- Pervasiveness doctrine
In
broadcast law (particularly withinU.S. law ), the pervasiveness doctrine is thedoctrine that becausebroadcast radio wave s are available to anyone and therefore "uniquely pervasive", theircontent is subject toregulation . In general,profanity andsex , or other adult material deemed "indecent " by abroadcasting authority may not be broadcast outside of overnight "watershed" or "safe harbor" hours whenchild ren are likely to be awake. Material deemed "obscene " may still be prohibited at all times.This has generally been held to only apply to the
AM broadcast band (mediumwave ),FM broadcast band (VHF band II ), andTV broadcast band s (VHFband I andband III , andUHF ). It does not apply tocable TV ,cable radio ,satellite TV ,satellite radio , or other forms ofelectronic media , because although they also use publicly-owned airwaves, these aresubscription services which the listener or viewer must explicitly request, and are subject toconditional access , analog scrambling, or digitalencryption .The origin of the name comes from the
FCC 's1978 legal case againstPacifica Radio , when theU.S. Supreme Court used the term tojustify theverdict against the broadcaster. The "Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation " case is considered alandmark for American broadcasters.
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