The U.S. Justice Department has taken the unusual step of moving to enforce a federal fine against Fox Broadcasting Co. and the Sinclair Broadcast Group on a long-running indecency case.

The department filed suits on Friday in U.S. federal courts against eight television stations in Iowa, West Virginia, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

It filed the suits on the same day that the Federal Communications Commission rejected a Fox request for a review of a $56,000 US fine.  The fine — which amounts to $7,000 per station — was imposed against Fox affiliates that carried the program Married by America back in 2003.

In the reality show, viewers saw scantily clad male and female strippers cavorting in sexually explicit ways with the program's participants.

Fox refuses to pay the fines, and the Justice Department is seeking to force it to do so.

The broadcaster has said it will continue to appeal the FCC rulings and the Justice Department's directives, arguing that the FCC has arbitrarily applied its indecency guidelines.

"We look forward to the opportunity to present the full factual and legal argument … to an impartial and open court of law," said a statement released by Fox on Friday.

The FCC responded by saying it was "long past time for [Fox] to accept responsibility and pay its fines."

Fines first issued against 169 affiliates

The fines were first handed down in 2004, with the FCC issuing a $7,000 fine against each of Fox's 169 affiliates.

After a complaint from the broadcaster, the FCC shaved that number down to only include markets where it had received a formal complaint. Of the eight stations left, five are owned by Fox and three by Sinclair, a Maryland-based company that operates more than 50 TV stations in the United States.

The battle against the FCC is bigger than Fox. In 2006, broadcasters banded together to protest the commission's policies, which have been imposed harshly since Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" incident during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show.

The Supreme Court agreed last month to hear the broadcasters' case, in which the companies say they can't be held responsible for "fleeting expletives" on live telecasts.