Originally published at: ESPN faces third fine for using Emergency Alert tone in ads
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I own a Chevy Impala, and a good number of the auto sounds are incorporated into Hip-hop. “Is my turn signal on? Oh Fabolous”
To do this with emergency sounds, should be like shouting fire in a movie theater.
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Third time? Why the hell isn’t this an extinction event for the channel?
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Because the meteor is a Friday press release.
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This is less than a slap on the wrist for a third offense. $100k per ad sounds like their normal advertising budget. Are the fine even more than they spent making and airing the ads?
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Thanks for the Local 58 link! New to me…
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On the other hand, if you run a broadcasting network, picking a fight with the FCC does not seem like a smart move.
Licenses are renewed for a maximum of eight years, and during the renewal process the FCC determines whether the licensee has served the public interest; has not committed any serious violations of the Communications Act or the FCC’s rules; and has not committed other violations which, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse. – Law & Crime
Serious violations? Quite possibly. Pattern of abuse? Quite definitely.
Even the suggestion that the FCC might not renew ESPN’s broadcast license would probably tank the share price and lead to the board having to have some difficult conversations with their major investors.
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Do they have a broadcast license? I didn’t think you needed one for cable.
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They should add a week in prison for the CEO of the company.
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Conversely, if I wanted to go chaotic good and happened to hit the powerball, I could buy a TV station shortly after renewal and do whatever I want for eight years, like a president who doesn’t give a shit if he’s re-elected? Or would they cut your feed long before that if you were playing the emergency alert to let folks know that there’s a new sportbetting app or that if they drink the right beer girls might like them.
(I’d probably do… other things with such a power, but it’s certainly funny to think about a scenario where some good kind of weird person goes gee well this is our last license period let’s really have fun with it)
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Things like this should warrant rapidly escalating fines. Say double it each time.
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What is ESPN’s point in even doing this? Do they think it increases sales or people are more likely to listen to an ad disguised as an emergency event?
I routinely disable any “emergency” alert I can as between false alarms and “alerts” to someone’s missing child a thousand miles away and, apparently to alert you to important sales, they provide no increased security.
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Squared each time.
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I wonder why the message section of the 1st test is so noisy?
It gives me a real “Dark Star” or “THX1138” feel.
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My guess is someone had the gain up a little too far when they mixed it for broadcasting? Or it was originally recorded off a radio, which compresses the hell out of the signal for the most part.
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Do any TVs react to that tone, auto-switch-on etc, like the radios that receive weather alerts?
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This may be my high school years coloring my perspective, but sports types may feel they express dominance by being loud and annoying.
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Indeed.
Perhaps repeat offenders should have the penalty increased. Like add a zero each time. Or for a billion dollar company maybe add two or three zeros for subsequent offenses.
$146,000 might be easily payable out of the advertising budget. Maybe even $1,460,000, but I’m thinking $14,600,000 would make them think twice, and $1,460,000,000 Ought really get their attention, and another 100x would put them out of business…
