In August 2023, B&C Communications was handed a $9,000 fine for regulatory transgressions associated with WPAN-TV in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Specifically, the licensee was delinquent in the filing of issues/programs lists associated with the UHF property in the Panhandle region of Florida.
Three months later, the suggested fiscal penalty was affirmed by FCC Media Division Video Bureau Chief Barbara Kreisman. Now, B&C must pay up — but successfully lobbied for a lower fine.
WPAN is the broadcast home of a hyperlocal full-power television operation branded as “Blab TV,” which serves the Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla., area in addition to counties in Alabama north of the Florida state line.
A staff inspection of the stations’ online files made as part of a regular license application filing, made in September 2020, uncovered the fact that B&C failed to upload some copies of its issues/programs lists by the deadline date.
Specifically, B&C failed to file 10 quarterly lists, and had no explanation for its failure to do so.
Instead, B&C responded to the FCC’s queries that it had timely filed the lists after it returned WPAN-TV to the air in May 2016.
That appears to be false, as the Commission says B&C uploaded missing files only after Commission staff alerted it to the deficiency.
B&C had an opportunity to either pay or seek a reduction or cancellation of the fine by responding to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture released by the Commission in August. The licensee did not respond. But, it did respond in December 2023 to the Forfeiture Order on the grounds that Kreisman’s team reconsider the amount of the proposed forfeiture and reduce it because three of the 10 issues/programs lists that were listed in the 2023 Forfeiture Order as a basis for the fine were in fact timely filed.
Included with the petition were screenshots from the station’s OPIF showing that three of the lists were timely filed, as well as a date stamped copy of the B&C’s timely filed response to the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture.
It turns out that B&C was correct, and the FCC erred.
Still, that doesn’t wholly absolve B&C for its rule violation, and as such is liable for a $6,000 fine, payable in 30 days from August 5.
