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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS, 
 APPROVING  IN  PART,  CONCURRING  IN  PART 
 Re:  Complaints  Against  Various  Television  Licensees  Concerning  Their  February  1,  2004,  Broadcast  of  the  Super  Bowl  XXXVIII  Halftime  Show 


 Few  incidents  have  focused  such  widespread  attention  on  the  issue  of  indecency  on  the  airwaves  or  garnered  more  complaints  than  last  year’s  Super  Bowl.  Millions  of  Americans 
 watched  what  should  have  been  an  all-  American  evening  for  the  entire  family.  Instead,  we  got  something  far  different  –  an  outrageous  stunt  and  over  540,000  complaints  from  people  all  across 
 the  country. 
 I  agree  that  the  Super  Bowl  halftime  show  violated  the  indecency  statute  and  am  pleased  that  we  are  taking  this  step  to  address  a  deplorable  incident.  I  remain  troubled,  however,  by 
 certain  aspects  of  the  decision  and  therefore  do  not  approve  it  in  its  entirety. 
 First,  I  am  concerned  by  the  precedent  we  establish  in  failing  to  assess  a  penalty  against  non-  Viacom-  owned  affiliates  that  aired  the  Super  Bowl.  I  recognize  that  the  affiliates  likely  did 
 not  expect  that  this  national  event  would  include  such  indecency.  Yet,  many  stations  air  programming  that  they  do  not  produce  themselves.  The  Commission  must  be  careful  not  to 
 signal  that  we  would  excuse  indecent  broadcasts  merely  because  a  station  did  not  control  the  production  of  the  content.  Some  level  of  fine  would  have  been  appropriate  for  these  stations. 
 The  primary  focus  of  our  indecency  enforcement  under  the  statute  must  remain  those  who  are  licensed  to  use  the  public  airwaves  and  we  look  to  their  vigilance  to  protect  our  children  from 
 indecent  broadcasts. 
 Second,  the  Commission  received  complaints  about  other  aspects  of  the  halftime  show  and  some  of  the  commercials.  Yet,  the  Order  dismisses  these  complaints  in  a  footnote  with 
 hardly  any  analysis  or  explanation.  The  FCC  relies  on  viewers  and  listeners  to  file  complaints  about  indecent  broadcasts  and  places  a  heavy  burden  on  complaining  citizens.  The  citizens  that 
 filed  these  complaints  have  a  right  to  expect  more  of  a  Commission  follow-  through  on  their  complaints. 


 Finally,  although  the  Commission  is  imposing  the  largest  fine  in  history  for  indecency  on  television,  let’s  not  kid  ourselves  that  this  fine  will  serve  as  a  disincentive  to  multi-  billion  dollar 
 conglomerates  broadcasting  indecency.  This  fine  needs  to  be  seen  in  the  context  of  a  broadcast  in  which  each  30-  second  commercial  cost  more  than  $2  million.  In  other  words,  this  fine  represents 
 less  than  10  seconds  of  ad  time  on  the  Super  Bowl  and  will  be  easily  absorbed  as  a  cost  of  doing  business.  We  must  continue  to  demonstrate  to  citizens  that  their  complaints  will  receive  prompt 
 and  vigorous  attention  and  to  the  broadcast  industry  that  Commission  involvement  in  these  issues  is  not  a  passing  fancy. 
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