The Los Angeles Times reports that broadcasters seeking to force federal regulators to more clearly define indecency violations are expected to bring a legal test case as early as next month.
Broadcasters hope a lawsuit could bring a ruling that would force the FCC to become more consistent. The agency has drawn criticism for its allegedly inconsistent enforcement of indecency rules and for yielding to pressure from public interest groups.
"I think the government is more vulnerable to an indecency challenge than they've ever been before," said Kurt A. Wimmer, a Washington communications lawyer.
Broadcasters haven't brought a major indecency or obscenity case since 1978, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to issue indecency fines. That case involved a Pacifica radio station's airing in 1973 of comedian George Carlin's Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television routine.
Industry lawyers who are spearheading the possible legal action say they are focusing on two promising cases.
One is a reprimand NBC received for airing U2 singer Bono's use of a sexual expletive during an acceptance speech at the 2003 Golden Globe awards show.
The second case involves $1.18 million in fines levied in October against Fox affiliates for airing a program called Married by America. The bachelor party-themed episode showed digitally obscured nudity, men in underwear being spanked by two strippers and whipped cream being licked off the chest of a woman.
According to sources, Fox is considering using the Married by America case to press the broader constitutional issue of whether broadcasters should be subjected to special limits.
