A decision from the past week shows that the FCC shows no mercy for broadcasters who don’t know the rules, even when the broadcaster attempts to comply. The FCC proposed a $369,190 fine against a Texas TV station because the station’s employees did not know how to properly participate in the 2018, 2019, and 2021 nationwide Emergency Alert Service tests. According to the Notice of Apparent Liability, the station employees apparently knew that Nationwide EAS Tests were to be conducted in these years. But, from the recitation of the facts, it appears that the station employees did not understand what was supposed to happen during these tests. Rather than retransmitting the test alert conveyed either by IPAWs (the internet-based delivery system for EAS alerts) or by the traditional over-the-air daisy chain transmission, the station itself created an alert using the test language from some old alerts and transmitted that information on the air. As the FCC noted in the Notice, that is not what the rule requires and does not further the purpose of the test as it does nothing to show whether the EAS alerting system works to pass along messages from the alert originator to the stations and then to the public.
This issue was compounded by the station filing reports on its participation in the test in the EAS Testing Reporting System certifying that it had received the alerts and retransmitted them as required by the rules. While the station claimed that it tried to comply with the EAS testing requirements and that its failure to live up to the letter of the law was due to its inexperienced staff not knowing how to receive and retransmit the actual EAS test signals, the FCC rejected the station’s argument. In fact, the Commission decided to propose more than the base fines for these violations (base fines are on the order of $8000 for each of the four violations, plus separate fines for the reporting issues) because of their repeated nature and given the fact that the apparent violations relate to public safety issues. The large fine for these violations illustrate several concerns for broadcasters – including that ignorance is no excuse for broadcast violations.Continue Reading A $369,190 Proposed Fine for Improper Participation in EAS Tests Shows that Ignorance of FCC Rules Is No Excuse for Noncompliance