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47 U.S.C. § 558

U.S. CodeFederal
Criminal and civil liability
About This Law
/us/usc/t47/s558
Title
47 — Telecommunications
Chapter
CH5
Release
119-84
Release Date
2026-04-17

Section Text

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Nothing in this subchapter shall be deemed to affect the criminal or civil liability of cable programmers or cable operators pursuant to the Federal, State, or local law of libel, slander, obscenity, incitement, invasions of privacy, false or misleading advertising, or other similar laws, except that cable operators shall not incur any such liability for any program carried on any channel designated for public, educational, governmental use or on any other channel obtained under section 532 of this title or under similar arrangements unless the program involves obscene material. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title VI, § 638, as added Pub. L. 98–549, § 2, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2801; amended Pub. L. 102–385, § 10(d), Oct. 5, 1992, 106 Stat. 1486.) Editorial Notes Amendments1992—Pub. L. 102–385 inserted before period at end “unless the program involves obscene material”. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries Effective Date of 1992 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 102–385 effective 60 days after Oct. 5, 1992, see section 28 of Pub. L. 102–385, set out as a note under section 325 of this title. Effective DateSection effective 60 days after Oct. 30, 1984, except where otherwise expressly provided, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 98–549, set out as a note under section 521 of this title.

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