Noncom crosses the commercial line
A 10K fine against Minority Television Project Inc., which runs noncommercial KMTP-TV in San Francisco, has been affirmed by the FCC in the face of the licensee's protests. At issue were announcements from underwriters which the FCC found to stray over the line into the realm of commercial speech.
The following script is a translation (original language was Asian, probably Korean) provided to the FCC by Minority Television Project Inc.
Female: Did you get the surprising news Asiana Airlines sent you? Now you can get American Airline free tickets using Aisana mileage.
Male: Asiana Air now combines mileage with American Airlines.
Female: Now you can travel free to America, Central or South America and even Europe - - to 270 cities around world earning mileage with Asiana Airlines. Although you travel with Asiana Airlines or with American Airlines.
Male: Now where do you want to go?
Female: Well (laughter).
Male: Mileage benefits with the best airline in the world, Asiana Airlines.
KMTP offered an array of challenges to the FCC ruling. For one, it claimed the script was allowable since the vignette presented "value-neutral references" to one of its underwriter's mileage bonus plans. The FCC said "free" represented a value
KMPT also argued that "...the Commission cannot sanction it for the underwriting announcements at issue due to the constitutional and statutory provisions protecting the rights of foreign language speakers and viewers." The FCC noted that constitutional protections have no bearing on the broadcast of what are deemed to be commercials on a noncommercial station.
KMPT further argued that the translation used by the FCC was inadequate. The FCC pointed out that it was working with a translation provided by the station itself, relying on outside help only for passages which the station failed to address on its own.
RBR observation:
We would also cite the duck rule. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. The script in question looks like nothing other than a commercial. Minority should not be surprised that it is being treated as such.
Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
