it comes to self-policing his outlets,” a top FCC source told the DRUDGE REPORT. “What I believe you will see is a push for a complete and detailed explanation from Mr. Karmazin… on ‘Opie and Anthony’ sex acts in the church to the half-time Super Bowl concert, on down.”
[“On down” would include Stern who answers to Viacom.]
“The public may get a detailed accounting this week when Karmazin is expected to testify on Capitol Hill at a hearing of the House Telecom Subcommittee,” Drudge writes.
[Senate and House hearings are scheduled for Wednesday, and Viacom president and COO Mel Karmazin is expected to testify before the House Commerce Committee. Legislation currently under consideration includes a bill to increase the FCC’s maximum indecency fine tenfold to $275,000, as well as a bill that would specifically designate the so-called seven dirty words, and all grammatical variants thereof, as indecent for broadcast irrespective of the context.]