9-16-2024 4:21am

HUNT VALLEY'S SINCLAIR

KABB, News4 parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group fined by FCC

The headquarters of the Sinclair Broadcast Group is shown April 3, 2018 in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The company is the largest owner of local television stations in the United States.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sinclair Broadcasting Group is one of more than 20 broadcasters facing fines levied by the Federal Communications Commission over violations related to children's programming. Sinclair, the parent company of San Antonio news stations KABB and WAOI, is facing the steepest fine at $2,652,000.

Sinclair is facing the largest fine among the total forfeiture of $3,334,000. The FCC stated that it calculated the figure by fining 82 stations $32,000 in addition to other factors including "Sinclair’s lengthy history of prior offenses for similar violations; the extent, gravity, and circumstances of the violations here; and Sinclair’s ability to pay," according to the forfeiture order released on September 6.

The FCC first proposed the fines in 2022, two years after broadcasters around the country aired commercials for Hot Wheels Super Ultimate Garage during episodes of Team Hot Wheels, both of which are licenses of Mattel.

Lawyers noted that “in this case, Sinclair aired a 30-minute children’s program titled Team Hot Wheels. As the name suggests, this is a children’s TV show based around Mattel’s Hot Wheels line of toys. Standing alone, Team Hot Wheels constitutes qualifying children’s programming under federal law and, as a general matter, broadcasting that program does not constitute a violation of any rules. Sinclair also aired a commercial advertisement for Hot Wheels toys. Again, standing alone, there is no general FCC prohibition on broadcasting those types of commercials. The problem—and the violation in this case—arose because Sinclair combined the two.”