FCC’s NALs and Memoranda

In an effort to clean up a backlog of viewer complaints, the FCC has issued numerous decisions this week. It has posted additional Notices of Apparent Liability and Memoranda Opinions and Orders here.  Among the broadcasts which violated FCC rules are the “Pool Party” episode of “The Surreal Life 2” and “Con el corazon en la mano”.

The FCC found that performer Cher’s use of the “f” word during the December 9, 2002 broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards on Fox was “explicit and shocking and gratuitous” the broadcast itself was “patently offensive under contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium and thus apparently indecent. Technological advances have made it possible to block the broadcast of offensive words without disproportionately disrupting a speaker’s message. Fox could have avoided the indecency violation here by delaying the broadcast for a period of time sufficient to ensure that all offending words were blocked….By broadcasting this material, the station apparently violated the prohibitions…and the Commission’s rules against broadcast indecency….The “F-Word” is a vulgar sexual term so grossly offensive to members of the public that it amounts to a nuisance and is presumptively profane. The “F-Word” is one of the offensive words in the English language, the broadcast of which is likely to shock the viewer and disturb the peace and quiet of the home. Consistent with our decisions in the Golden Globe Awards Order, we find here that the use of the “F-Word” in the program at issue here apparently violated 18 U.S.C. [sec] 1464’s prohibition’s of the broadcast of “profane” language….In the instant case, we find that the Fox Network affiliate…consciously…broadcast the program….The gratuitous use of indecent and profane language…ordinarily would warrant a forfeiture order….Nonetheless, we recognize that our precedent at the time…indicated that the Commission would not take enforcement action against isolated use of expletives. Accordingly, we find that no forfeiture is warranted….”

The agency analyzed complaints against Nicole Ritchie’s use of expletives during the broadcast of the 2003 Billboard Music Awards similarly. 

The agency also ruled on many other viewer complaints of indecency or profanity on the airwaves, among them that episodes of “Will and Grace,” “Two and a Half Men,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Today Show,” “8 Simple Rules,” “The Simpsons,” and the Green Bay Packers v. Minnesota Vikings game (January 9, 2005) depicted lewdness or obscenity. It found no violation of FCC regulations in any of these cases.