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FCC Enforcement Monitor March 2025
Pillsbury’s communications lawyers have published the FCC Enforcement Monitor monthly since 1999 to inform our clients of notable FCC enforcement actions against FCC license holders and others. This month’s issue includes:
- Puerto Rico Broadcaster Agrees to $4,500 Consent Decree for Unauthorized LPTV Operation
- Eleventh Circuit Rejects FCC’s Rationale for Broadcast Ownership Fine
- FCC Proposes $325,322 Fine for Miami Radio Pirate
Unauthorized Operation Leads to $4,500 Consent Decree for Puerto Rico LPTV Station
The licensee of a Puerto Rico LPTV station and the FCC’s Media Bureau entered into a Consent Decree to resolve an investigation into whether the licensee engaged in unauthorized operation.
The LPTV station was displaced by the FCC’s broadcast Incentive Auction and subsequent spectrum repack. The licensee filed a displacement application to move to Channel 14, and a construction permit was granted in July 2018 with a July 2021 expiration date. Because land mobile operations can be affected by TV transmissions on Channel 14, the construction permit contained a condition that the station “identify and substantially eliminate objectionable interference” and required the station to submit documentation showing “that objectionable interference will not be caused….” Section 73.617(b)(2)(ii) of the FCC’s Rules requires TV permittees for new operations on Channel 14 to take steps prior to construction to identify potential interference.
When construction of the station was completed, the licensee filed an application to license the facility which contained a statement that the station complied with the special condition in the construction permit, but did not provide any technical proof to support that statement. The station then began operations prior to receiving FCC approval to do so. Media Bureau staff requested an amendment to supplement the “no objectionable interference” exhibit at the time the application was filed, and again in October 2024 when no amendment was received in response to the first request. Responding to the second request, the licensee submitted an exhibit demonstrating there would be no objectionable interference, and then filed for Special Temporary Authority (STA) to continue operating while the license application was pending.
Section 73.1745(a) of the FCC’s Rules and Section 301 of the Communications Act require that a station have an FCC license in order to operate. The FCC found that in the absence of either an STA or a license, the station had been operating without authorization for over three years. Continue reading →