TV Stations Challenge FCC Profanity Decisions

Major U.S. television networks and their affiliates said on Friday they have asked appeals courts to overturn decisions by regulators finding broadcasters violated decency standards by airing profanity.

A recent story in Reuters reported that Fox Television Stations Inc. and CBS Broadcasting Inc. asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York to declare the decisions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unlawful.

The decisions were "unconstitutional, contrary to the relevant statutes, arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law," the broadcasters said. General Electric Co.'s NBC filed to participate in the case siding with the broadcasters.

Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Inc. and Hearst-Argyle's Kansas City affiliate filed a similar appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. More than 800 television network affiliates joined the court efforts.

Jeremy Pelofsky’s story for Reuters noted that CBS also asked the FCC to back down from its proposed $3.3 million fine against 103 stations for airing a scene depicting group sex during the show "Without a Trace."

Additionally, the story continued, CBS urged the agency to reconsider its decision to fine 20 of its stations $550,000 for Janet Jackson's showing her bare breast during the 2004 Super Bowl.

U.S. regulations bar television broadcast stations from airing obscene material and limit them to airing indecent material, such as profanity and sexually explicit content, during late-night hours when children are less likely to be in the audience.

"The FCC overstepped its authority in an attempt to regulate content protected by the First Amendment," the broadcasters said in a joint statement. The appeals mark the first major court challenge to decency standards in years.

An FCC spokeswoman rebutted the legal challenges by noting that the Supreme Court 20 years ago upheld a decision that found indecent comedian George Carlin's monologue about the seven dirty words that cannot be said on television and radio.

"Today Disney, Fox, and CBS challenged that precedent and argued they should be able to air two of those same words," spokeswoman Tamara Lipper told Pelofsky. "The commission is reviewing their filings and will defend its order."

She said CBS's argument that the Jackson incident was not indecent runs "counter to commission precedent and common sense," but the FCC would review any reconsideration request.

Blair Levin, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., said the broadcasters have a shot at winning since the courts have not addressed a decency case in years and it is hard to define what is indecent. "The networks have a decent chance of getting the FCC decision overturned," he said.