Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Michael Powell is taking personal charge of the investigation into the baring of breasts by Janet Jackson during the half-time show of Super Bowl with Justin Timberlake

Some 100 million viewers were shocked when Timberlake, by pre-arrangement or not, during a suggestive dance with her tore part of her dress exposing her right breast briefly.

Normally indecency charges take months to probe but Powell has decided to move with unusual speed by taking the rare step of personally directing the probe.

The Super Bowl was televised by CBS, which charged two and a half million dollars for 30-second advertisements.

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Powell is pressuring the agency's enforcement bureau to move swiftly.  In an interview to The Washington Post, Powell said the investigation should conclude 'in an order of magnitude shorter' than previous investigations, which typically took months. CBS said it would take a number of weeks to comply with the FCC's letter of inquiry about the incident.

Meanwhile, Jackson issued a videotaped apology saying: "I am really sorry if I offended anyone. That was truly not my intention."

"My decision to change the Super Bowl performance was actually made after the final rehearsal. MTV, CBS, the NFL had no knowledge of this whatsoever, and unfortunately, the whole thing went wrong in the end," Jackson said.