A station doesn’t have to use full power to be hit with the full brunt of the FCC Enforcement Bureau. Case in point: a Class A television station just north of San Diego that not only is paying for a public file violation, but has had the standard fine jacked up.
The station is KSKT-CA, which is still broadcasting on analog on Channel 43. It is licensed to San Marcos CA, and the licensee is Blue Skies Broadcasting Corporation.
Agents inspecting the station’s public file on 6/22/10 found that eight and a half years worth of issues/ programs lists were absent from the file – 34 of them in all – which in its own way was an indication of a certain type of perfection. As the FCC put it, the omissions constituted “…all quarterly TV issues/programs lists since the Commission granted Station KSKT-CA’s license on August 9, 2001.”
Further, in response to a 3/3/11 letter of inquiry as to the content of the station’s public file, Blue Skies made no mention of any issues/ programs lists.
As the FCC summarized, “On June 22, 2010, San Diego agents reviewed Station KSKT’s public inspection file and found that it was missing 34 quarterly TV issues/programs lists. As evidenced by its LOI Response, Blue Skies has taken no action subsequent to the inspection to ensure that the required quarterly TV issues/programs lists are available in the Station KSKT-CA public inspection file.”
Since the station made no effort to correct the error after it was pointed out in June 2010, the FCC took the standard $10K fine and jacked it up to $14K.
