Whaddya think?
I can smell the PR!!
Janet Jackson’s breast flash costs CBS $930,000 – SEPT 24, 2004
I watched this game and, to be honest, the flash was not noticeable. Who watches the halftime show anyway? I had to go back on a Tivo recording to even see the incident and it was trivial. So this is incredible bullshit. The networks and local stations are hardly doing any public service at all. Why doesn’t he FCC do something about that rather than dwell on this sort of nonsense. Gee, and, uh, interesting that CBS is home of the “Dan Rather” gaffe. Interesting coincidence, eh?
To help prove its case that CBS is culpable, the FCC noted that Mr Timberlake fondled the buttocks of British singer Kylie Minogue on a national televised awards show in that country last year, an event that, coupled with the racy content of his and Ms Jackson’s recordings, ‘should have given CBS cause for caution’.
Yeah, he copped a feel on Kylie – a year earlier? The lyrics of their songs are sometimes “racy” – so CBS should have known to tape-delay the Half-time show? 🙁
Since they are imposing the fine long after everyone had completely forgotten about this “outrage” – it makes me wonder if John has a point.
What seems worse: FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein dissented from the decision only to fine the CBS-owned stations, noting that the fine was paltry compared to the US$2.3 million on average the network took in for a 30-second commercial during the game.
So, Mr. Adelstein – how much of that $2.3-million per minute did the non-CBS-owned affliates get? Does CBS pay the affiliates to carry the Superbowl?
I remember when that incident happened, and how I got sick of trying to explain to people here in the UK that, even though America produces the lion’s share of the world’s hardcore porn, Americans can be a touch prudish and delicate at times.
It’s not really surprising. Remember that the current President George Bush accedentally bared the breasts of one of his daughters at an inaugural ball and that went out over live TV (to fathers, when your daughter is standing on stage in a strapless dress, do not raise her arms over her head in celebration – other things rise as well). That’s not the sort of thing you can make a fuss about if you’re a newly minted President and it’s your own daughter. With the Jackson incident you have something you can use to provide a financial incentive to broadcasters to install delay systems. Apparently sales of those systems have risen quite a bit, so I suppose it has been of some success.
[…] […]