FCC Defends "Fleeting Expletives" Fox Ruling

In a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Federal Communications Commission says it was correct to conclude that the "vulgar expletives" from Cher and Nicole Richie during a Fox 2002 broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards were a violation of community standards for broadcasting. Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the FCC's decision to "expand broadcast indecency enforcement to fleeting expletives, Fox is left with no basis for challenging the Commission's determination that the broadcasts violated longstanding federal prohibitions against broadcasting indecent material." The Commission also said indecency regulation is still necessary to "ensure that parents can construct 'a relatively safe haven for their children.'" The FCC reaffirmed that it believes broadcasting to be pervasive and uniquely accessible to children, and that broadcasting remains a unique medium given its free access to spectrum. "[U]nlike wireless telephone companies and others who are required to pay often substantial sums at auction for spectrum licenses," said the commission, broadcasters get theirs for free in exchange for public interest obligations.