FCC Levies 1st Prime-Time Sex Film Fine

The Federal Communications Commission today voted to levy the first fine for violation of its new decency standards on a Missouri television station that aired a sexy movie during prime time.

Commissioners voted 2 to 1 to impose the maximum $2,000 fine against KZKC-TV for its May, 1987, broadcast of “Private Lessons,” a movie about a wealthy 15-year-old boy who is seduced by his housekeeper. The 1980 sex comedy includes several scenes in which the housekeeper is shown bare-breasted.

The Kansas City station aired the movie at 8 p.m., a time the FCC has determined children are likely to be in the audience. The FCC’s guidelines allow “indecent” material to be aired after midnight to lessen the risk that such programs could be viewed by children.

Parents Called Responsible

All three commissioners agreed that “Private Lessons” fit the FCC’s definition of indecency, but Commissioner Patricia Dennis disagreed with the fine. She said “parents, not the commission, should bear the primary responsibility of deciding what their children should watch at night.”

FCC Chairman Dennis Patrick disagreed with her view, saying the government must help parents in deciding what their children watch on television. He said it is reasonable to assume that there are unsupervised children in the audience during prime-time hours.

Media Central Inc., which owns KZKC, has said the film had been cut by an inexperienced editor and violated company standards, but a fine would be inappropriate because the FCC’s indecency guidelines are ambiguous and are being applied to TV for the first time.

The movie, the owners said, was aired little more than a month after the new standards were adopted. The FCC guidelines are being challenged in court by broadcasting groups, news organizations and public interest advocates as being unconstitutionally vague and over-broad.