FCC Issues $20,000 Fine For Violation of Contest Rule

The FCC has issued a $20,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture against a radio station licensee it says violated the FCC’s contest rule.

The FCC conducted an investigation after a listener filed a complaint, and found that the station improperly excluded a prospective contest participant who had previously won another contest the station ran within the previous 90 days. The contest’s written rules only excluded listeners who had won in the past 30 days. The FCC also found that the station had removed the contest’s rules from its website the day after the contest ended, which violated the requirement to keep contest rules posted for at least 30 days after a contest has ended.

The FCC’s rules require stations to fully and accurately disclose the material terms of contests and to conduct contests substantially as announced and advertised. Stations must publicize material contest rules either by broadcasting them or posting them on a publicly accessible website (often the station’s own website).

The FCC applies a base forfeiture of $4,000 for each violation of the contest rule, but can adjust the fine upward. In this case, the FCC decided that an upward adjustment to $20,000 was appropriate because other commonly-owned stations had a history of violating the contest rule. It is clear based on this decision and other recently released fines against broadcast stations that the FCC is strictly enforcing compliance with its rules.

If you have any questions about the FCC’s contest rule, please contact an attorney in our Media practice group.