Indecency and the FCC

1934

With the passage of the Communications Act, Congress creates the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC's role includes the regulation of broadcast content, as airwaves are considered public property and cannot be privately owned. The Communications Act includes a provision, later incorporated into the federal criminal code, making the transmission of "obscene, indecent, or profane" content punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to two years in prison.

1960

Congress formally gives the FCC the authority to revoke the licenses of networks that air content deemed obscene, indecent, or profane. In 1961, the FCC begins issuing fines and threatening to revoke licenses in earnest - primarily due to radio profanity.

1978

A 1973 radio routine by George Carlin caught the FCC's eye. The FCC targeted the station with a letter of reprimand, the station challenged it, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the FCC's decision, calling into question the validity of other indecency charges. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in FCC v. Pacifica held (by a narrow 5-4 margin) that the FCC has the authority to fine stations for airing indecent broadcast content.

1987

The FCC threatens to fine radio shock jock Howard Stern for "dwelling on sexual and excretory matters in a way that was patently offensive"; the new guideline being broader than previous indecency standards, the FCC withheld fines and issued a warning. Stern would deliberately challenge the FCC over the next five years, resulting in more than one million dollars in broadcast indecency fines - including a single, record-high $600,000 fine in 1992.

1993

The pilot episode of NYPD Blue includes rear nudity. By this point, nudity with artistic or redeeming value had become commonplace - the television miniseries Roots (1978) and Gauguin the Savage (1980) included both frontal and rear nudity, and even Bochco's own short-lived 1983 series Bay City Blues included rear nudity - and the FCC had never issued a fine, for any reason, for television broadcast indecency.

But the Religious Right was in full swing following the election of President Bill Clinton, and organized in opposition to the series (which soon became known as controversial and risqué). 15 years later, in 2008, the FCC would hand down an arbitrary $1.4 million fine for NYPD Blue rear nudity in a later episode; the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it.

1996

Congress passed the Communications Decency Act, which would have expanded FCC indecency standards as a criminal statute applying to the Internet; those posting content deemed obscene could face up to two years in prison. The Supreme Court struck down the law in ACLU v. Reno (1997).

1997

In February, NBC airs the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama Schindler's List uncut; 65 million Americans tune in. The movie includes graphic violence, profanity, and full frontal nudity, but does not attract the attention of the FCC.

2001

The FCC hands out its first-ever fine for television broadcast indecency - a $21,000 fine - to Telemundo. Although the material in question did not contain nudity or profanity, it included sexual double entendres that the FCC, rather inexplicably, found to be indecent. The Bush administration's FCC becomes the first to issue a fine for television broadcast indecency, a pattern that would continue over the next seven years.

2004

Pop star Janet Jackson's right breast is briefly, partially exposed during a "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show broadcast by CBS, prompting the FCC's largest fine to date - a record $550,000. In November 2011, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the fine on the basis that it was not consistent with the commission's prior behavior, but did not challenge the FCC's authority to regulate broadcast indecency. The FCC has not determined whether or not to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.