FCC Hands Out $3 Million-Plus in Fines

[RebelMan]

Source: Zap2it
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
03:30 PM PT

CBS and more than 100 of its affiliates are facing a fine in excess of $3.6 million after a Federal Communications Commission ruling that an episode of its drama "Without a Trace" contained indecent material.

The commission also issued fines against a few other shows, including "The Surreal Life 2" and the PBS miniseries "The Blues," and upheld its fine against CBS for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that featured Janet Jackson's exposed breast and touched off the current indecency debate.

By far the biggest proposed fine is the collective $3.6 million faced by 111 CBS affiliates for airing an episode of "Without a Trace" called "Our Sons and Daughters" on Dec. 31, 2004. The FCC found a scene depicting a sex party among teenagers contained "explicit and lengthy ... depictions of sexual activity, including apparent intercourse" that went "well beyond what the story line could reasonably be said to require."

"Our Sons and Daughters" originally aired in November 2003 and prompted complaints then as well. They were dismissed as part of a November 2004 consent decree in which Viacom, then the parent of CBS, agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle numerous complaints.

The proposed fine won't apply to every CBS station, only those who aired the episode before 10 p.m. local time -- which is to say, those in the Central and Mountain time zones and in Alaska and Hawaii. Broadcast standards are somewhat more relaxed after 10 p.m., which is when "Without a Trace" airs in the Eastern and Pacific time zones.

Indecency activists were, not surprisingly, pleased with the rulings. "CBS had no intention of abiding by the terms of its own consent decree after it aired 'Without a Trace,' which had generated outcry from thousands of families," asserts Tim Winter, executive director of the Parents Television Council. "CBS should comply with the consent decree it signed and, if it's true to its word, should ensure that all its employees who were involved in the re-airing of 'Without a Trace' are suspended."

CBS, just as predictably, wasn't so thrilled. The network says in a statement that it's still not buying that the Super Bowl was indecent, and that it "strongly disagrees" with the ruling on "Without a Trace."

"[The episode], which aired in the last hour of primetime and carried a TV-14 V-Chip parental guideline, featured an important and socially relevant storyline warning parents to exercise greater supervision of their teenage children," the network says. "The program was not unduly graphic or explicit, and we will pursue all remedies necessary to affirm our legal rights, while knowing that millions of Americans give their stamp of approval to 'Without a Trace' each week."

The other fines handed out Wednesday included $27,500 against WB affiliate WBDC in Washington for a broadcast of "The Surreal Life 2" in 2004 that showed a number of guests at a pool party naked, though the nudity was pixellated. Despite the blurring, the FCC found clear enough depictions of sexual acts -- such as a man kissing a woman's nude breast -- to warrant a fine.

"The Blues" was hit with a $15,000 sanction for profanity when a PBS affiliate failed to edit several utterances of "f***" and "s***," which the commission considers indecent regardless of context. Several Spanish-language programs also were fined for overly sexy scenes.

The FCC also rejected a number of complaints for lesser profanities like "damn" and "********." It issued indecency rulings but no fines for several other broadcasts that contained "f***" or "s***" but aired before the commission adopted its current position that those words are always indecent.

[edawg99]

Dam FCC. I want to censor them. [img]graemlins/steaming.gif[/img]