Appeals Court Tosses FCC Indecency Fine Against ABC

A federal appeals court tossed out the Federal Communications Commission's $1.2 million fine against ABC and its affiliates for briefly airing a female character's nude buttocks during a 2003 episode of the now defunct program "NYPD Blue." The FCC found in 2008 that ABC violated the commission's indecency rules and fined ABC and its affiliates a maximum $27,500 penalty each for airing the episode. In its decision to toss the fine, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York cited a ruling the same court issued last year that struck down the FCC's indecency policy for violating "the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague."