Sinclair Broadcast Group and a host of its shared services partners, including Michael Anderson-helmed Cunningham Broadcasting, could be on the hook for a significant portion of the millions of dollars in fines totaled up for apparent FCC violations of its Children’s TV programming rules.
The full FCC made the determination, with Democratic FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and her colleague, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, each issuing statements on the proposed fine.
While the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture may be challenged, with Cunningham seeking a reduction or cancellation, the findings from the FCC are steep, as the licensee “apparently willfully and repeatedly violated section 73.670 of the Rules by failing to comply with the limits on commercial matter in children’s programming.”
This issue was found across 21 broadcast television licensees, resulting in a proposed combined forfeiture of $3,334,000.
How did the FCC become aware of the violations? Beginning in June 2020, in the course of filing their license renewal applications via FCC Form 2100, Schedule 303-S, a number of the associated licensees listed in the NAL informed the Commission of repeated violations of the Children’s Programming Commercial Rules, established with the Children’s Television Act of 1990.
Specifically, multiple broadcast TV licensees associated with Cunningham and Sinclair, in particular, responded “No” to the question in their applications entitled Children’s Programming Commercial Limitations because a commercial for the Hot Wheels Super Ultimate Garage inadvertently aired on eleven occasions during eight 30-minute-long
episodes of Team Hot Wheels.
These commercials aired between November 10, 2018 and December 16, 2018. The
commercial was pulled from the program immediately after discovery.
If this sounds familiar, it is because the matter has been reviewed before by the FCC, but because multiple non-Sinclair licensees informed the Commission of the inadvertently airing of the commercials while explaining that Sinclair was the provider of the programming.
In early November 2020, Sinclair voluntarily shared with the Media Bureau what had transpired with respect to the airing of the Hot Wheels spot. This led the Video Division to issue a NAL to Deerfield Media, licensee of Sinclair shared services partner WUTB-TV in Baltimore, in the amount of $20,000.
Now, the FCC is taking a further step, as “the eight instances where each station exceeded the children’s television commercial limits represent a substantial number of apparent violations,” it said. “Overages of this number and nature mean that children have been subjected to commercial matter greatly in excess of the limits contemplated by Congress when it enacted the Children’s Television Act of 1990. The circumstances are particularly egregious here because the commercial in this case centers around a product directly
related to the children’s program being aired and was not an isolated occurrence as alleged by the licensees.”
And, while the licensees say the airing of the commercial was inadvertent, the FCC responds, “this does not mitigate or excuse the violations.”
“The circumstances and extent of the apparent violations here are particularly troubling because an experienced television licensee apparently committed them. Over the course of slightly more than a month, not a single employee noticed that at least one—and sometimes more—Hot Wheels commercials were airing during a Hot Wheels program. This is a textbook violation of Commission rules that have been in place for more than 30 years.”
While some non-Sinclair licensees point out that the commercials were embedded in the
programming provided by Sinclair, the FCC responded that it does not find any lessened responsibility.
As such, the FCC determined the following proposed penalties:
- For Sinclair Broadcast Group itself, an upward adjustment to $32,000 for each of the 82 Sinclair stations and to $28,000 for WABM-TV in Birmingham, which ran the commercial at a slightly fewer number than other company-owned stations, is liable for a fine of $2,652,000. The FCC says this is warranted “considering the number, nature, and circumstances of the commercial limit overages, as well as Sinclair’s history of prior offenses and ability to pay.” It adds that the proposed forfeitures “are warranted as a result of Sinclair’s lengthy history of prior offenses for similar violations.” 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 FCC continued. “The circumstances and extent of the apparent violations here are particularly troubling because an experienced television licensee apparently committed them. Over the course of slightly more than a month, not a single employee noticed that at least one—and sometimes more—Hot Wheels commercials were airing during a Hot Wheels program. This is a textbook violation of Commission rules that have been in place for more than 30 years.
- For the Nexstar stations involved, a $182,000 fine is being issued. A FOX affiliate in Peoria owned by Cunningham Broadcasting is operated by Nexstar Media Group.
- For each of the other stations not owned by Sinclair or Nexstar, the FCC found that an upward adjustment to $20,000 per station was warranted “considering the number, nature, and circumstances of the commercial limit overages.” This sees Deerfield Media paying $40,000 for violations at its Port Arthur and San Antonio, Tex., properties; $20,000 for its WHAM-13 in Rochester, N.Y.; and $40,000 for violations in Cincinnati. GoCom Media of Illinois is being fined $20,000; Howard Shirk Holdings is being fined $40,000 for violations in Flint, Mich. and in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Manhan Media is being fined $20,000; Mercury Broadcasting is being fined $20,000; Mitts Telecasting Company is being fined $20,000; MPS Media of Tallahassee is being fined $40,000; Nashville License Holdings is being fined $20,000; New Age Media is being fined $20,000 for violations in Gainesville and $40,000 for violations in Pennsylvania; and $20,000 violations each were handed to Second Generation of Iowa, Waitt Broadcasting and WTVH Licensee.
While Sinclair received the biggest financial penalty, Cunningham could be responsible for paying $140,000 to the Commission for Children’s TV programming violations.
Cunningham is an independent television broadcast company that, together with its subsidiaries, owns and/or operates 21 television stations across the United States. That said, this licensee led by President/CEO Michael Anderson has given management duties of 15 of its stations to Sinclair Broadcast Group.
