Network’s penalty for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” is dismissed.

A federal appeals court has thrown out the $550,000 indecency fine that the FCC assessed against CBS for singer Janet Jackson’s mishap at the 2004 Super Bowl. CBS, which broadcast the top-rated football event, denied responsibility for Jackson’s widely viewed performance, during which singer Justin Timberlake exposed her breast. But 90 million viewers heard Timberlake sing the lyrics, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song” before he tore her costume, raising questions about whether the exposure was accidental. A three-judge panel found that the FCC had acted hastily in fining CBS, since it usually levels fines only when stations engage in deliberate “shock treatment.”