Latest in FCC Indecency Policy

When they talk to Wall Street, broadcast moguls love to boast about their financial power and unparalleled ability to reach mass audiences. But the FCC heard a different story this week from networks as they challenged the agency’s efforts to minimize indecent programming. Companies say that the rules are too vague…

The 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled for a second time that the FCC didn’t have the right to fine CBS Corp for airing Janet Jackson’s famed wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004. The commission fined the network $550,000 for “fleeting” indecency after it showed Jackson’s bared breast for…

Eight years after the infamous NYPD Blue episode featuring actress Charlotte Ross’ buttocks aired and two years after FCC slapped  the ABC stations with a $1.4 million fine over the racy scene, the penalty has been tossed by a federal appeals court. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today threw out the fine stems…

After coming under scrutiny in the past couple of months, The Parents Television Council today released its first study of the year, which claims a sharp rise in the frequency and harshness of profanity on primetime broadcast TV in the past 5 years. The report, titled A Habitat for Profanity: Broadcast TV's Sharp Incre…

The legal fight over so-called fleeting expletives continues. The FCC today filed an appeal of the July ruling by a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that tossed the agency’s indecency policy, claiming that it “violates the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague…