Full FCC Issues $500,000-Plus NAL Against Gray Television
The full FCC unanimously proposed a $518,283 fine for Gray Television allegedly violating a prohibition against owning two top-four stations in a market, said a notice of apparent liability Wednesday. Gray violated the rules by acquiring the CBS affiliation of…
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the Denali Media's station KTVA Anchorage in 2020 in a sale of “non-license assets” and broadcasting the programming on its KYES-TV Anchorage -- now KAUU -- while continuing to own NBC affiliate KTUU-TV Anchorage. “At the time of closing KTUU-TV and KTVA(TV) were ranked numbers one and two, respectively, in the Anchorage market,” said the NAL. The FCC amended rules in 2016 to prevent common ownership of two top-fours through the purchase of a network affiliation, the NAL said. Gray didn’t contact the FCC about the transaction or seek waiver, though it modified operations to address the matter in March, the NAL said. Though the rules cited in the NAL make references to swaps rather than sales, the rule “clearly encompasses the ‘sale’ transaction that Gray executed to acquire the CBS affiliation from KTVA(TV),” the FCC said. “The use of the word ‘swap’” was “simply a shorthand description for the types of transactions,” the NAL said. The FCC hasn’t previously imposed a forfeiture for a violation of this type, and based the amount on the forfeiture for an unauthorized transfer of control, the NAL said. Gray didn’t comment.