NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the biggest owner of U.S. radio stations, agreed Wednesday to pay a $1.75 million fine to settle indecency complaints related to shock jocks such as Howard Stern.
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| Clear Channel faces a $1.7M fine due to programs like Howard Stern's. |
Published reports have indicated that the fine would be the largest ever leveled by the Federal Communications Commission.
Clear Channel (CCU: up $0.04 to $38.02, Research, Estimates), which has run afoul of indecency limits previously for the antics of disc jockeys, also agreed to take steps to prevent further such incidents.
The San Antonio, Texas-based broadcaster said it would enforce a "responsible broadcasting" plan for at least three years, and act to discipline employees who violate FCC rules in the future.
"It was a tough negotiation, but a fair resolution," Andrew Levin, executive vice president and chief legal officer at Clear Channel, said in a statement.
"We didn't agree that all the complaints were legally indecent, but some clearly crossed the line and for those we have taken full responsibility. No broadcaster has taken stronger steps to ensure its broadcasts comply with the law and we intend to keep it that way."
The FCC had already proposed three fines against the radio giant and was investigating 14 other incidents, according to news reports.
The agency also had numerous other complaints against Clear Channel radio stations that it had not yet acted upon.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps voted against the settlement. "This settlement reaches too far and grants too much," he said in a statement.
But FCC Chairman Michael Powell said the settlement would be an effective deterrent. "For one to toss aside these public benefits and demand another pound of flesh suggests that nothing short of economic ruin or license revocation will truly satisfy," Powell told Reuters.
The agency has been cracking down on radio and television stations after a spate of indecency incidents, including pop singer Janet Jackson exposing a bare breast during a national television broadcast earlier this year.
Parents groups and some lawmakers have demanded stations clean up their acts or face higher penalties and possibly lose their broadcast license.
Clear Channel has already clamped down, throwing Stern's show off six of its stations and adopting a zero-tolerance policy against broadcasts that violate federal decency standards.
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 Clear Channel Comm-unications Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.75 million fine to settle several indecency complaints. CNNfn's Chris Huntington reports.
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U.S. radio and television stations are barred from airing obscene material and can air indecent comments, such as explicit and graphic sexual references, only during night hours when children are less likely to be listening or watching. Cable and satellite TV channels are not subject to the same rules.
Some broadcasters, including Stern, have expressed outrage at the crackdown, arguing that their free speech rights are being violated.
While the penalty is the largest ever negotiated by the FCC for such violations, it would be dwarfed by the $116.5 million Clear Channel earned in the first quarter of 2004.
Levin repeated a call for the government to establish standards that would apply fairly to all media platforms.
"Cable and satellite networks should be treated no differently from broadcasters. In today's media landscape, that is a distinction without a difference. We all need to be accountable for what is said in the presence of our kids," Levin said.
-- Reuters contributed to this story
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