Score one for

FOX reality TV, sort of. The Federal Communications Commission slashed nearly all of a proposed $1.2 million indecency fine against several FOX stations yesterday, according to the Washington Post.

The FCC instead decided stations can only be fined for airing the offensive TV show in question if viewers actually complained about it. There was not a change in the FCC’s determination that the show in question was,  in fact, indecent.

In this case, 13 of the 169 FOX stations that aired the April 7, 2003 episode of the short-lived Married By America will actually be required to pay indecency fines. The total amount of fines will be somewhere near $91,000.

The episode that lead to the original fine showed digitally-obscured nudity and strippers covered in whipped cream. FOX argued that the worst parts were obscured, keeping the scene from being indecent under FCC rules which prohibit conventional radio and television stations from broadcasting what’s called “patently offensive” material of a sexual or excretory nature between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. (Times when children are most likely to be watching.) Obviously FCC indecency statutes do not cover cable or satellite TV (e.g. Paradise Hotel 2).

The Post says FOX, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.,  hasn’t decided whether to appeal the FCC ruling in federal court.

This is the second such ruling by the FCC in a matter of weeks. Back in January of this year, 52 ABC stations were fined a combined total of $1.43 million dollars for airing an episode of NYPD Blue that showed a woman’s backside and the side of her breast. That ruling came down nearly five years after the actual episode was broadcast. ABC and parent company Disney have appealed that FCC decision in federal court. It is still unclear why it took the FCC so long to issue rulings on either matter.

The Washington Post says had the FCC waited until after April 8 to rule on the FOX issue, it couldn’t have collected any fines because the agency’s statue of limitations on indecency enforcement would have lapsed.

The show, Married By America, let viewers to help pick a potential mate for five single men and women. Episodes then followed the TV matched couples on their path to matrimony or more likely disaster. No one ended up actually married after the show and it only lasted one month on the air.