Lawyers representing the U.S. Justice Department have filed a lawsuit against FOX Television Stations on Friday to force payment of FCC fines imposed for broadcasting "titillating and shocking" sexually oriented material during prime time.

The unusual move aims to collect $56,000 in fines for airing a 2003 episode of the reality program "Married by America," which featured wild bachelor parties in Las Vegas, Nevada, including 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 the Federal Communications Commission, the program was "patently offensive" and aired before 10 p.m., when families are presumed to be watching.

"We have an obligation to protect our children by enforcing laws restricting indecent content on television and radio," said an FCC spokeswoman. "For four years, News Corp. has failed to take responsibility for airing indecent programming during 'Married by America.' It is long past time for the company to accept responsibility and pay its fines."

The suit was filed on the same day the FCC rejected another request from FOX Broadcasting for a review of their decision to fine the FOX affiliates for improperly airing the reality program.

"The commission dismissed the petition for reconsideration submitted by Fox and its affiliates in the Married by America case for failing to ask for permission in advance of filing to exceed the page limit for such petitions," FOX senior vice president of corporate communications Scott Grogin was quoted by BusinessWeek.com as saying in a statement.

"Given that the petition was filed on behalf of seven companies -- each of which had the right to file 25 pages -- we fail to see how filing 39 pages instead of the 175 allowable pages was grounds for dismissal. It is particularly offensive for the commission to have used such specious grounds to dismiss a petition that raises such important constitutional issues," Grogin added.

Despite being ordered to pay the fine two weeks ago, FOX decided to ignore the penalty claiming FCC's decision in the case was "arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent and patently unconstitutional."

"We look forward to the opportunity to present the full factual and legal arguments in the 'Married by America' case to an impartial and open court of law," a Fox spokesman said.

Since the FCC's February action, four stations have paid the fine and another station was dropped because no complaint was filed against it, leaving eight stations and $56,000 in fines. Five of the eight stations are owned by Fox, three are owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The FCC had originally proposed fining 169 Fox stations several years ago, but the February fine was directed at just the 13 that had received viewer complaints about the show.