FCC Focuses on Sinclair in $3.37 M Proposed Kidvid Forfeiture

a notice of apparent liability Wednesday. Sinclair Broadcast owned 83 of the 115 stations involved, with 10 more owned by Sinclair-affiliated companies Deerfield Media and Cunningham Broadcasting. The filing also lists seven Nexstar stations and numerous smaller broadcasters with individual station violations but pays special attention to Sinclair and proposes the stiffest penalties for the company. “In the last 17 years Sinclair has been fined or admonished 11 times for program-length commercial violations, establishing an extensive history of prior offenses,” the filing said. “Sinclair, as a broadcast television company with roots stretching back five decades, was or should have been long aware of its compliance responsibilities in this context.” The proposed forfeitures “are warranted as a result of Sinclair’s lengthy history of prior offenses for similar violations; the extent, gravity, and circumstances of the violations here; and Sinclair’s ability to pay,” said the notice. It proposes a $2.65 million penalty for Sinclair -- $36,000 per station -- while smaller broadcasters face penalties of $20,000 per station. Nexstar would pay $26,000 per station due to its scale and ability to pay. “Unlike Sinclair, Nexstar does not have a lengthy history of prior offenses of the children’s television commercial rules,” the notice said. The violations were largely reported to the FCC by the broadcasters themselves, the filing said. Congress enacted the Children’s Television Act to put limits on advertising to ensure broadcasting will “remain a special place for kids’ content,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. “Those limits were ignored here, where broadcasters mixed toy commercials with content and violated our rules.” “If non-broadcast sources, including online outlets, are the ocean -- where there may or may not be harsh waves and danger -- then broadcast television is the trusted local pool,” said a statement from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The notice seems to indicate future kidvid violations might garner even stiffer penalties, assessed per violation, saying, “We use this opportunity to advise broadcast television licensees, satellite providers, and cable operators that the Commission may revise our approach to forfeiture calculations under the Children’s Television Act in future cases.” Assessing forfeitures per violation is supported by law and rule language and “would reflect the fact that the regulations are of long-standing and so should be well understood,” the filing said. The notice makes clear the FCC is still actively focused on enforcing kidvid rules, said University of Minnesota media law professor Christopher Terry. Concerns about whether the rules were still relevant with ubiquitous streaming were raised during kidvid proceedings under the previous administration. "Kid TV rules are still a thing, and broadcasters need to pay attention to the enforcement of them," Terry said. Nexstar and Sinclair didn’t comment.