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If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In reply refer to: 1800E1-LG April 15, 1999 Released: April 16, 1999 CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Tribune Television Company Licensee, Station WTIC-TV One Corporate Center Hartford, CT 06103 Dear Licensee: This letter constitutes a NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE in the amount of fourteen thousand, five hundred dollars ($14,500) pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  503(b), under authority delegated to the Chief of the Mass Media Bureau by Section 0.283 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.283, for repeated violations of the Commission's rule limiting the amount of commercial matter that may be aired during children's programming. In the Children's Television Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-437, 104 Stat. 996-1000, codified at 47 U.S.C. Sections 303a, 303b and 394, Congress directed the Commission to adopt rules, inter alia, limiting the amount of commercial matter that television stations may air during children's programming, and to consider in its review of television license renewals the extent to which the licensee has complied with such commercial limits. Accordingly, the Commission adopted Section 73.670 of the Rules, 47 C.F.R.  73.670, which limits the amount of commercial matter which may be aired during children's programming to 10.5 minutes on weekends and 12 minutes on weekdays. The Commission also stated that a program associated with a product, in which commercials for that product are aired, would cause the entire program to be counted as commercial time (a "program- length commercial"). Children's Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd 2111, 2118, recon. granted in part, 6 FCC Rcd 5093, 5098 (1991). These commercial limitations became effective on January 1, 1992. Children's Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd 5529, 5530 (1991). On December 1, 1998, you filed an application for renewal of license (FCC Form 303-S) for station WTIC-TV, Hartford, Connecticut (File No. BRCT-981201LL). In response to Section III, Question 5 of that application, you certify that, during the previous license term, station WTIC-TV failed to comply with the limitations on commercial matter in children's programming specified in Section 73.670 of the Commission's Rules. In Exhibit 4 to that application, you indicate that between February 18, 1994, and April 10, 1995, station WTIC-TV violated the children's television commercial limits on six occasions, all program-length commercials. You maintain, however, that those six program-length commercials occurred prior to March 25, 1997, the date on which Tribune Company, the licensee's ultimate corporate parent (collectively, Tribune), acquired control of station WTIC-TV. Therefore, you conclude that Tribune should not be held responsible for those violations. In Exhibit 4 and a February 2, 1999 amendment to the renewal application, you also indicate that station WTIC-TV exceeded the commercial limits on 14 occasions after March 25, 1997. Specifically, you describe one 30-second overage and 13 program-length commercials which occurred between May 26, 1997, and December 3, 1998. You claim that the 30-second overage occurred as result of a commercial make-good, and attribute the program-length commercials to inadvertence and/or human error. In addition, you assert that, upon discovering the violations, corrective actions were taken, and that Tribune "will continue to refine its procedures in an attempt to avoid even inadvertent non-compliance with the FCC's commercialization rules." As a preliminary matter, our records confirm that on March 21, 1997, the Commission granted an application to transfer control of the license for station WTIC-TV from Renaissance Communications Corp. to Tribune (BTCCT-960801LG). That transfer of control transaction was consummated on March 25, 1997. Accordingly, we will not consider the six violations of the children's television commercial limits reported in station WTIC-TV's renewal application which occurred prior to Tribune's acquisition of the license for that station. Tribune is clearly responsible, however, for any violations which occurred after March 25, 1997. To wit, station WTIC-TV's record of exceeding the Commission's commercial limits on children's television programming on 14 occasions after March 25, 1997, constitutes a repeated violation of Section 73.670 of the Commission's Rules. Accordingly, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Communications Act, Tribune is hereby advised of its apparent liability for forfeiture in the amount of fourteen thousand, five hundred dollars ($14,500) for its apparent repeated violation of Section 73.670 of the Commission's Rules. The amount specified was reached after consideration of the factors set forth in Section 503(b)(2) of the Communications Act, and, in particular, the following criteria: (1) the number of instances of commercial overages; (2) the length and nature of each such overage; (3) the period of time over which such overages occurred; (4) whether or not the licensee established an effective program to ensure compliance; and (5) the specific reasons that the licensee gives for the overages. These criteria are appropriate in analyzing violations of the commercial limits during children's programming, since they take into account, inter alia, "the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation, and, with respect to the violator, the degree of culpability," as required under  503(b)(2)(D) of the Communications Act. As discussed above, station WTIC-TV exceeded the children's television commercial limits on 14 occasions, 13 of which were program-length commercials. 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. Children's Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd at 2117-18. In this regard, we note that Congress was particularly concerned about program-length commercials because young children often have difficulty distinguishing between commercials and programs. S. Rep. No. 227, 101st Cong., 1st Sess. 24 (1989). Given this Congressional concern, the Commission made it clear that program-length commercials, by their very nature, are extremely serious violations of the children's television commercial limits, stating that the program-length commercial policy "directly addresses a fundamental regulatory concern, that children who have difficulty enough distinguishing program content from unrelated commercial matter, not be all the more confused by a show that interweaves program content and commercial matter." Children's Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd at 2118. Accordingly, the Commission has routinely assessed higher forfeitures for program-length commercials than for a greater number of conventional overages. See, e.g., Channel 39 Licensee, Inc. (WDZL(TV)), 12 FCC Rcd 14012, 14015 n.3 (1997). Further, the overages occurred over an extended period of more than one year and five months. When it delayed the effective date of Section 73.670 of the Rules until January 1, 1992, the Commission stated that "giving the additional time to broadcasters and cable operators before compliance with the commercial limits is required will have the effect of enabling broadcasters and cable operators to hone their plans to ensure compliance . . . . " Children's Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd at 5530 n.10. Although Tribune appears to have made an effort to comply with the Commission's children's television commercial limits, that effort apparently was not sufficient in light of the violations described in station WTIC-TV's renewal application. The only reasons Tribune cites for the overages, a commercial make-good, inadvertence and/or human error, do not mitigate or excuse such violations. In fact, the Commission has repeatedly rejected these reasons as a basis for excusing violations of the children's television commercial limits. See, e.g., LeSea Broadcastint Corp. (WHKE(TV)), 10 FCC Rcd 4977 (MMB 1995); Buffalo Management Enterprises Corp. (WIVB-TV), 10 FCC Rcd 4959 (MMB 1995); Act III Broadcasting License Corp. (WUTV(TV)), 10 FCC Rcd 4957 (MMB 1995); Ramar Communications, Inc. (KJTV(TV)), 9 FCC Rcd 1831 (MMB 1994). Moreover, while corrective actions may have been taken to prevent subsequent violations of the children's television rules and policies, this does not relieve Tribune of liability for the violations which have occurred, See, e.g., WHP Television, L.P. (WHP-TV), 10 FCC Rcd 4979, 4980 (MMB 1995); Mountain States Broadcasting, Inc. (KMSB-TV), 9 FCC Rcd 2545, 2546 (MMB 1994); R&R Media Corporation (WTWS(TV)), 9 FCC Rcd 1715, 1716 (MMB 1994); KEVN, Inc. (KEVN-TV), 8 FCC Rcd 5077, 5078 (MMB 1993); International Broadcasting Corporation, 19 FCC 2d 793, 794 (1969). Given all of these considerations, station WTIC-TV's violation of Section 73.670 of the Commission's rules on 14 occasions, 13 of which were program-length commercials, warrants a forfeiture in the above-specified amount of $14,500. In a recent case, Gaylord Broadcasting Company, L.P. (KTVT(TV)), DA 99-358 (released Feb. 19, 1999) (Gaylord Broadcasting), we assessed a $13,500 forfeiture for 18 violations which occurred over a period of more than two years. Of those violations, one was 15 seconds in duration, five were 30 seconds in duration, four were one minute in duration, two were one minute and 10 seconds in duration and six were program-length commercials. Another case, River City License Partnership (WTTK(TV) and WTTV(TV)), 13 FCC Rcd 7076 (1997) (River City), involved 14 program-length commercials, occurring over a period of approximately two years and nine months, for which a $15,000 forfeiture was assessed. In both Gaylord Broadcasting and River City, the licensees attributed their respective violations to human error and/or the inclusion of program-related commercial matter in programming supplied to the station by a program syndicator and/or a television network. Compared to these cases, station WTIC-TV had fewer total overages, but more program-length commercials, than station KTVT(TV) in Gaylord Broadcasting, and the same number of total overages, but one less program-length commercial than stations WTTK(TV) and WTTV(TV) in River City. Finally, the violations in all three cases occurred over an extended period of at least one year, and the licensees offered virtually the same reasons for their occurrence. Based on these considerations, we find the violations in the instant case, on balance, comparable to those in Gaylord Broadcasting and River City, though closer to those in River City, and conclude that an appropriate, comparable forfeiture is in the amount of $14,500. You are afforded a period of 30 days from the date of this letter "to show, in writing, why a forfeiture penalty should not be imposed or should be reduced, or to pay the forfeiture. Any showing as to why the forfeiture should not be imposed or should be reduced shall include a detailed factual statement and such documentation and affidavits as may be pertinent . . . ." Section 1.80(f)(3) of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  1.80(f)(3). Other relevant provisions of Section 1.80(f)(3) of the Commission's Rules are summarized in the attachment to this letter. Notwithstanding the substantial nature of the violations described here and the severity with which we regard them, we find you qualified to remain a Commission licensee and conclude that grant of your application would serve the public interest, convenience and necessity. Therefore, the license renewal application of Tribune Television Company for station WTIC-TV, Hartford, Connecticut, File No. BRCT-981201LL, IS HEREBY GRANTED, subject to the condition that, on December 31, 2006, or by such other date as the Commission may establish in the future under Section 309(j)(14)(A) and (B) of the Communications Act, the licensee shall surrender either its analog or its digital television channel for reallocation or reassignment pursuant to Commission regulations. The channel retained by the licensee will be used to broadcast digital television only after this date. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Roy J. Stewart Chief, Mass Media Bureau Enclosures cc: R. Clark Wadlow, Esq.