WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday to raise maximum fines tenfold against broadcasters for airing indecent material, sending the measure to President Bush to be signed into law.

The legislation would boost to $325,000 the most the Federal Communications Commission could levy for a single violation by television and radio stations, including those owned by CBS Corporation, News Corporation’s Fox, and Clear Channel Communications Incorporated. The maximum for all violations on a single show would be $3 million.

The 379-to-35 House vote on the bill, which cleared the Senate last month, caps a two-year effort by advocacy groups to reduce nudity, obscenity, and sexual references on free, on-air TV and radio. The penalties may hinder broadcasters’ ability to compete with cable TV or satellite programmers such as XM Satellite Radio Holdings Incorporated that aren’t subject to indecency rules.

“It’s certainly possible now that local TV stations will press the networks to minimize the kind of programming that will put them in legal jeopardy,” a Stanford Washington Research Group analyst who was a senior FCC aide, Paul Gallant, said in an interview before the vote. “Higher fines also might cause radio stations to tighten limits on shock jocks.”

Mr. Bush will sign the bill, according to a statement released by the White House after the vote.

“This legislation will make television and radio more family-friendly by allowing the FCC to impose stiffer fines on broadcasters who air obscene or indecent programming,” Mr. Bush said in the e-mailed statement.

The push to increase sanctions from the current $32,500 maximum per violation gained momentum after CBS showed singer Janet Jackson’s breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

The Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council organized a campaign that led to the filing of more than a half-million complaints with the FCC. The commission, then led by Michael Powell, proposed fining CBS $550,000, a penalty upheld last month by Chairman Kevin Martin.

Broadcasters have argued that higher fines would give an edge to cable operators such as Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation and Time Warner Incorporated, the two biggest in America, by allowing them to air more creative programs. They also said the government shouldn’t be intruding on programming decisions.

TV broadcasters including CBS, Fox, and Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Company’s NBC filed court challenges in April to an FCC ruling that forbade use of the expletive for excrement. They argued that FCC rules are vague and arbitrarily enforced.

“The courts could hold the FCC to a higher standard, making it more difficult to assess fines,” a Stifel Nicolaus analyst who was an FCC chief of staff, Blair Levin, said. He predicted a court decision by 2007 or 2008.

FCC rules forbid airing of “patently offensive” sexual or excretory material on over-the-air TV and radio from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when children are most likely to be in the audience.

Subscriber-based cable channels such as New York-based Time Warner’s HBO, which airs “The Sopranos,” Viacom Incorporated’s MTV, which broadcasts the MTV Movie Awards, and Walt Disney Company’s ESPN aren’t subject to federal indecency rules.

Under yesterday’s bill, the FCC will have “more tools to enable parents to watch television and listen to radio as a family,” the FCC’s Mr. Martin, a Republican, said in a statement.

The largest FCC fine ever was for $3.5 million against New York-based Viacom’s radio and TV stations in 2004 for broadcasts by radio host Howard Stern and others. In March, the FCC also proposed a $3.35 million fine against CBS stations for airing a “Without a Trace” episode showing a teen orgy. Viacom and New York-based CBS split into two companies at the end of 2005.

The House in February 2005 passed a bill that would have raised the maximum fine against both broadcasters and individual performers to $500,000. It also would have required the FCC to consider revoking the license of any broadcaster fined three times.

House leaders this week agreed to take up the less-stringent Senate version after advocacy groups expressed concern over how long it would take to iron out differences between the two chambers’ bills.

“The fines will be at a level where they can no longer be ignored,” Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications, said yesterday in a statement.