The Federal Communications Commission today issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture of $550,000 against various subsidiaries of Viacom Inc. for apparently willfully broadcasting indecent material during the February 1, 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. The show contained a musical performance that concluded with Justin Timberlake pulling off part of Janet Jackson’s clothing, exposing her breast.

The Commission found that this partial nudity was, in the context of the broadcast, in apparent violation of the broadcast indecency standard. It proposed the statutory maximum amount against each of the Viacom-owned CBS licensees of the 20 television stations that aired the show due to the involvement of Viacom/CBS in the planning and approval of the telecast and the history of indecency violations committed by Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting Corporation subsidiaries. Although the Commission found that other, non-Viacom owned CBS affiliates also aired the material, it did not propose forfeitures against them because of the unexpected nature of the halftime show and the apparent lack of involvement in the selection, planning, and approval of the telecast by these non-Viacom owned affiliates.

"The U.S. Constitution is generous in its protection of free expression, but it is not a license to thrill," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell. "'Anything goes,' is not an acceptable mantra for those that elect to earn their profit using the public’s airwaves.

"We are extremely disappointed in the ruling," read a statement in response from CBS. "While we regret that the incident occurred and have apologized to our viewers, we continue to believe that nothing in the Super Bowl broadcast violated indecency laws. Furthermore, our investigation proved that no one in our company had any advance knowledge about the incident. We are reviewing all of our options to respond to the ruling."