WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously threw out fines and sanctions yesterday against broadcasters who violated the Federal Communications Commission policy regulating curse words and nudity on broadcast television.
But the justices declined to follow the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and issue a broad ruling on the constitutionality of the FCC indecency policy. Instead, the court concluded only that broadcasters could not have known in advance that fleeting obscenities uttered during awards programs and a brief display of nudity on an episode of ABC’s NYPD Blue could give rise to sanctions. ABC and 45 affiliates were hit with proposed fines totaling nearly $1.24 million.
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