The brief nipple flash resulted in a $550,000 fine against CBS stations airing the event. In July 2008 the Third Circuit Appeals Court ruled against the fine, saying there wasn’t much evidence indicating CBS had access to technology that could have delayed or prevented the exposure from going out over the air and into people’s homes.

The appeals court also determined the FCC’s decision to fine CBS stations for the nipple slip was “arbitrary and capricious” because it differed from a decades-old policy of “restraint,” regarding such incidents and that the commission had “consistently explained that isolated and fleeting material did not fall within the scope of actionable indecency.”

Then in May of this year the Supreme Court, after reasserting the government can fine broadcasters for airing a single, unexpected spoken obscenity, ordered the Third Circuit to reconsider its decision.

Now the FCC is disagreeing with the appeals court’s decision striking down the fine. According to Broadcasting & Cable, the commission has filed a brief to the Third Circuit Appeals Court to determine “whether CBS was reckless not to use video delay technology for this broadcast.”

In its brief the FCC also restated its belief that the exposed nipple violated decency standards for broadcast TV between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

“[The FCC] reasonably determined in this case that the graphic and shocking, albeit brief, exposure of Janet Jackson’s bare right breast to a nationwide audience composed of millions of children and adults was indecent,” the commission stated in its brief.

The “graphic and shocking” incident occurred during Jackson and Timberlake’s performance during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show when Timberlake grabbed the top of Jackson’s costume and pulled – exposing her breast covered only by a small ornament. Both performers have since said the exposure was an accident.

Which makes sense when you consider Jackson isn’t in the habit of showing off her nipples to TV audiences.

However, viewers were outraged. Or more to the point, the Parents Television Council, whose members managed to send enough letters to the FCC to persuade the commission to hit CBS and hit it hard.

And all this was over one nipple accidentally exposed for less than one second on a live television broadcast. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Jackson had exposed not one, but two nipples, doesn’t it?

Click here to read the entire Broadcasting & Cable article.