FCC May Try to Scrub Kids' TV/Record Fine Expected for Univision

FCC MAY TRY TO SCRUB KIDS' TV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz Amy.Schatz@wsj.com]
Broadcasters have long considered Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin an ally. Since becoming an FCC commissioner in 2001 he's been an advocate for some of their biggest priorities, including a requirement that cable companies carry more local channels once the U.S. shifts to digital-only broadcasts in 2009. The National Association of Broadcasters hope he'll torpedo a proposed merger of terrestrial radio's rivals XM and Sirius. But broadcasters are also increasingly finding themselves on the wrong side of Mr. Martin's FCC. Last year, the networks and affiliates took the unusual step of challenging several proposed indecency fines in federal court. More recently, the FCC has drafted a report suggesting Congress can expand the agency's reach to regulate violence on TV. Now, the FCC's unusually large fine against Univision appears to be part of a larger effort by the agency to make sure broadcasters are offering kid-friendly programming. The $24-million fine was negotiated by Mr. Martin's staff, not the five-member FCC board. Several senior FCC officials, including at least one FCC commissioner, said they learned of the fine by reading the New York Times on Saturday. "Across the board we're trying to protect consumers," said Mr. Martin, who pointed out the Univision fine follows previous efforts to ensure 911 service is available from all phones and newly proposed rules to protect the privacy of cellphone users. "I don't think I'm trying to send any particular message. The commission takes all of its rules seriously," he said. But the fine also may go a long way toward placating Latino groups who've complained the FCC has ignored violations on Spanish-language stations, and some conservative Christians who've grumbled that Mr. Martin hasn't done enough to clean up the airwaves.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117244863225318833.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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RECORD FINE EXPECTED FOR UNIVISION
[SOURCE: New York Times 2/23, AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
When Univision began broadcasting a show three years ago about the misadventures of 11-year-old identical twin girls who swapped identities after discovering they had been separated at birth, it characterized the episodes as educational programming for children. That decision is expected to cost Univision, the nation’s largest Hispanic network, $24 million in what would be the largest fine the Federal Communications Commission has ever imposed against any company. The penalty is also expected to send a strong signal to broadcasters that they will be expected to meet their required quota of shows that educate and inform children, after years of permissive oversight in this area. The commission has decided to impose the heavy fine -- disclosed by FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin in an interview -- as a tough rebuke to Univision for claiming to meet its obligations to broadcast educational children’s programs by showing the Latino soap opera “Complices al Rescate” (“Friends to the Rescue”) and other so-called telenovelas. The penalty represents an unusually aggressive enforcement of the 1996 regulations that interpreted the Children’s Television Act. Those regulations, adopted after some broadcasters characterized cartoons like “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons” to be educational programs, imposed more substantive requirements on the networks as they comply with the mandate to broadcast at least three hours a week of programs of intellectual value to young people. Although some television critics say it is common for stations not to comply, only a handful of complaints have been filed. An even smaller number have resulted in modest penalties of several thousand dollars for stations found to have violated the rules.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/business/24fcc.html
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* Landmark FCC Ruling Against Univision is Result of United Church of Christ's Public Advocacy for Children
http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20070224/NYSA01024022007-1.html

* FCC to Children’s Rescue?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/07/26fedfil.h26.html