---
kind: "section"
citation: "47 U.S.C. § 558"
title: "47"
title_heading: "Telecommunications"
number: "558"
heading: "Criminal and civil liability"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/47/558"
units:
  - "Chapter 5 — Wire or Radio Communication"
  - "Subchapter V–A — Cable Communications"
  - "Part IV — Miscellaneous Provisions"
---

# §558. Criminal and civil liability


Nothing in this subchapter shall be deemed to affect the criminal or civil liability of cable programmers or [cable operators](/usc/47/522.md?p=5) pursuant to the Federal, [State](/usc/47/522.md?p=18), or local law of libel, slander, obscenity, incitement, invasions of privacy, false or misleading advertising, or other similar laws, except that [cable operators](/usc/47/522.md?p=5) shall not incur any such liability for any program carried on any [channel](/usc/47/522.md?p=4) designated for public, educational, governmental use or on any other [channel](/usc/47/522.md?p=4) obtained under [section 532 of this title](/usc/47/532.md) or under similar arrangements unless the program involves obscene material.


## Source credit

(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.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1992—Pub. L. 102–385 inserted before period at end “unless the program involves obscene material”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1992 Amendment

Amendment 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 Date

Section 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.