[Infowarrior] - FCC Fear Cancels PBS Airing of Œ Marie Antoinette ¹

[Richard Forno]

FCC Fear Cancels PBS Airing of ŒMarie Antoinette¹

>From Denver Post, September 26, 2006
http://www.freepress.net/news/17917

Fear of fines from the Federal Communications Commission caused Rocky
Mountain PBS to cancel tonight¹s showing of the two-hour documentary ³Marie
Antoinette.²

Instead, the network, which includes KRMA-Channel 6 in Denver, will show
³The Naked Planet,² ³The Dead Sea² and ³The Grand Canyon,² beginning at 9
p.m.

³I took a look at it at 10 this morning,² said James Morgese, president and
general manager of RMPBS. ³What I saw is nothing worse than what you see on
TV elsewhere, but in this era of heightened sensitivity by the FCC, fines
are pretty stiff.²

Specifically, he said, the questionable scenes were 200-year-old pencil
drawings of nude couples having sex and ³a very specific² discussion of
Louis VXI¹s apparent impotency.

³It¹s a good show, historical and factual,² said Morgese, adding that the
show will air at 10 p.m. on an undetermined date. ³After 10 p.m. and before
6 a.m. is considered Œsafe harbor¹ where you can do these things and not get
into trouble.²

Some PBS outlets pulled the program entirely, others are moving to a later
hour and some will show it at its schedule time. ³It will be interesting to
see what happens,² said Morgese.

The FCC has heavily fined some radio and television stations for language
and scenes deemed to be obscene.

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