FCC Tells FOX to Hand Over Indecency Complaints. Instead, It Sends ‘Em to KDFW.

Variety‘s reporting that the Federal Communications Commission is fining FOX $25,000 over the January 3 episode of American Dad titled “Horse Chores,” in which — as the trade’s Ted Johnson puts it — there’s a scene “in which two characters engage in ribald dialogue, followed by a scene in which it is highly suggestive that one character has given a horse an ejaculation.” But it seems the FCC’s not so much unhappy with the content of the ep as with FOX’s response, which involved singling out its Dallas affiliate:

In its inquiry, the FCC sought information from Fox on all of its affiliated stations that may have aired the episode. But instead of sending the entire trove of complaints, the FCC sent Fox just a sample complaint identifying Fox station KDFW in Dallas.

According to the FCC, that station’s owner, NW Communications, did reply, but the responses “were incomplete and unsatisfactory.” NW contended that the Commission should seek an inquiry only from each licensee of a station that has received a complaint, not the entire network or station group. “We emphatically reject that position,” wrote P. Michele Ellison, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.

Incidentally, FOX rejects the FCC’s rejection.