TV Has Grown Up. Shouldn't FCC Rules?

We Americans have always been on intimate terms with our televisions. They sit in our living rooms. They keep us company. They show us family values, from "I Love Lucy" to "All in the Family" to "The Cosby Show." So it seems only natural that if our TV friends misbehaved by speaking foul language or showing too much skin, they would be in trouble -- perhaps even grounded -- very quickly.

Television and radio have always occupied a unique space in the nation's public conversation, and politicians going back to at least Franklin Roosevelt and his "fireside chats" have understood the power of the electronic soapbox. Part of its influence came from an inherent limitation: The finite number of broadcast frequencies. That led the government to create the Federal Communications Commission, which regulated who could and couldn't use the airwaves. The FCC also developed rules on what broadcasters couldn't say.

But now our televisions and radios have grown up, and they have gotten married to all sorts of other electronic devices and technologies. These marriages are producing multimedia offspring that bear little or no resemblance to the bulky boxes of yesterday. This "convergence" of various technologies, as this trend is known in the industry, renders obsolete many of the rules that have governed broadcasting for decades.

It no longer makes any sense to impose one set of rules on the "over-the-air" networks while cable, Internet, satellite and music providers can send -- almost unimpeded -- all sorts of programming directly to your living room, car, laptop and even your cell phone.

Consider these three scenarios:

• A couple in Los Angeles -- I'll call them the TechnoYuppies -- bought a 50-inch wide-screen plasma Gateway Media Center in March, just in time to watch the blood-soaked fifth season premiere of HBO's "The Sopranos" in high-definition color and surround sound. With their $6,999 television-computer video player hooked up to Time Warner's digital cable system, the family can also order many cable programs on demand -- something their 3-year-old daughter likes because she doesn't need to wait for the next "Scooby-Doo" on Cartoon Network. Mr. TechnoYuppie is particularly fond of the Media Center because it will allow him to access the Internet with a remote control and download episodes of "Fawlty Towers" (soon to be available on BBC's Web site), which he will then be able to watch over the high-speed cable modem.

• Surfer Dude, a college student, used to tune into shock jock Howard Stern on a local radio station owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., but when the FCC went after Stern for "indecency" a few months ago Clear Channel dropped Stern from its broadcasting stations. Surfer Dude hopes Stern will syndicate his show to satellite radio, where Stern can shock to his heart's content. (In anticipation of such a deal, Surfer Dude recently installed a $260 Kenwood digital radio in his car and subscribed to the new Sirius satellite service.) Meanwhile, he spends drive time listening to Eminem's uncut rap tracks on his Apple iPod, which he plays over his car radio with a $69 wireless transmitter.

• Mr. and Mrs. Protective Parents try to keep the influence of the media from their four children, ages 5 to 13. Unlike most Americans, this high-tech couple knows how to use the "V-chip" now included in all new televisions, and blocks all programs rated TV-14 or TV-MA. The family decided to enter the digital age in April, buying the RCA digital versatile disc player from Wal-Mart with parental controls by ClearPlay. The software is smart enough to skip over scenes of nudity or profanity in box-office hits such as "Terminator 3."

Readers who think that these situations seem futuristic should realize that nothing is made up here except for the people. This plethora of viewing and listening choices demonstrates that the current debate over broadcast indecency standards is woefully out of touch with the realities of the digital world as we now know it -- not to mention the world that is just over the horizon.

The TechnoYuppies are like 88 percent of current Americans who get cable or direct broadcast satellite services for more channels -- and better reception -- than they would from a broadcast tower. But unlike the traditional television and radio signals that pass over certain broadcast frequencies, satellite and wireless are "free speech" airwaves -- they aren't subject to the indecency standards that the FCC cited in going after Stern.

This glaring inconsistency has some legislators in Washington scratching their heads and wondering: Why doesn't everyone live by the same rules?

Some say that cable and satellite are different because consumers have to pay for them. But broadcast and pay channels sit side by side in the electronic programming guide. "The average consumer doesn't distinguish over-the-air television from cable or satellite," says Texas Republican Joe Barton, the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. His vision? "If I can see it in my living room, and my grandson can click channels, the same rules of indecency apply."

With the Senate about to debate a bill that would allow the FCC to boost its fines from $27,500 to $500,000, the answer to this question is vital and urgent. Whether you agree with Barton that all television and radio should be barred from transmitting what the government deems "indecent," or whether you believe that all media should be free from such censorship, as I do, it seems clear that the current model has become unsustainable. That's why the brief flash of Janet Jackson's breast may be remembered decades from now not just as a silly show of bad taste, but as a defining moment in the country's ongoing debate about free speech.

Congress began regulating broadcasters in 1927 on the grounds of scarcity. In return for free and exclusive use of a given wavelength, broadcasters agreed to serve the "public interest, convenience, and necessity" -- or at least to do what Congress and the FCC ordered. One element of this agreement was a ban on obscene, indecent and profane language.