Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 April 4, 2007 DA 07-1586 Released: April 4, 2007 CERTIFIED MAIL – RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Sacramento Television Stations Inc. KMAX-TV 2175 K Street, N.W. Suite 350 Washington, D.C. 20037 Re: Sacramento Television Stations Inc. KMAX-TV, Sacramento, CA Facility ID No. 51499 File No. BRCT-20060809AKX Dear Licensee: This refers to your license renewal application for station KMAX-TV, Sacramento, CA. In the Children’s Television Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-437, 104 Stat. 996-1000, codified at 47 U.S.C. Sections 303a, 303b and 394, Congress directed the Commission to adopt rules, inter alia, limiting the number of minutes of commercial matter that television stations may air during children’s programming, and to consider in its review of television license renewals the extent to which the licensee has complied with such commercial limits. Pursuant to this statutory mandate, the Commission adopted Section 73.670 of the Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 73.670, which limits the amount of commercial matter which may be aired during children’s programming to 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays. The Commission also reaffirmed and clarified its long-standing policy against “program-length commercials.” The Commission defined a “program-length commercial” as “a program associated with a product, in which commercials for that product are aired,” and stated that the entire duration of any program-length commercial would be counted as commercial matter for the purpose of the children’s television commercial limits. Children’s Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd 2111, 2118, recon. granted in part, 6 FCC Rcd 5093, 5098 (1991). On August 9, 2006, you filed the above-referenced license renewal application for station KMAX-TV. In response to Section IV, Question 5 of that application, you certify that, during the previous license term, KMAX-TV failed to comply with the limitations on commercial matter in children’s programming specified in Section 73.670 of the Rules. In Exhibit 19, you indicate that station KMAX-TV exceeded the children’s television commercial limits on one 2 occasion. Specifically, you report that on March 21, 1999, a commercial for the Voltron action figure aired during the “Voltron” program. In Children’s Television Programming (Recon.), the Commission stated that, in order to avoid being considered a program-length commercial, commercial matter related to a children’s program must be separated from that program “by intervening and unrelated program material.”1 To ensure that there was no confusion, the Commission “specifically note[d] that intervening commercial matter will not suffice as a separation device.”2 The Commission made it clear in Children’s Television Programming, that program-length commercials, by their very nature, are extremely serious, stating that the program-length commercial policy “directly addresses a fundamental regulatory concern, that children who have difficulty enough distinguishing program content from unrelated commercial matter, not be all the more confused by a show that interweaves program content and commercial matter.”3 While we consider any violation of our rules limiting the amount of commercial matter in children’s programming to be significant, the broadcast of the one program-length commercial described in your renewal application appears to have been an isolated occurrence. Although we do not rule out more severe sanctions for violations of this nature in the future, we have determined that an admonition is appropriate at this time. Therefore, based upon the facts and circumstances before us, we ADMONISH Sacramento Television Stations Inc. for the violation of the children’s television commercial limits rule and policies described in station KMAX-TV’s renewal application. We remind you that the Commission expects all commercial television licensees to comply with the limits on commercial matter in children’s programming. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, a copy of this Letter shall be sent by First Class and Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested to Sacramento Television Stations Inc. at the address listed above, and to its counsel, Howard F. Jaeckel, Esquire, 1515 Broadway, 49th Floor, New York, New York 10036. Sincerely, Barbara A. Kreisman Chief, Video Division Media Bureau 1 6 FCC Rcd at 5099. 2 Id. at 5099 n.89. 3 Children’s Television Programming, 6 FCC Rcd at 2118.