• by David Kaplan , December 15, 2004

Once Howard Stern makes the switch from broadcast to satellite radio, he can be as nasty and raunchy as he wants to be, at least as far as the Federal Communications Commission--which responded to a broadcaster's petition that the regulatory agency amend its rules on indecency to cover satellite broadcasts--is concerned.

Saul Levine, the head of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, a Los Angeles radio company, brought the petition in October. Levine requested that the FCC review the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service rules to include an "indecency provision" similar to the rules subject to over-the-air broadcasts.

The Commission has previously ruled that "subscription-based services do not call into play the issue of indecency," and that "[c]onsistent with existing case law, the Commission does not impose regulations regarding indecency on services lacking the indiscriminate access to children that characterizes broadcasting... Your petition does not provide a basis to revisit that determination. Based on these precedents and pursuant to Section 1.407 of the Commission's rules, we decline to grant your rulemaking request."

W. Kenneth Ferree, head of the FCC's Media Bureau, signed the response.

Levine's Mt. Wilson is an independent radio company that owns two classical radio stations in California. A spokesman said that he was angered by Stern's comments about "burying" the radio industry, and thus sought to keep him on an even playing field with the broadcasters the "shock jock" was leaving behind by joining Sirius Satellite Radio when his contract with Infinity Broadcasting ends late next year.

Levine was unavailable for comment on the FCC response.

Last month, Stern signed a five-year deal with Sirius that's reportedly worth $500 million. That deal begins in January 2006.