WASHINGTON: The FCC reported a “notable” drop in the number of complaints it received about radio and television in the third quarter of 2010 compared to the prior three months. The complaint statistic tends to be volatile, based on factors such as the time of year new TV programs are introduced as well as the timing of coordinated campaigns by advocacy groups.
The commission said radio/TV-related complaints decreased from 25,162 in the prior three months to 2,611, a drop of more than 89 percent.
“This decrease appears to be attributable to a substantial volume of complaints received during the second quarter that were a product of campaigns against particular programs,” it stated.
The majority of complaints continue to be related to programming. The FCC reported that in the three-month period, it received the following number of complaints related to radio and TV:
Interference: 127
Digital TV: 288
Programming General Criticisms: 288
Other Programming: 950
Programming: Indecency/Obscenity: 958
“Inquiries,” which it tracks separately, also fell. The number of radio and television broadcasting inquiries decreased by about 29 percent from 4,883 to 3,490. More than half of those also pertained to broadcast programming.
Overall, the number of complaints in the top four reported categories (which also include things like cable and satellite services and unsolicited faxes) fell some 30 percent.
~ from Radio World
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