![]() When determining whether to adjust the base forfeiture amount for a violation, the FCC considers: (1) the number of instances of commercial overages (2) the length of each overage (3) the period of time over which the overages occurred (4) whether or not the licensees established an effective program to ensure compliance and (5) the specific reasons that the licensees gave for the overages. Despite the fact that the broadcasters indicated that airing these commercials during the Hot Wheels program was inadvertent, the Commission considered the eight instances to be willful and repeated violations, justifying an upward adjustment in the base forfeiture amount for these licensees. The Commission has routinely assessed higher forfeitures for violations involving program-length commercials than it has for conventional overages of permissible commercial matter airtime, and a range of additional factors increased the forfeitures assessed in this case. In its Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, the Commission highlighted the significance of these violations. The licensees in violation of these rules aired commercials for Hot Wheels toys during episodes of the program Team Hot Wheels, making each episode of the Hot Wheels-themed show, for the purposes of the Act, a 30-minute commercial. ![]() Additionally, the Commission has long held that when commercials for a product are aired during programming associated with that product, the program itself will be treated as a program-length commercial. The number of minutes of commercial matter that may be aired during children’s programming is strictly limited by the Children’s Television Act of 1990 to 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays. Particularly notable was the Commission’s ruling that licensees are responsible even for commercials that are embedded in programming they receive from networks or syndicators. ![]() The Commission assessed penalties against these licensees totaling nearly $3.4 million. Last week, the FCC issued a ruling finding that 21 broadcast licensees, including Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, had violated the Commission’s rules regarding commercial programming on children’s television. If you have questions about compliance with FCC licensing regulations or any FCC broadcast regulations, please contact a Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth attorney.īy Madison Laton on SeptemPosted in Enforcement #Return loss bridge rlb 251 license#Finding that RLB’s violation represented an extreme disregard of the Commission’s licensing processes and rules, the FCC imposed a $6,500 penalty for each station, a higher amount than is usually assessed against LPTV stations, but stated that it would process the license applications. RLB claimed that its failure to timely submit applications for licenses to cover was due to the fact that it was not represented by counsel at the time, but the FCC rejected this excuse as insufficient to relieve RLB from liability for forfeiture, stating that licensees are responsible for compliance with Commission rules and that ignorance of a rule or law is no excuse for failure to comply with it - a violation may be willful irrespective of any intent to violate the law if the action is merely conscious and deliberate. The FCC stated that the failure to file a license to cover after completion of construction resulted in unauthorized operation of the stations for over four years and elected to impose forfeitures, characterizing the violation as willful and repeated, since an action may be “repeated” for the purposes of FCC rules if it occurs more than once or continuously for more than one day. However, RLB failed to file timely applications for licenses to cover after commencing operations and before the expiration of the construction permits in June of 2021, filing late applications for licenses to cover in August of 2022 and arguing that the Commission should process and approve these applications. RLB completed construction and began operating at the new facilities in 2018. The stations, KRLB-LD and KWWO-LD, were granted construction permits for digital displacement channels and special temporary authority to begin operations at the new stations, after being displaced by the FCC’s Incentive Auction and repacking process. This week, the Commission imposed a $13,000 fine on Radiant Light Broadcasting (RLB), the licensee of two low-power television (LPTV) stations for failing to timely file license to cover applications, and thus operating without licenses for four years. By Madison Laton on OctoPosted in Enforcement ![]()
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