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UNITED STATES v. PLAYBOY ENTERTAINMENT
GROUP, INC.
Opinion of the Court

These imperfections are not inevitable. The problem is
that at present it appears not to be economical to convert
simpler RF or baseband scrambling systems to alternative
scrambling technologies on a systemwide scale. Digital
technology may one day provide another solution, as it pre-
Indeed, digital systems are
sents no bleed problem at all.
projected to become the technology of choice, which would
eliminate the signal bleed problem. Digital technology is
not yet in widespread use, however. With imperfect scram-
bling, viewers who have not paid to receive Playboy’s chan-
nels may happen across discernible images of a sexually ex-
plicit nature. How many viewers, how discernible the scene
or sound, and how often this may occur are at issue in this
case.

Section 505 was enacted to address the signal bleed phe-
nomenon. As noted, the statute and its implementing regu-
lations require cable operators either to scramble a sexually
explicit channel in full or to limit the channel’s programming
to the hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
47 U. S. C. § 561
(1994 ed., Supp. III); 47 CFR § 76.227 (1999). Section 505
was added by ﬂoor amendment, without signiﬁcant debate, to
the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Act), a major legislative
effort designed “to reduce regulation and encourage ‘the
rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies.’ ”
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U. S. 844, 857
(1997) (quoting 110 Stat. 56).
“The Act includes seven Ti-
tles, six of which are the product of extensive committee
hearings and the subject of discussion in Reports prepared
by Committees of the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives.” Reno, supra, at 858. Section 505 is found in Title
V of the Act, which is itself known as the Communications
Decency Act of 1996 (CDA). 110 Stat. 133. Section 505
was to become effective on March 9, 1996, 30 days after the
Act was signed by the President. Note following 47 U. S. C.
§ 561 (1994 ed., Supp. III).