Washington, D.C. ? In an unusual move, the Justice Department sued Fox Broadcasting Co. and another broadcaster Friday to collect $56,000 in fines for the broadcast of a raunchy reality show in 2003 that included scenes from bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Fox’s “Married by America” included the “thrusting of a male stripper’s crotch into a woman’s face” in one show in addition to other scenes the agency found objectionable, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In October of 2004, the FCC issued a $7,000 fine against 169 Fox-affiliated stations totaling $1.2 million.

The fines were assessed regardless of whether a complaint was lodged against a particular station. Fox challenged the FCC’s action and last month the FCC dropped the complaints against all but 13 stations, which were the subject of actual viewer complaints. The move lowered the total fine to $91,000.

Fox, a division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., said it would not pay the fines because the FCC’s decision in the case was “arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent and patently unconstitutional.”