WP: FCC Plans Record Fine For CBS (Super Bowl halftime show)

[DeepModem Mom]

FCC Plans Record Fine For CBS
Halftime Show Found Indecent

By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 4, 2004; Page E01


The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote unanimously for a record-setting fine against CBS-owned stations for violating broadcast decency standards with the network's January breast-baring Super Bowl halftime show, though some commissioners are expected to say the fines are not severe enough, FCC sources said.

The $550,000 indecency fine would be the largest levied against a television broadcaster. The decision could be released as early as next week but may come the week after, said the sources, who would not speak for attribution because the vote has not been made public. The amount represents a $27,500 fine directed at each of the 20 television stations owned by CBS, which in turn is owned by Viacom Inc....

***

....the FCC's enforcement bureau ruled that only Janet Jackson's brief exposure, which occurred when singer Justin Timberlake ripped off part of her leather bodice, was indecent. The agency also received complaints about the entire show, produced by Viacom-owned MTV, which featured a crotch-grabbing rapper and several S&M-clad dancers gyrating behind Jackson and Timberlake....

***

FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell took the unusual step of personally launching an indecency investigation on the day after the Super Bowl. The FCC's enforcement bureau took up the case and concluded the investigation faster than usual....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60379-2004Sep3.html

[lazarus]

1. Great

This gives CBS the chance to fight back.

[laylah]

2. This couldn't also be

about the FACT, CBS has been the only mainstream news channel to report the actual news, now could it? :eyes:

Jenn

[PROGRESSIVE1]

13. Bingo! Rather has not been nice to *.

This is just the Rethugs using their power to silence the opposition, just like Hitler.

[dbt]

3. This should be a great comfort to Howard Stern.

:eyes:
dbt

[goforit]

4. Great!!....Take this issue to the Supreme Court!!!.....bring it on FCC!!

[moondust]

5. Take that! And now the airwaves are safe for war carnage.

First let's see some children without limbs........good.
Now let's see........

[Khephra]

6. "...Powell took the unusual step of personally launching an indecency

investigation..."

In other words, Powell got the chance to sit down and watch the tape of Janet's nipple money-shot over and over and over and over and over and etc.

But he didn't get any personal satisfaction from that. Nope. Not a bit.

:evilgrin:

[DS1]

7. Payback for all those anti-Bush aka pro-Truth 60 minutes episodes

[stevedeshazer]

8. This was in freaking January; it's September now!

The FCC commissioners waited nine months to act, so the voluptuous horror of Janet Jackson's breast can be hauled once again before a public boiling with outrage just before the election.

The biggest boob here is Michael Powell. :grr:

[DeepModem Mom]

9. LOL!

[bemildred]

10. Oh good, a half-million dollar nipple. nt

[leesa]

11. The FCC is indecent.

[Renew Deal]

12. I thought this was settled.

What a waste of time.

[demgrrrll]

14. Is this a shot across the bow in regard to the upcoming 60 minutes

interview with Barnes? There is also some tie to this bill with a media merger bill, something that will take place in the future. For some reason this gives me chills. I wonder what is going to happen.

[Massacure]

15. CBS should pass it on to Janet Jackson

It was her mistake, not CBS's.

[Democat]

16. During the Olympics, they showed the boob of a waterpolo woman

But no one cares because she was a white woman who isn't a known liberal.

Where is the outrage?

[Bullshot]

17. Friday night on Jay Leno

they showed some contest where a sharp-looking woman was showing off her costume on the stage and her skirt somehow gets ripped off of her. She was only wearing a thong and you could see everything but the crack of her ass as she ran off the stage. And Leno showed it twice.

Where's the decency in that?

I do confess that she did look nice running off the stage, however. I developed a craving for Twinkies for some reason.