[CS-FSLUG] CBS Fined $550K for Super Bowl Broadcast

[Josiah Ritchie]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:57:05 -0500
listmail at rotundus.com wrote:

> Quoting Fred Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com>:
> 
> > The fine isn't large enough, IMHO, but it could have been worse.
> >
> > Fred
> >
> > http://www.parentstv.org/
> 
> I'm a little bit curious as to what you might consider an appropriate fine.

I'm inclined to say that whatever profit their books show for the event would be an appropriate fine. It is then their responsibility to deal with the offender.

> I'll agree that CBS makes an insane amount of money off the games, but I'm
> unsure as to how to attach a $$$ figure to something.
> 
> I also wonder how appropriate it is to attach a fine to something that takes
> place "accidentally" (whether the act was intentional by the person who
> committed it I'm unsure, but I doubt it was done with CBS approval) on a live
> event.  Is the half-time show actually put on by CBS, or is it organized by the
> NFL?

Despite cries that it wasn't, it appeared to be pre-meditated and as such, no matter who pre-meditated it, the airing of it is the responsibility of CBS. CBS is then responsible for pressuring down the path to make sure it doesn't happen again, whether that be the NFL or Janet or whomever. Football would certainly miss that partnership.

JSR/