It’s my understanding that while the FCC doesn’t regulate cable TV, it DOES regulate normal television and can issue fines for not abiding by their rules, etc.
That leads me to the real question at hand: does anyone know how much Fox will be fined, if any, for their screw up(s) on tonight’s Billboard Music Awards (Nicole Richie dropped the “S” and “F” bombs that went unbleeped)? Or could it be ignored considering it’s live?
Many “live” shows are broadcast with a delay. It sounded to me like the censoring was there but out of sync, as a few seconds of dialogue just before the curses got cut out then f-bomb fell seconds later.
Other segments on the show, such as the one with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Dave Grohl, seemed to have censoring in the right spots, but then again, I’m sure that was a scripted bit.
This was the first time I have heard the F-word on broadcast TV in a while.
I remember hearing recently that Bono was allowed to get away with saying “fuck” on live network TV because he did not use it in a sexual context. Maybe this will happen again.
You should travel - the language you get on public TV in other countries would surprise you. It surprises me still, and I’ve been witnessing it for years.
I’m totally for the un-censoring of many things, I’m just laughing at the thousands of complaints Fox will soon get for broadcasting such horror to the human race.
A few weeks ago, the FCC ruled that on a live broadcast, someone can use the F word as long as it’s used as an intensifier (this is f’ing great!) and not in a sexual context. It depends on what was actually said and in what context, but under that ruling, Fox won’t have to pay any fine.
It depends on what was actually said and in what context, but under that ruling, Fox won’t have to pay any fine.
My recollection is hazy and I’m sure someone will be along to correct me, but she said something like “If you’venever tried to get pig shit out of a silk purse, it’s really fucking hard”.
So in this case she used "shit " to refer to excrement, and “fucking” as a modifier/“intensifier”. No fine?
God Bless Snopes.
I should point out that the FCC does not now and never has had the ability to regulate networks. What power it has is over individual stations (known as licensees). Since all the major networks own stations in major cities that are hugely profitable, this has always been a club the FCC could wield over them.
But the FCC has no authority to fine the FOX network for anything it does.
FOX won’t be punished unless someone makes an official complaint and the FCC upholds the complaint. The FCC (which does have the authority to regulate and punish obscenity and indecency over the public airwaves) is a reactive agency and as such, won’t initiate any sort of disciplinary action unless there is an official complaint.
Robin
You’re not wrong, sometimes I wish they’d stop swearing for a change.
IIRC, you get a certain number of allowable fuck-ups (if you’ll excuse the somewhat appropriate expression) per broadcast hour, so one “shit” and one “fuck” shouldn’t result in Fox’s network affiliates being fined.
“Fucking hard” in this context is allowed under the previous ruling.
There is no ruling on the use of “shit,” so it depends on whether the FCC applies their existing ruling or decides this is something else entirely.
I hear the F word all the time on sports broadcasts…
I recall one recent football game where the announcers are waiting on a replay ruling, and have fallen silent for a second or two, and in that (rare) silence, a male voice from the crowd can clearly be heard shouting “Fuck!”
It was teh funneh!
Just thought it would be mildly appropriate to add that I heard (from a lawyer during a trial being broadcast on MSNBC) the word ‘fuck’ during a quote. About five seconds after, a sheepish Brian Williams apologized and announced the seven-second delay that commenced immediately after.
I recall Whoopi Goldberg cursing up a storm while hosting the Oscars one year. I agree with bughunter that you can hear it on sports broadcasts. Although what’s really fun is when you see a player or coach clearly saying “Fuck!” after a bad play but without being miked and then listening to the network announcers trying to pretend it was something else.
–Cliffy
One of my favorite childhood TV memories was watching a boxing match during the old, old days of ESPN. After a round when one boxer got beat up pretty badly, the announcer said, “Let’s listen in to (beat-up boxer)'s corner.” Within five seconds, the corner guy must have dropped about five F-bombs. They cut away from the corner in a hurry.
Having talked with a few other sports fans, this doesn’t seem like too unusual an occurrence. I can’t imagine too many broadcasters get into trouble for it.