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2004 SESSION

049199468
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 16
Offered February 25, 2004
Expressing the sense of the House of Delegates regarding the halftime show at the 2004 Super Bowl.
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Patrons-- Pollard, Cole, Morgan, Oder, Reid, Shuler, Watts and Weatherholtz
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League, is annually the highest rated program on television and is traditionally a time for friends and family to gather to watch the game; and

WHEREAS, the 2004 Super Bowl, a contest between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers, was by consensus one of the most exciting and well-played Super Bowls in the 38-year history of the event; and

WHEREAS, families watching the Super Bowl, however, were also subjected to a highly publicized and occasionally tasteless halftime show; and

WHEREAS, during the 2004 halftime show the performers went beyond the boundaries of any taste and common decency during their performance; and

WHEREAS, in the aftermath of the show, in responding to the protests from the media and from parents and families nationwide, the performers cynically apologized for the incident, calling it an "unintentional wardrobe malfunction"; and

WHEREAS, the half time show was broadcast over the public airwaves during what is known as "family hour"; and

WHEREAS, there are reasonable expectations as to what will be broadcast during "family hour"; and

WHEREAS, the standards of these reasonable expectations have, over the years, been continually sliding and have been violated by other incidents such as the rebroadcast of the MTV Music Awards, and

WHEREAS, the Super Bowl halftime show was a culmination of violations of these reasonable expectations; and

WHEREAS, the halftime show, telecast by CBS and produced by MTV, both companies owned by Viacom, was a clear violation of standards governing the use of the public airways and is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Delegates hereby express its deep indignation over the continual slide of the standards governing the use of the public airwaves during family hour; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to Viacom, parent company of CBS and MTV, and to Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, so the FCC can take into account the opinion of the House of Delegates as it deliberates disciplinary measures on matters regarding violations of standards governing the use of the public airwaves.