Janet Jackson’s breast just cost Viacom’s subsidiaries $550,000, the maximum fine allowable for willfully broadcasting indecent material.
Today the Federal Communications Commission levied fines of $27,500 against each of 20 CBS stations owned by Viacom for broadcasting Jackson’s bare breast during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1st of this year.
The fines are technically a “Notice of Apparent Liability of Monetary Forfeiture" since the FCC cannot fine a company outright. Viacom’s subsidiaries have 30 days to appeal.
The fines stem from the Super Bowl’s half-time show, when Jackson’s breast became exposed when Justin Timberlake pulled off the right portion of Jackson’s bustier during a duet.
“Rock Your Body,” the song Jackson and Timberlake sang, has sexually charged lingo – including the lyrics “gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” the words Timberlake sang immediately prior to exposing Jackson’s breast.
The incident quickly became a national scandal and escalated the so-called “culture wars,” in this case pitting free speech against social conservatives. Under pressure from an administration that swallows
Over 200 CBS affiliates broadcast the Super Bowl, but the FCC decided to fine only those owned by Viacom because of “the unexpected nature of the halftime show and the apparent lack of involvement in the selection, planning, and approval of the telecast by these non-Viacom owned affiliates.”
The FCC states that Viacom’s “history of ownership of Infinity Broadcasting played a factor in the decision to issue the fine.” Infinity Broadcasting distributes Howard Stern’s radio show.
The FCC received over 542,000 complaints about the Super Bowl, and the complaints weren’t limited to Jackson’s breast. Kid Rock’s American flag poncho and even some commercials shown during the game were also the subjects of complaints though the FCC determined that none of these complaints were actionable.
Conservative members of the FCC weren’t ecstatic about the fine, which they considered low. While the fine is the largest ever issued to a television broadcaster for violating indecency standards, it’s the equivalent of 7.5 seconds of commercial time during the Super Bowl, where 30-second ads cost millions of dollars.
