U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear FCC v. FOX Television Stations

The Supreme Court decided Monday to hear its first broadcast indecency case in 30 years.

The case, which will be argued in the fall, will involve the Federal Communications Commission policy that holds broadcasters liable for "fleeting expletives" - which are the use of single instances of certain profanities that are uttered in live settings. The justices could also review the constitutional issues raised by the FCC's overall indecency regime, which may no longer be acceptable in the age of filtering technologies.

The background of the case is this: In March 2006, the FCC cited Fox for fleeting expletives that celebs Cher and Nicole Richie let fly during the network's live broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards shows in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Fox appealed the citations, arguing they signaled an "arbitrary and capricious" change in FCC policy, which for decades had exempted single profanities uttered during live broadcasts.

A federal appeals court agreed, ruling that the new policy was invalid and would remain so until the FCC made the rule more specific.

Many thought that this case would not be taken by the Supreme Court, because they usually only take cases that have Constitutional issues.