Satellite Porn Debate Rages

The Senate hearings into the proposed merger of Sirius (my carrier) and XM has spawned an interesting side debate on satellite porn, and an equally curious proposal from Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin.

Sens. Orrin Hatch and Sam Brownback have used the merger hearings to grill Karmazin about the adult content on his network and XM, according to coverage in a trade magazine.

Hatch said he was concerned about protecting children from some of the "aberrant" content on satellite radio. ...

Senator Sam Brownback, who helped boost indecency fines, said he was also concerned about adult content on radio. Brownback cited Playboy Radio and its Sexy Stories and Night Calls programs, among others, as satellite radio content he had concerns about.

Karmazin said he believed that not all content that is available on satellite radio had to be acceptable to children.

Karmazin said he would not agree to adopt broadcast-style indecency regulations or harbors, though he said he might if there were ever a clear definition of what the government did or didn't want. Give me a speed limit, he said, and I'll follow it. Hatch appeared to agree that it was tough to hold any media to a vague standard.

Brownback asked whether Karmazin would agree not to carry "pornographic" material on the merged service. Karmazin said no. He added that he was not interested in airing obscenities but he did not know what Brownback would define as pornography, and that he remained a strong defender of the First Amendment.

Brownback said that a monopoly not willing to limit that content was a "problem."

I still don't think the Founding Fathers thought the First Amendment was designed to protect women who want to exercise their "free speech" by taking off their clothes on the stage at the Kit Kat Club in front of drooling men, and I don't think they'd be too keen on whatever it is they air on Sexy Stories. Well, maybe that old bon vivant Ben Franklin would ...

Sexy Stories
Daily 5 pm ET
The finest providers of sensual audio in the entire world present 60 sizzling minutes of fantasies. Sexy Stories embarks on its fourth successful season of taking you behind the closed doors, under the covers and into the fantasies of your friends and neighbors. It's only on to get you off.

"It's only on to get you off?!" Sounds like pornographic intent to me.

But in the world we live in, you accept even marginally good ideas as improvements over the rash of rash-inducing concepts, so a muted kudo to Mr. maybe I'm a pornographer, maybe I'm not:

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin told legislators on Tuesday that his company has proposed giving customers a price break if they choose to block channels with adult content. He did not say how much or what would qualify as adult content, calling it a more "à la carte" model of service.

How about that? If the trend grows, maybe we'll see lower ticket prices for G and PG movies, discounts on clean-cut video games ... maybe even lower prices for skirts with lower hemlines and blouses with higher necklines.