One of Jackson's breasts was exposed at the end of her duet with singer Justin Timberlake, which Timberlake later blamed on a "costume malfunction."
The Federal Communications Commission recently ordered that Viacom, which owns the 20 CBS stations that broadcast the Super Bowl, pay a fine of $550,000 for allegedly violating indecency standards. Viacom is expected to argue that the incident was legal.
TiVo and the growing number of other digital video recorder systems, which let viewers both record TV programs and pause or rewind live television broadcasts, were most assuredly created for less prurient reasons. But the continued hold of the Jackson moment on the top slot shows the unpredictable nature of what consumers actually do with technology, once they get their hands on it.
The incident remains atop the TiVo replay heap, despite notable televised events that have been broadcast since then, including the summer Olympic games in Athens, a picture-perfect scenario for TiVo users, since it was played out over several channels simultaneously and sometimes in the wee hours of the morning.
Before Jackson's moment in the sun, the most replayed moment in TiVo history had been the kiss shared by Britney Spears and Madonna during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
Pratfalls also tend to be popular among TiVo's 1.9 million subscribers. Four of the 10 most popular moments during the summer Olympics involved flubbed performances, such as Chinese Olympian Yang Wei losing his grip during his high bar performance on Aug. 18, TiVo recently said.
But sex still rules the TiVo roost. "Janet Jackson is still the most TiVo'd moment we've ever measured," the TiVo representative said Tuesday.
