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$1.5 million fine for Stern?
Regulators set to fine radio broadcaster Infinity for shock jock's on-air comments, report says.
July 2, 2004: 11:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Continuing a crackdown on radio and TV broadcasts deemed indecent, regulators will propose that Infinity Broadcasting be fined $1.5 million for on-air comments by Howard Stern and his crew, a news report said Friday.

The Federal Communications Commission penalty is directed at the 18 Infinity stations that aired a 2003 Stern show in which cast members discussed anal sex at length, Broadcasting & Cable Today reported.

If levied, the fine would be among the highest ever brought by a government against a broadcaster for salacious programming.

The record was set last month when Clear Channel Communications (CCU: down $0.24 to $36.15, Research, Estimates) agreed to a $1.75 million settlement with the FCC over the same broadcast. That fine surpassed the $1.7 million that Infinity paid in 1995 to settle indecency charges filed against Stern.

In response to the FCC scrutiny, in April Clear Channel dropped Stern from all six stations carrying his morning show.

Friday's news report also stated that Infinity, owned by Viacom (VIAB: up $0.29 to $35.80, Research, Estimates), is expected to appeal the FCC fine and, if that fails, to take the dispute to court.

In a news conference this week, a feisty Stern called FCC Chairman Michael Powell "a crackpot" and vowed to fight what he termed the country's "cultural war."  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.