FCC BEGINS SUPER BOWL INDECENCY PROBE, SEEKS QUICK ACTION
FCC Chmn. Powell opened an investigation into the Super Bowl half-time show aired on CBS, where singer Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed by musician Justin Timberlake. Powell referred to the incident as a “classless, crass and deplorable stunt” and promised a “thorough and swift” investigation.
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Comr. Copps urged the Commission to act quickly and criticized its lack of effective action against indecent behavior in live broadcasts. “Nothing this Commission has done so far has accomplished anything to slow down big media’s race to the bottom” Copps said. CBS hadn’t returned calls seeking comment on the FCC probe by our deadline.
The Commission was bombarded with calls and e-mails early Mon. about the stunt, sources said. The Parents TV Council filed an indecency complaint with the FCC and asked it to impose fines for every CBS affiliate that aired the half-time show. PTC said it didn’t accept apologies from CBS or MTV, which produced the show, and called on advertisers to seek retribution. “Advertisers who bankrolled this insult to every parent, every woman and every child in America, deserve to have their money refunded in full by CBS,” PTC Pres. Brent Bozell said.
House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R. Mich) said: “The excuses that I have heard ring hollow.” The investigation comes days after the White House said it would support HR-3717, introduced by Upton, which would raise the maximum fines for indecent broadcasts tenfold to $275,000 (CD Jan 29 p4).
The Jackson-Timberlake moment drew the biggest spike in audience reaction TiVo has ever measured, TiVo said. Viewership spiked up to 180% as thousands of households replayed tape of the live incident.