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The fine is for a scene where a boy surprises a woman as she prepares to shower. The scene depicted “multiple, close-up views” of the woman’s “nude buttocks,” according to the FCC order issued late last week.
The proposed fine against WXOW-TV is $27,500, the maximum under the agency’s guidelines for 2003. In total, the FCC levied $1.4 million in fines against the stations.
WXOW general manager Chuck Roth said the network is appealing and will cover any fine that is leveled.
The agency considers indecent any broadcast aired between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. that “depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities” in a “patently offensive way.”
The episode of the cop drama aired at 9 p.m. Feb. 25, 2003, in La Crosse.
Fines were leveled only at stations that were the subject of complaints to the FCC. Stations in Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee were fined, but WXOW’s sister station in Wausau was not.
In a statement released with the notice, FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate said, “The law is simple. If a broadcaster makes the decision to show indecent programming, it must air between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. This is neither difficult to understand nor burdensome to implement.”
While it is possible for a local station to pre-empt network programming, Roth said, he could not think of one example in the past 20 years he had cut because of content. He said the station works to ensure all locally controlled programming — news and syndicated shows — is suitable for family viewing.
Roth defended “NYPD Blue,” saying it had aired for a decade in that time slot and included a viewer warning that of adult language and nudity.
“Where I have a concern is when a network has something happen when something is totally unannounced” like the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show where Janet Jackson bared her breast. “Parents had no idea.”
Chris Hubbuch can be reached at (608) 791-8217 or at chris.hubbuch@lee.net.
kimmie wrote on Feb 2, 2008 11:36 PM:
GET A LIFE! "