Congress Ups Indecency Fines

The price of boob jobs just got way higher.

Two years later and Congress is still hung up on Janet Jackson's nipple, passing legislation that increases indecency fines tenfold, despite fierce opposition from CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox and the newly formed CW broadcast networks.

The House of Representatives voted 379-35 Wednesday in favor of the increase. With the bill having already passed muster in the Senate last month it only needs President Bush's promised signature before becoming law.

That means that within days, the Federal Communications Commission can levy a maximum penalty of $325,000 per violation, up from $32,500, with total fines capped at $3 million.

"This is a victory for children and families," said Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican and the chief sponsor of the bill. "After two years Congress is sending a bill to the president that will raise broadcast indecency fines to a meaningful level."

The bill's passage also marks a big triumph for the morality mavens at the Parents Television Council and Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family, who view the big-bucks penalties as a deterrent.

Families "are fed up with the sexually raunchy and gratuitously violent content that?s broadcast over the public airwaves, particularly during hours when millions of children are in the viewing audience," L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC, said in a press release. "We applaud the U.S. House for listening and acting to hold broadcasters responsible for their violations of the law.

"We hope that the hefty fines will cause the multibillion-dollar broadcast networks finally to take the law seriously."

The legislation could also be the death knell in CBS' efforts to appeal the $550,000 in fines against 20 network affiliates for broadcasting Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." The commission has refused to budge on its ruling.

If Jackson's breast incident had occurred with the new regulations in place, CBS would have faced at least $6 million in fines--a much bigger hit given the millions in revenue the broadcaster earns from 30-second advertising spots during the most watched event of the year.

The new legislation had been bouncing around Capitol Hill now for the past two years and appeared to be temporarily stymied in committee as lawmakers debated whether the bill violated First Amendment rights and what exactly constituted indecency.

But it gained momentum however with last month's Senate passage, much to the dismay of the National Association of Broadcasters, the industry lobbying group that vehemently opposed it.

"In issues related to programming content, NAB believes responsible self-regulation is preferable to government regulation," said spokesman Dennis Wharton. "If there is regulation, it should be applied equally to cable and satellite TV, and satellite radio."

In recent years CBS has borne the brunt of the commission's wrath. The FCC is also reviewing the network's appeal of a $3.3 million penalty foisted on more than 100 CBS stations for an episode of its hit drama Without a Trace, that featured an orgy scene.

But that doesn't mean the other broadcasters are skating by.

Fox, for example, was hit with a $1.1 million fine in 2004 for a scene in its since forgotten reality series Married in America, in which contestants cavorting at a bachelor party with strippers and topless prostitutes licking whipped cream from each other's bodies. At the time, the amount was the single-biggest indecency fine.

Meanwhile, the nets have added a delay to their live broadcasts in hopes of cutting out any potentially fine-incurring mishaps, with the Rolling Stones getting censored during the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl.