Court overturns fine for Super Bowl halftime show

PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court July 21 overturned a decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose a $550,000 indecency fine on CBS Corp. for the controversial 2004 Super Bowl halftime show in which Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia found that the FCC deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so “pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience.”

The court said the Super Bowl incident was a “deceitful and manipulative act that lasted nine-sixteenths of one second” and that CBS was not responsible “for the acts of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, independent contractors hired for the limited purposes of the Halftime Show.”  (TAB)