# Did Cartman say what I thought he said?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-cartman-say-what-i-thought-he-said/102999>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 11, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-cartman-say-what-i-thought-he-said/102999 "2002-04-11T07:26:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-cartman-say-what-i-thought-he-said/102999/21 "2002-04-11T21:12:50Z")

</div>

The key word on all those FCC pages is “broadcast”. Cable isn’t broadcast.

Here’s [a cite](http://www.moralityinmedia.org/nolc/olrChapters/obscenityOnRadioAndTv.htm) from a decidedly biased source, Morality in Media:

> [@](#):
>
> Federal law does not prohibit indecent material on cable or satellite TV.

Swearing is squarely in the “indecent material” camp. The FCC can block obscene material though, so I wasn’t correct when I said “there are no restrictions”. OTOH obscene material is essentially limited to hard-core porn, so you could show almost anything from HBO on basic cable without getting the FCC involved. They don’t because of the advertisers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-cartman-say-what-i-thought-he-said/102999/22 "2002-04-11T21:30:37Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SmackFu \*  
> **The key word on all those FCC pages is “broadcast”. Cable isn’t broadcast.**

Indeed cable is not broadcast, but [the FCC says it controls both broadcast **and cable**](http://www.fcc.gov/mb/):

> [@](#):
>
> The Media Bureau develops, recommends and administers the policy and licensing programs relating to electronic media, **including cable television** , broadcast television, and radio in the United States and its territories.

Is this somehow unclear?

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-cartman-say-what-i-thought-he-said/102999.md?page=1)