FCC Fines Stations $28K for Various Violations

The Federal Communications Commission Friday proposed fining three stations a total of $28,000 for violating its kids’-TV and other reporting requirements and for exceeding the ad limits in kids’ shows.

Fined $10,000 apiece were WWIS (TV) Philadelphia and WLIO-TV Lima, Ohio. WWIS was fined for failing to publicize the existence and whereabouts of its children's-TV-programming reports for the entirety of its seven-year license term. WLIO was dunned for one year's worth of missing program logs and issues/programs lists -- stations are required to list the issues/programs of public importance they air.

Hit with an $8,000 fine was KPDX (TV) Vancouver, Wash., attacked, as have been so many other stations, by Buzz Lightyear. Actually, it was an ad for Buzz Lightyear fruit snacks during a Buzz Lightyear TV show that turned the entire show into a program-length commercial.

The FCC limits commercials to 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes on weekdays.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.