RELATED: FCC should drop "nostalgic" Fox indecency fine
UPDATED 4:07 p.m. PT April 6, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The federal government has sued News Corp. for violating the nation's indecency laws for an episode of the defunct reality program "Married to America" in which possibly offending body parts were pixilized.
Lawsuits were filed Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice in four jurisdictions seeking to enforce the FCC's $56,000 in fines for airing the program in violation of the rules. The suits come just as the statute of limitations against the broadcaster were set to expire.
In all, the government filed five suits in federal court in the District of Columbia and one each in Iowa, West Virginia and Tennessee. Filing the suits in different districts covers all the legal bases necessary to bring the lawsuits, either where the complaints were filed against the stations that aired the program, their corporate headquarters or where the relevant agency is located.
Although the fines were levied by the commission, the DOJ is required to bring the suites to enforce the fines.
"We have an obligation to protect our children by enforcing laws restricting indecent content on TV and radio," FCC spokeswoman Mary Diamond said.
UPDATED 4:07 p.m. PT April 6, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The federal government has sued News Corp. for violating the nation's indecency laws for an episode of the defunct reality program "Married to America" in which possibly offending body parts were pixilized.
Lawsuits were filed Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice in four jurisdictions seeking to enforce the FCC's $56,000 in fines for airing the program in violation of the rules. The suits come just as the statute of limitations against the broadcaster were set to expire.
In all, the government filed five suits in federal court in the District of Columbia and one each in Iowa, West Virginia and Tennessee. Filing the suits in different districts covers all the legal bases necessary to bring the lawsuits, either where the complaints were filed against the stations that aired the program, their corporate headquarters or where the relevant agency is located.
Although the fines were levied by the commission, the DOJ is required to bring the suites to enforce the fines.
"We have an obligation to protect our children by enforcing laws restricting indecent content on TV and radio," FCC spokeswoman Mary Diamond said.
WASHINGTON -- The Fox Network refused to pay the federal government a $91,000 fine for indecent exposure during an episode of the defunct reality program Married to America in which possibly offending body parts were pixelated.
In papers filed at the FCC on Monday, the company told the commission it wasn't going to pay the fine and asked it to review its decision to issue the fine.
"Fox believes that the FCC's decision in this case was arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent and patently unconstitutional," the network said in a statement.
The commission is unlikely to change its mind in the case. Fox's decision to refuse the fine and ask for reconsideration moves the case closer to a court date.
In February the commission fined 13 Fox stations and affiliates $7,000 each saying that simply pixelating female breasts and buttocks during a raunchy bachelor party scene in the April 2003 show do not indemnify broadcasters from commission action.
In papers filed at the FCC on Monday, the company told the commission it wasn't going to pay the fine and asked it to review its decision to issue the fine.
"Fox believes that the FCC's decision in this case was arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent and patently unconstitutional," the network said in a statement.
The commission is unlikely to change its mind in the case. Fox's decision to refuse the fine and ask for reconsideration moves the case closer to a court date.
In February the commission fined 13 Fox stations and affiliates $7,000 each saying that simply pixelating female breasts and buttocks during a raunchy bachelor party scene in the April 2003 show do not indemnify broadcasters from commission action.
- 3/25/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- The FCC has rejected Fox's arguments that an episode of the defunct reality program Married to America did not violate the nation's indecency laws because offending body parts were pixilized.
The commission fined 13 Fox stations and affiliates $7,000 each.
In its order Friday, the FCC said simply pixilizing female breasts and buttocks during a raunchy bachelor party scene in the April 2003 show do not indemnify broadcasters from commission action.
"To be sure, the pixilation of the female strippers' naked breasts and buttocks does render the material less explicit and graphic than it would have been in the absence of pixilation," the commission said in its forfeiture order. "However, the material is still sufficiently graphic and explicit to support an indecency finding."
In its arguments, Fox noted that in addition to the pixilation, the show can be V-chipped, the incidents were fleeting and the statute and the commission's enforcement of it makes no constitutional sense.
"Fox strongly disagrees with the commission's conclusions in the notice, and we will be actively considering our options," the network said.
The commission fined 13 Fox stations and affiliates $7,000 each.
In its order Friday, the FCC said simply pixilizing female breasts and buttocks during a raunchy bachelor party scene in the April 2003 show do not indemnify broadcasters from commission action.
"To be sure, the pixilation of the female strippers' naked breasts and buttocks does render the material less explicit and graphic than it would have been in the absence of pixilation," the commission said in its forfeiture order. "However, the material is still sufficiently graphic and explicit to support an indecency finding."
In its arguments, Fox noted that in addition to the pixilation, the show can be V-chipped, the incidents were fleeting and the statute and the commission's enforcement of it makes no constitutional sense.
"Fox strongly disagrees with the commission's conclusions in the notice, and we will be actively considering our options," the network said.
- 2/25/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PASADENA -- As Fox, CBS and NBC are locked into a legal battle with the FCC over the commission's indecency rules, Fox's entertainment president Peter Liguori had some harsh words for the media regulators on Monday. "The FCC rules create a chilling effect on creativity," he said during Fox's portion of Television Critics Assn.'s summer press tour. "The rules are murky and none of (broadcast networks') business plans are designed to handle such huge fines." Fox's record proposed fine of $1.18 million for the reality series Married by America was eclipsed earlier this year by the $3.6 million sanction proposed for CBS' drama Without a Trace.
- 7/24/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- Pixilation is no excuse when it comes to federal indecency laws as the FCC said Tuesday that it wants to fine Fox Broadcasting Co. and most of its affiliates nearly $1.2 million for an episode of its reality series Married by America. The FCC proposed the fine for an April 7, 2003, program that includes scenes of Las Vegas bachelor and bachelorette parties featuring strippers and partyers in sexual situations, including scenes where a pair of strippers "playfully spank" a man in his underwear and partygoers lick whipped cream off the strippers' bodies. The FCC issued the record "notice of apparent liability" even though the strippers' bare breasts and other body parts were pixilated. "Although the episode electronically obscures any nudity, the sexual nature of the scenes is inescapable as the strippers attempt to lure partygoers into sexually compromising situations," the commission wrote. "Accordingly, we conclude that the broadcast satisfies the first prong of our indecency analysis." Following that broadcast, the commission received 159 complaints alleging that the episode contained indecent material.
- 10/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- Pixilation is no excuse when it comes to federal indecency laws as the FCC said Tuesday that it wants to fine Fox Broadcasting Co. and most of its affiliates nearly $1.2 million for an episode of its reality series Married by America. The FCC proposed the fine for an April 7, 2003, program that includes scenes of Las Vegas bachelor and bachelorette parties featuring strippers and partyers in sexual situations, including scenes where a pair of strippers "playfully spank" a man in his underwear and partygoers lick whipped cream off the strippers' bodies. The FCC issued the record "notice of apparent liability" even though the strippers' bare breasts and other body parts were pixilated. "Although the episode electronically obscures any nudity, the sexual nature of the scenes is inescapable as the strippers attempt to lure partygoers into sexually compromising situations," the commission wrote. "Accordingly, we conclude that the broadcast satisfies the first prong of our indecency analysis." Following that broadcast, the commission received 159 complaints alleging that the episode contained indecent material.
- 10/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The FCC is said to be preparing to levy a fine of $1 million or more against Fox Broadcasting Co. and its affiliates for running afoul of indecency regulations in April 2003 with an episode of the reality show Married by America, sources said. The impending action, first reported in Monday's edition of Television Week, is expected to be announced by the commission as early as this week. Fox officials declined comment, and FCC representatives could not be reached for comment Monday because of the Columbus Day holiday. But sources said the content in question involved lascivious banter among Married contestants and a segment that involved contestants licking whipped cream off each other's bodies. Television Week reported that the fine stemmed from a complaint lodged by watchdog group the Parents Television Council. The scrutiny of Married comes less than a month after the FCC formally issued its $550,000 fine against CBS for Janet Jackson breast-baring incident during the Super Bowl telecast in February.
- 10/12/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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