---
kind: "section"
citation: "47 U.S.C. § 559"
title: "47"
title_heading: "Telecommunications"
number: "559"
heading: "Obscene programming"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/47/559"
units:
  - "Chapter 5 — Wire or Radio Communication"
  - "Subchapter V–A — Cable Communications"
  - "Part IV — Miscellaneous Provisions"
---

# §559. Obscene programming


Whoever transmits over any [cable system](/usc/47/522.md?p=7) any matter which is obscene or otherwise unprotected by the Constitution of the [United States](/usc/47/153.md?p=58) shall be fined under [title 18](/usc/18.md) or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.


## Source credit

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title VI, § 639, as added Pub. L. 98–549, § 2, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2801; amended Pub. L. 104–104, title V, § 503, Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 136.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1996—Pub. L. 104–104 substituted “under title 18” for “not more than $10,000”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### 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.