WASHINGTON – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed fines totaling $1.4 million against 52 ABC Network stations for airing a February 2003 episode of “NYPD Blue” which showed a woman’s nude buttocks.
The “NYPD Blue” scene depicted a boy surprising a woman as she prepared to take a shower with “multiple, close-up views” of the woman's “nude buttocks,” according to an FCC order issued last week. The agency delcared the scene indecent because “it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs, specifically an adult woman's buttocks.”
Some of the controversy came down to a biological argument as ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., has argued that it doesn’t consider the buttocks “a sexual organ.” The network plans on appealing the fine.
The FCC defines indecent content as that which “depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities” in a “patently offensive way." FCC regulations dictate that stations broadcasting such risque material must do so between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Stations in the Eastern and Pacific time zones were exempt from fines because they broadcast the episode after 10 p.m.
"Our action today should serve as a reminder to all broadcasters that Congress and American families continue to be concerned about protecting children from harmful material and that the FCC will enforce the laws of the land vigilantly," FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate said in a statement to the press.
