From WNYKRC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Harfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

The following item needs almost no introduction.

According to Lycos, it was the most searched item in the history of the Internet,

eclipsing even the violence of September 11th. The earth-shattering event to which I refer is the Super Bowl halftime show

exposure of Janet Jackson's right breast. FCC chairman Michael Powell called it a, quote,

classless, crass and deplorable stunt, and he pledged to open an immediate investigation

into the halftime show shenanigans. But what power can the FCC really wield?

Well, it can levy fines, and pending legislation would increase them tenfold to $275,000.

Also, it used to be that a show that contained obscenity would be fined once.

Now, each incident within a show carries that penalty. In the case of

MTV and CBS's Super Bowl show, the crotch grabbing and bumping and grinding alone could add up

to quite a tidy sum for CBS. Alicia Mundy is a fellow at the New America Foundation and our resident

expert on all things FCC.

She says that for CBS and parent company Viacom, those fines might still be chump changed,

but the ultimate cost could be a lot higher.

As you know, CBS locked out last year when the media ownership limits were raised,

because it was over the limit of the number of different

broadcast stations it could own around the country. And when the number was to 39 percent, CBS got

kind of a waiver. So right now, CBS needs very much not to tick off anybody in Washington. And Michael

Powell and the Federal Communications Commission can make them grovel and can at least have the amusing spectacle of Mel Carmesan of CBS

...