Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others. This month’s issue includes:
- LPFM Station Fined $15,000 for Airing Commercial Advertisements
- FCC Issues Notices to the Landowners of Sixteen Pirate Radio Sites
- Telecommunications Carrier Pays $227,200 To Resolve 911 Outage Investigation
Violations of Noncommercial Broadcasting Underwriting Laws Result in $15,000 Penalty for Low Power FM Station
The licensee of a Colorado low power FM (LPFM) radio station must pay a $15,000 penalty for airing commercial advertisements in violation of the Communications Act and the FCC’s rules for noncommercial broadcasting.
All LPFM radio stations are licensed as noncommercial educational stations and are therefore prohibited from airing advertisements (defined as programming material broadcast “in exchange for any remuneration” and intended to “promote any service, facility, or product” of for-profit entities). Such stations are permitted to identify contributors and underwriters that provide financial support to the station but may not promote a contributor or underwriter’s products, services, or businesses. The FCC articulated its noncommercial broadcasting policy in a 1981 Report and Order, explaining that “[t]the Commission’s interest in creating a ‘noncommercial’ service has been to remove the programming decisions of public broadcasters from the normal kinds of commercial market pressures under which broadcasters in the unreserved spectrum usually operate.” In exchange, LPFM and other noncommercial stations benefit from being exempt from regulatory fees and from having fewer regulatory requirements than those imposed on commercial stations.
In 2015, the FCC started receiving complaints about an LPFM station airing advertisements and began investigating and monitoring the station in 2018. The investigation found that over a period of three months in 2018 the station aired more than 1,600 advertisements promoting the products, services, or business of at least 14 of the station’s financial contributors, including a steakhouse, shoe store, and jeweler. The FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) in 2020 proposing a $15,000 fine.
The licensee did not dispute the FCC’s findings but filed a response to the NAL requesting a reduction or elimination of the proposed penalty based on its inability to pay and history of compliance with the FCC’s Rules and citing consent decrees in which the FCC agreed to reduce proposed fines. The FCC reviewed the station’s financial statements and IRS filings and the record of advertisement complaints made about the station and ultimately decided that no reduction or elimination of the forfeiture was warranted. In releasing the Forfeiture Order affirming the $15,000 fine, the FCC distinguished the facts underlying the cited consent decrees and also noted that consent decrees are negotiated between a party and the FCC and have no precedential value on third parties.
FCC’s Pirate Radio Enforcement Targets Sixteen Landowners Across New York and New Jersey
As we discussed last May, the Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) has turned its attention to the landowners of illegal broadcast radio (colloquially known as “pirate radio”) sites. Last month, the Bureau issued sixteen warnings to New York and New Jersey landowners for apparently allowing illegal pirate radio broadcasting from their respective properties. The Communications Act prohibits the transmission of radio signals without prior FCC authorization because such signals can, among other things, pose risks to public safety by interfering with licensed operations such as air traffic control.