FCC Won’t Penalize ABC Over Locker Room Skit

Indecency critics were thrown for a loss by federal regulators Monday over their complaints about ABC’s racy “Monday Night Football” skit in November featuring actress Nicollette Sheridan and football star Terrell Owens.

The Federal Communications Commission concluded “the episode is not sufficiently explicit or graphic to be deemed indecent.”

The segment, aired before the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game, began with Eagles wide receiver Owens in a locker room with “Desperate Housewives” star Sheridan, who was dressed in only a towel.

Sheridan coyly asked Owens to skip the upcoming game. When he declined, she dropped the towel and was shown from behind from the waist up.

Monday’s ruling was the fifth time in two weeks that the FCC rejected viewer complaints against televised indecency.

On Feb. 28, the FCC ruled that ABC’s telecast of Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed World War II movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” did not violate government indecency standards even though the film contained graphic violence and profanity. The FCC also dismissed complaints against NBC’s “Will and Grace,” Fox’s “Arrested Development” and WB’s “Angel” drama.

The Traditional Values Coalition in Anaheim was among the groups filing a complaint. The group declined to comment.

Other groups that had criticized the “Monday Night Football” skit said it was just the latest example of the TV industry pushing too far in lacing shows with sex, violence and graphic language. But they added Monday that they were not surprised by the FCC action.

“I did not expect that the FCC would find that broadcast indecent -- you find that kind of stuff on ‘Desperate Housewives’ every week,” said Randy Sharp, director of special projects at the American Family Assn. in Tupelo, Miss. “I don’t see that the tide is necessarily turning; I think the FCC is still committed to enforcing indecency laws.”

Robert J. Thompson, founder of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, said the FCC decision showed a moderation in indecency enforcement.

These rejections “show that the FCC hasn’t completely lost its mind and that some standards still apply,” Thompson said. “If they had upheld this latest complaint, every soap and shampoo commercial would have to be taken off of the air.”

The FCC ruling came as U.S. Sens. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.)and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would give the agency authority to address indecency on cable and satellite television, which are now exempt.

“Parents tell me all the time that they feel helpless when it comes to TV programming and protecting their children from indecent material,” Rockefeller said in a statement.

The legislation follows comments this month by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) that cable programs should be subject to federal indecency standards.