The Tate said:
Slander?
Are you talking about the same slander that Leno uses on Bush everynight?
FCC?
Right now the FCC cannot touch Howard, thats what we are talking about. He is suppose to be able to say anything he wants.
On the Slander, if a person was to say that their neighbor John Smith was molesting kids on Howards Show and that person can prove that people knoew it was him and that it was a lie; he could sue Sirius for allowing those comments to go over the air.
What Leno does to Bush.... public figure, you could say almost anything you want to; true or not.
Howard does not have to worry about the FCC at the moment (even though there is a push for them , but if Sirius has certain rules for him to follow then that would be a limit on what he can say.
I agree with Adam Thierer of The Cato Institute, that the FCC may one day have a say over satellite radio (altough I think if a channel can be blocked from going to a receiver, that they wouldn't be able to censor it):
"An important and troubling shift may be developing regarding the way lawmakers regulate mass media in the United States. During recent congressional hearings on broadcast television and radio violations of Federal Communications Commission indecency standards, several lawmakers hinted that they believed federal censorship efforts should extend beyond licensed TV and radio operators to unlicensed media sources, such as cable, satellite, and Internet providers. And a debate is about to take place on the Senate floor during which some lawmakers have said they will attempt to apply indecency regulations on such subscription-based services. "