FCC Levies Record Fine for TV Show

Federal regulators on Wednesday proposed a record $3.6-million fine for a single TV episode, targeting CBS stations and network affiliates for airing a simulated orgy in the hit drama “Without a Trace.”

In a related order, the Federal Communications Commission also upheld, as expected, a $550,000 fine against CBS-owned stations for showing singer Janet Jackson’s bare breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

CBS-owned stations and the network’s affiliates bore the brunt of the indecency fines, the first issued by the FCC under Kevin J. Martin since he took over as chairman one year ago. Six other broadcasters were fined a total of $355,000.

The decisions “demonstrate the commission’s continued commitment to enforcing the law prohibiting the airing of obscene, indecent and profane material,” said Martin, one of the commission’s Republican members, in a statement.

But one Democrat FCC commissioner, Jonathan S. Adelstein, in part dissented, arguing that “today’s order overreaches with its expansion of the scope of indecency and profanity law” and “is in some ways dangerously off the mark.”

In a statement, CBS said it disagreed with the FCC findings and probably would challenge the rulings. Stations that aired “Without a Trace” after 10 p.m. were not fined.

In more than 150 pages of rulings, the FCC did not provide specific indecency guidelines for broadcasters, despite indications from Martin that standards are forthcoming.

Nor did the FCC levy punishments as harsh as many broadcasters feared. In contrast to some previous rulings, the agency levied fines only against stations that had received complaints, instead of fining all broadcasters that aired offending material.

In general, the FCC upheld previous standards that curse words and scenes describing sexual and excretory activities are prohibited except in “rare cases” such as Steven Spielberg’s gritty war film “Saving Private Ryan,” which had been previously ruled acceptable.

For instance, Washington-based WBDC-TV was fined $27,500 for airing an episode of the onetime WB reality series “The Surreal Life 2” in which adult film star Ron Jeremy hosted a pool party for about 20 naked porn stars.

Despite using pixilation to obscure the breasts of actresses, the FCC ruled, “a child watching this program could easily discern that nude or partially nude adults are ... [participating] in sexual activities.”

In another case, the FCC fined KCSM-TV, a San Mateo (Calif.) Community College District noncommercial station, $15,000 for airing an episode of the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary “The Blues.” In it, a hip-hop musician says “I’ll buy some [expletive].... This is the kind of [expletive] I buy!”

Representatives of WBDC and KCSM could not be reached for comment.

Wednesday’s rulings were applauded by Parents Television Council, which claims to have coordinated more than 210,000 complaints against “Without a Trace” and other programs.

“Programmers now know that a lot of these problems can be avoided if they just wait until 10 o’clock to broadcast objectionable material,” said PTC director Tim Winter.

But free-speech advocates said the ruling would hamper expression.

Jack Goodman, a lawyer who previously represented broadcasters, noted the Public Broadcasting Service has edited episodes of the award-winning program “Masterpiece Theatre” out of fear of FCC censure.

“The bottom line is that if the FCC likes the program, like ‘Private Ryan,’ it’s OK, and if they don’t like it, it’s indecent,” Goodman said. “That’s an impossible standard and it’s already having a chilling effect.”