La FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ha multato la rete televisiva americana CBS US$550,000 a causa della trasmissione nel mese di febbraio 2004 durante il Super Bowl, in cui Janet Jackson si esibiva con Justin Timberlake.
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http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/news/fo ... /index.htm
CBS hit with $550K Super Bowl fine
FCC imposes $27,500 on each of 20 CBS-owned affiliates that showed broadcast of half-time show.
September 22, 2004: 2:35 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Viacom Inc. was hit with $550,000 in fines for the Super Bowl half-time show in February that briefly showed singer Janet Jackson's breast. The fine is one of the largest ever imposed by the Federal Communications Commission.
The Super Bowl halftime show that showed Janet Jackson's breast resulted in a $550,000 fine against CBS by the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday.
The maximum $27,500 fine was levied on the 20 CBS affiliates that are owned by the network. Affiliates with separate owners were spared the fine.
"No television event has ever received as many complaints from the American public -- over 540,000 -- as the Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time show produced by CBS," said a statement from FCC Chairman Michael Powell. "Indecency determinations, however, must be made cautiously and with appropriate restraint."
CBS, whose executives had earlier vowed to fight a fine, would only say Wednesday that it was reviewing options regarding an appeal.
"We are extremely disappointed in the ruling," said a statement from the network. "While we regret that the incident occurred and have apologized to our viewers, we continue to believe that nothing in the Super Bowl broadcast violated indecency laws. Furthermore, our investigation proved that no one in our company had any advance knowledge about the incident."
Two members of the five-member commission objected to the fine as too lenient, saying that even the affiliates not owned by CBS should have been subject to fines. One member objected that the commission paid little attention to and imposed no fines on other aspects of the half-time show, which many viewers complained was lewd and inappropriate.
"After all the bold talk, it's a slap on the wrist that can be paid with just 7.5 seconds of Super Bowl ad time," said a dissent from FCC member Jonathan Adelstein. "This decision sets a puzzling precedent by failing to hold all licensees responsible for the material broadcast over their stations. Why announce such a thorough investigation, if we just let some of the stations that broadcast this material completely off the hook?"
But another FCC member, Kevin Martin, blamed the FCC for not clarifying the ability of affiliates to reject broadcasts of their networks that they deem indecent.
"We need to affirm local broadcasters' ability -- and responsibility -- to reject inappropriate programming," he said. "This obligation is critical to local broadcasters' ability to keep coarser network programming off the air in their communities. The network affiliates asked us to clarify this right over three years ago. We still have not acted."
CBS and Viacom's cable television unit MTV, which produced the show, blamed the exposing of Jackson's breast on a "wardrobe malfunction." Justin Timberlake, the other singer in the number, was supposed to rip off her outer garment but leave her breast covered.[/b]
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CBS Fined $550K For Janet Jackson Super Bowl Incident
09.22.2004 4:26 PM EDT
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake perform at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show
Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
The Federal Communications Commission hit CBS on Wednesday (September 22) with a proposed maximum fine of $550,000 for "violation of indecency rules," stemming from its broadcast of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in February.
The proposed fine, technically called a "notice of forfeiture" since the FCC cannot fine a company outright, is based on the now-infamous incident that occurred at the end of the halftime show, in which Justin Timberlake pulled off a piece of Janet Jackson's clothing, which exposed her breast. The show was co-produced by CBS and MTV, both owned by parent company Viacom.
In a statement released one day after the Super Bowl, Jackson took responsibility for the incident, saying, "MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did. I apologize to anyone offended " including the audience, MTV, CBS and the NFL" (see "Janet Apologizes, Says Super Bowl Stunt Went Too Far"). MTV released a similar statement, saying the breast-baring incident was "unrehearsed, unplanned and completely unintentional" (see "Janet, Justin, MTV Apologize for Super Bowl Flash").
The FCC's notice of forfeiture is based not only on Viacom's involvement in the production of the show, but also due to "the history of indecency violations committed by Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting Corporation." Infinity Broadcasting produces Howard Stern's radio show, which in the past has been hit with several notices of forfeiture from the FCC (see "FCC Reverses Ruling On Bono Profanity, Hits Howard Stern With Maximum Penalty").
The notice's total of $550,000 comes from the FCC fining 20 Viacom-owned CBS affiliates the maximum of $27,500 for broadcasting the incident. Stations fined include KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, WCBS-TV in New York, WFOR-TV in Miami and WWJ-TV in Detroit.
An FCC notice of forfeiture asks a company to forfeit money for violating regulations. The company has 30 days to challenge the FCC's notice, and if the company doesn't forfeit the money within that time period, the FCC enlists the aid of the Justice Department to collect the funds. '
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