Complying with U.S. Supreme Court mandate, FCC Wed. announced it ...

Complying with U.S. Supreme Court mandate, FCC Wed. announced it had repealed its rule requiring that “sexually explicit adult programming” on cable be scrambled. At same time, agency terminated pending rulemaking (CS Doc. 96-40) to implement rule declared unconstitutional last year by Supreme Court. Playboy Entertainment Group had challenged rule in U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., which ruled it violated First Amendment. FCC then was unsuccessful in asking Supreme Court to overturn lower court ruling. Saying alternatives for parents to protect children from such programming were “woefully inadequate,” Comr. Copps called on agency to begin new rulemaking, consistent with court ruling, “to determine how… we can protect children from being exposed to sexually explicit programming without their parents’ knowledge.”