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Moonves confirms Viacom will stand and fight
Viacom is the owner of both CBS Television and Infinity Radio, both of which face liability for alleged indecency. Outgoing honcho Mel Karmazn vowed to fight any such charges last spring, a stance reinforced by Les Moonves.
Moonves specifically addressed the Jackson/Timberlake wardrobe malfunction, which effectively threw gasoline on an already-raging anti-indecency firestorm last winter. Moonves said a fine for the incident would be unfair and perilous. He vowed to take the case to court.
The decision to go to court will, however, be entirely in the hands of the government. The FCC can fine Viacom, at which point Viacom can appeal - - to the FCC. If the FCC refuses to grant the appeal, Viacom's next step would be to refuse to pay the fine. The FCC would then turn the case over to the Department of Justice for collection. A DOJ lawsuit is where a court action would come into play.
To the best of our knowledge, the DOJ has never taken an indecency case to court in nearly three decades.
Two high profile cases have been settled "out of court," one of which involved Infinity and Howard Stern, before they were associated with Viacom (but were in the employ of Karmazin). Viacom agreed to make a $1.7M "donation" to the federal treasury to bring indecency action against Stern to a conclusion without admitting any guilt or culpability whatsoever in the matter.
Clear Channel recently made a slightly larger payment, $1.75M, and admitted at least partial culpability. The Clear Channel deal stopped some 200 pending cases in their tracks prior to their even being investigated, according to comments from FCC Commissioner Michael Copps.
TVBR observation:
If court review of FCC ownership regulation usually results in a finding of "arbitrary and capricious," wait 'til they get a load of the indecency regulations and guidelines. We don't even know what happens if the f-word goes out over the airwaves - - just recently we've heard that it's always a no-no, and also that it's a matter of context. If the FCC doesn't know, how are broadcasters supposed to know? One result has been wildly inconsistent enforcement.
Congress has been all over the penalty end of this - - both houses have overwhelmingly supported six-figure fines - - but haven't lifted a finger to adequately define the crime.
If this goes to court, we expect a long, loud fight - - everybody but everybody will weigh in on this one - - but in the end the FCC regs will wind up on the scrap heap and the Enforcement Bureau will be on their way back to the drawing board.
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