Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens plans on pushing to have decency standards applicable to subscription radio and television and is planning to address the matter through the legislative process.

"Cable is a much greater violator in the indecency area," Stevens told the NAB, reports Reuters. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air [broadcasters]. There has to be some standard of decency."

A petition by Saul Levine's Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters to have the FCC include an indecency provision in the rules that govern satellite radio has already been denied by the FCC, but Stevens is willing to take the case to the Supreme Court and test the waters over Congress' authority to impose limits on subscription services.

"If that's the issue they want to take on, we'll take it on and let the Supreme Court decide," said Stevens, who is also the same senator that FCC Chairman Michael Powell and Commissioner Michael Copps sent a letter requesting for reform of the Government In Sunshine Act.

Stevens will have the support of terrestrial radio's biggest company if the battle heads to the Supreme Court. Clear Channel Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Andrew Levin recently said, "Congress and the FCC should be troubled that the current law unwittingly creates a safe haven for indecent programming on other media platforms, including satellite radio. Unfortunately these outlets are fast becoming the wild west for sexually explicit programming. The law needs to catch up to technology or our children will be the ultimate victims."