FCC Seeks To Fine ABC $1.4M For Indecent "NYPD Blue" Episode

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $1.4 million fine against 52 ABC Television Network stations over a 2003 broadcast of cop drama NYPD Blue.

The fine is for a scene where a boy surprises a woman as she prepares to take a shower. The scene depicted "multiple, close-up views" of the woman's "nude buttocks" according to an agency order issued late Friday.

ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co. The fines were issued against 52 stations either owned by or affiliated with the network.

FCC's definition of indecent content requires that the broadcast "depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities" in a "patently offensive way" and is aired between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The agency said the show was indecent because "it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs - specifically an adult woman's buttocks."

The agency rejected the network's argument that "the buttocks are not a sexual organ."

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The "woman" in question was NYPD Blue series regular Charlotte Ross, and "Nude Awakening" the episode that blew the minds of the hapless FCC castrati. It first aired on ABC Television on the evening of February 25, 2003.

Below, please find screengrabs of the unspeakably obscene sexual and excretory organs noted in the agency's filing.