PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Using obscene words or sending obscene material over cable or subscription TV is a crime if done knowingly. A person who does this can be jailed for up to 2 years, fined under federal law, or both. "Distribute" means sending or transmitting by cable, broadcast, telecast, wire, microwave, or satellite, or making material for those uses. Federal law does not stop states from making their own rules about obscene speech or obscene material on cable or subscription TV.

Title 18, §1468

Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whoever knowingly utters any obscene language or distributes any obscene matter by means of cable television or subscription services on television, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or by a fine in accordance with this title, or both.

(b)As used in this section, the term “distribute” means to send, transmit, retransmit, telecast, broadcast, or cablecast, including by wire, microwave, or satellite, or to produce or provide material for such distribution.

(c)Nothing in this chapter, or the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, or any other provision of Federal law, is intended to interfere with or preempt the power of the States, including political subdivisions thereof, to regulate the uttering of language that is obscene or otherwise unprotected by the Constitution or the distribution of matter that is obscene or otherwise unprotected by the Constitution, of any sort, by means of cable television or subscription services on television.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 98–549, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2779, which is classified principally to subchapter V–A (§ 521 et seq.) of chapter 5 of Title 47, Telecommunications. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

of 1984 Amendment note set out under section 609 of Title 47 and Tables.

§1468 Distributing Obscene Material by Cable or Subscription Television