The FCC’s Media Bureau has entered into three individual Consent Decrees with licensees of broadcast media stations, actions that terminate and resolve “outstanding matters” and grant television license renewal applications.
The first Consent Decrees involves WBUI-TV in Decatur, Ill., licensed to GoCom Media of Illinois and now operated by Todd Parkin-led Rincon Broadcasting.
This Consent Decree resolves a Notice of Apparent Liability and Forfeiture Order involving the licensee’s compliance with section 73.670(a) of the Commission’s rules, which limits the amount of commercial matter that commercial television stations may air during children’s programming.
A compliance plan is being initiated, and the investigation is being terminated. As such, the licensee will not be subject to a $20,000 fine 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.
If that sounds familiar, it is because the Carr Commission at the end of June entered into a Consent Decree with Sinclair and the shared services partners that absolves them of any rule violations. And, instead of forking over millions of dollars in fines, Sinclair will make a $500,000 payment to the U.S. Treasury.
Similarly, New Age Media — licensee of stations in Gainesville, Fla., and in Pennsylvania — is absolved of its Team Hot Wheels commercial airing; as is Waitt Broadcasting, licensee of KMEG-TV in Sioux City, Iowa.
