Univision Receives Largest Fine in FCC History

The FCC is preparing to hand down the biggest fine in it's history. The fine is being leveed upon the nation's largest Hispanic network, Univision.

Univision is being fined for broadcasting a show three years ago identifying it as an educational children's program. The show "Complices al Rescate" ("Friends to the Rescue") was a show similar to "The Parent Trap", about 11-year-old identical twin girls who swapped parents and lives after discovering they had been separated at birth.

The FCC will fine Univision $24 million dollars. The fine is the largest the Federal Communications Commission has ever imposed against any company. The penalty will also send a strong signal to broadcasters that they will be expected to meet their required quota of shows that educate and inform children. This is coming after years of permissive oversight in this area.

Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said in an interview that the commission has decided to impose the heavy fine as a tough rebuke to Univision for falsely claiming to meet its obligations regarding educational children's programming.

The penalty is nearly three times the previous record fine of $9 million, imposed against Qwest Communications for violating telephone interconnection rules in 2004. It is part of a settlement that will allow the company to proceed with an existing buyout deal.

The penalty reflects an aggressive enforcement of the 1996 regulations that interpreted the Children's Television Act. Those regulations imposed more substantive requirements regarding educational programming on the networks. It mandated networks to broadcast at least three hours a week of programs of intellectual value to young people.

The Univision complaint dates to the summer of 2005. The United Church of Christ had raised concerns about Univision's programming lineup, stating that it had failed to provide adequate children's programs. By repeatedly rebroadcasting reruns of the same episodes of the show, the network claimed it was meeting its 3 hour a week obligation . The commission's investigation uncovered 24 stations that had violated the programming guidelines over a two-year period.

Angela J. Campbell, who represents The United Church Of Christ in this matter and is a telecommunications expert at Georgetown University Law Center , seemed stunned by the decision. "Assuming it's true, I'm pleased to see the commission finally taking action and I hope they will take action soon on other petitions we have filed in this area, Broadcasters need to know that they have to take these obligations to children seriously.", she said.