Federal Communications Commission DA 17-501
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
Pollack/Belz Broadcasting Company, LLC
Licensee of Station KIEM-TV
Eureka, California 
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File No. BRCDT-20140801AKA
NAL Acct. No.:  201741420005
Facility ID No.:  53382
FRN:  0005416649
NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABLITY FOR FORFEITURE
Adopted:  May 24, 2017 Released: May 24, 2017
By the Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) issued pursuant to Section 
503(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), and Section 1.80 of the Federal 
Communications Commission’s rules (Rules),
1
we find that Pollack/Belz Broadcasting Company, LLC
(Licensee), licensee of Station KIEM-TV, Eureka, California, apparently willfully and/or repeatedly 
violated (1) Section 73.3526 of the Rules by failing to place in the Station’s electronic public file (e-pif) 
in a timely manner required public file documents and (2) Section 73.3514(a) of the Rules for failing to 
fully disclose its violations in its license renewal application.  Based upon our review of the facts and 
circumstances before us, we conclude that the Licensee is apparently liable for a monetary forfeiture in 
the amount of Six Thousand Dollars ($6,000).
II. BACKGROUND
2. On August 1, 2014, the Licensee filed its license renewal application (FCC Form 303-S) 
for the Station.
2
  Staff conducted an initial evaluation of the license renewal application shortly after it 
was filed, however it was unable to proceed with processing because the Station was red lighted as the 
result of outstanding regulatory fees.  On February 17, 2017, staff received notice that the red light hold 
had been lifted and it could proceed with processing the application.  A staff review of the Station’s e-pif 
has revealed that the Licensee failed to place required public file documents in the Station’s e-pif in a 
timely manner, including:  (1) TV issues/programs lists for all of 2013 and second, third, and fourth
quarters of 2016 and (2) commercial limit certifications for all of 2013, third and fourth quarters of 2015, 
and second, third, fourth quarters of 2016.    On April 25, 2017, the Licensee amended its license renewal 
application disclosing its failure to timely place in the Station’s e-pif copies of its TV issues/programs 
lists and commercial limit certifications for the last three quarters of 2016.  The Licensee states that its 
failure to timely upload copies of its public file documents in the final three quarter of 2016 was the result 
of a “software glitch in the station’s scanner.”
3
  It did not provide any explanation regarding its other late 
filed public file documents in 2013 and 2015.
3. Section 73.3526 of the Rules requires each commercial television licensee to maintain a 
public file containing information related to a station’s operations.  Section 73.3526(e)(11)(i) requires 
every commercial television licensee to place in its public file, on a quarterly basis, a TV issues/programs 
                                                     
1
47 U.S.C. § 503(b); 47 CFR § 1.80.
2
File No. BRCDT-20140801AKA (KIEM-TV Renewal).    
3
Id. at Exhibit 24
Federal Communications Commission DA 17-501
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list which details programs that have provided the station’s most significant treatment of community 
issues during the preceding three-month period and must include a brief narrative of the issue addressed, 
as well as the time, date, duration, and title of each program that addressed the issue.
4
  Section 
73.3526(e)(11)(ii) requires each such licensee to prepare and place in its public inspection file, on a 
quarterly basis, records sufficient to substantiate the Station’s certification, in its license renewal 
application, of compliance with the commercial limits on children’s programming.
5
  Copies of these
public file documents must be retained until final action on the station’s next license renewal application.  
4. In 2012, the Commission adopted section 73.3526(b) of the Rules, which requires 
licensees to upload elements of Stations’ physical public file to an on-line Commission hosted website 
(i.e., a Station’s e-pif).
6
  The Commission’s e-pif requirement was implemented as a means to modernize 
the way that television broadcasters “inform the public about how they are serving their communities….”
7
    
Broadcasters’ e-pif requirements were phased in between August 2012 and February 2013.  Beginning 
August 2, 2012, stations were required to post any document that would otherwise be placed in a station’s 
public file, with limited exception, to their e-pif on a going-forward basis.  Under section 73.3526(b)(2) of 
the Rules, copies of a Station’s TV issues/programs lists is required to be placed in the Station’s e-pif.  
5. Section 73.3514(a) of the Rules provides that “[e]ach application shall include all 
information called for by the particular form on which the application is required to be filed ....”
8
  Section 
IV, Question 3 of the Form 303-S license renewal application requires licensees to certify “that the 
documentation, required by 47 C.F.R. Section 73.3526... has been placed in the station's public inspection 
file at the appropriate times.”
9
Although the Station’s amended license renewal application disclosed and 
provided explanation for its failure to file required public file documents in the last three quarter of 2016, 
as previously noted it failed to provide any explanation for its other late filed public file documents in 
2013 and 2015.
III. DISCUSSION
6. This NAL is issued pursuant to Section 503(b)(1)(B) of the Act.  Under that provision, 
any person who is determined by the Commission to have willfully and/or repeatedly failed to comply 
with any provision of the Act or any rule, regulation, or order issued by the Commission shall be liable to 
the United States for a forfeiture penalty.
10
  Section 312(f)(1) of the Act defines willful as “the conscious 
and deliberate commission or omission of [any] act, irrespective of any intent to violate” the law.
11
  The 
legislative history to Section 312(f)(1) of the Act clarifies that this definition of willful applies to both 
Sections 312 and 503(b) of the Act,
12
and the Commission has so interpreted the term in the Section 
503(b) context.
13
  Section 312(f)(2) of the Act provides that “[t]he term ‘repeated,’ when used with 
                                                     
4
47 CFR § 73.3526(e)(11)(i).
5
47 CFR § 73.3526(e)(11)(ii).
6
See Standardized and Enhanced Disclosure Requirements for Television Broadcast Licensee Public Interest 
Obligations, Extension of the Filing Requirement for Children’s Television Programming Report, Second Report 
and Order, 27 FCC Rcd 4535 (2012) (“Second R&O”) (requiring broadcast television stations to post their public 
inspection files, with limited exceptions, to an online Commission-hosted database).
7
Second R&O, 27 FCC Rcd at 4536.  
8
47 CFR § 73.3514(a).
9
FCC Form 303-S available at:  https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form303-S/303s.pdf. 
10
47 U.S.C. § 503(b)(1)(B); see also 47 CFR § 1.80(a)(2).
11
47 U.S.C. § 312(f)(1).
12
See H.R. Rep. No. 97-765, 97
th
Cong. 2d Sess. 51 (1982).
13
See Southern California Broadcasting Co., Memorandum Opinion and Order, 6 FCC Rcd 4387, 4388 (1991).
Federal Communications Commission DA 17-501
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reference to the commission or omission of any act, means the commission or omission of such act more 
than once or, if such commission or omission is continuous, for more than one day.”
14
  
7. The Commission’s Forfeiture Policy Statement and the note to Section 1.80(b)(8) of the 
Rules establishes a base forfeiture amount of $10,000 for failure to maintain a station’s public file and 
$3,000 for failing to file required information.
15
  In determining the appropriate forfeiture amount, we 
may adjust the base amount upward or downward by considering the factors enumerated in Section 
503(b)(2)(E) of the Act, including “the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation and, 
with respect to the violator, the degree of culpability, any history of prior offenses, ability to pay, and 
such other matters as justice may require.”
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8. Based on our review of the facts and circumstances, we find that a forfeiture in the 
amount of $3,000 is appropriate for the licensee’s failure to timely upload required public file documents
to the Station’s e-pif.  The Licensee admits that its failure to upload required public file documents was 
the result of its own “software glitch,” and not the Commission’s e-pif system.  It is a licensee’s 
responsibility to confirm that all public file documents uploaded to a Station’s e-pif are properly 
uploaded.  Furthermore, we do not find the Licensee’s claim that it has “consistently submitted all 
quarterly filing to the FCC and uploaded all required items to the Station’s on-line public file on the 
FCC’s website for many years” to be persuasive given the facts.  While it is true that the Licensee has 
prepared and uploaded to the Station’s e-pif all required public file documents, the Licensee’s statement 
ignores that the Commission’s public file rules also require that documents be placed in a station’s e-pif 
in a timely manner.  In addition, we find that a forfeiture in the amount of $3,000 is appropriate for the 
Licensee’s failure to fully disclose its violations on its license renewal application.  While the Licensee 
amended its license renewal application to reflect that if failed to place in the Station’s e-pif certain public 
file documents during the last three quarters of 2016, it still has failed to disclose and address its other late 
filings in 2013 and 2015.  Accordingly, we propose a total forfeiture in the amount of $6,000 for the 
Licensee’s apparent willful and/or repeated violations of Sections 73.3526(b)(2), 73.3526(e)(11)(i),(ii), 
and 73.3514(a) of the Rules.
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9. We also find, pursuant to Section 309(k) of the Act,
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that the Licensee's apparent 
violations do not constitute “serious violation[s]” or when considered together, demonstrate a pattern of 
abuse warranting designation of the license renewal application for evidentiary hearing.  During the 
subject license term we conclude that the Station has served the public interest, convenience, and 
necessity.
                                                     
14
47 U.S.C. § 312(f)(2). 
15
See Forfeiture Policy Statement and Amendment of Section 1.80(b) of the Rules to Incorporate the Forfeiture 
Guidelines, Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd 17087, 17113-15 (1997) (“Forfeiture Policy Statement”), recon. denied, 
15 FCC Rcd. 303 (1999); 47 CFR § 1.80(b)(8), note to paragraph (b)(8), Section I.
16
47 U.S.C. § 503(b)(2)(E); see also Forfeiture Policy Statement, 12 FCC Rcd at 17100-01; 47 CFR § 1.80(b)(8); 
47 CFR § 1.80(b)(8), note to paragraph (b)(8), Section II.
17
47 CFR §§ 73.3526(b)(2), 73.3526(e)(11)(i),(ii), and 73.3526(b)(2).
18
47 U.S.C. § 309(k). Section 309(k) of the Act provides that if, upon consideration of the application and 
pleadings, we find that (1) the station has served the public interest, convenience, and necessity; (2) there have been 
no serious violations of the Act or the Rules; and (3) there have been no other violations which, taken together, 
constitute a pattern of abuse, we are to grant the renewal application. If, however, the licensee fails to meet that 
standard, the Commission may deny the application -- after notice and opportunity for a hearing under Section 
309(e) of the Act, 47 U.S.C. § 309(e) -- or grant the application “on terms and conditions that are appropriate, 
including a renewal for a term less than the maximum otherwise permitted.” 47 U.S.C. § 309(k)(2).
Federal Communications Commission DA 17-501
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IV. ORDERING CLAUSES
10. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Communications Act 
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 503(b), and Section 1.80 of the Commission’s Rules, 47 CFR § 1.80, 
that Cranston Acquisition, LLC, licensee of Station KIEM-TV, Eureka, CA, is hereby NOTIFIED of its 
APPARENT LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE in the amount of Six Thousand Dollars ($6,000) for its 
apparent willful and repeated violations of Sections 73.3526(b)(2), 73.3526(e)(11)(i),(ii), and 73.3514(a) 
of the Rules, 47 CFR §§ 73.3526(b)(2), 73.3526(e)(11)(i),(ii), and 73.3526(b)(2).
11. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, pursuant to Section 1.80 of the Rules, 47 CFR § 1.80,
that within thirty (30) days of the release date of this NAL, Pollack/Belz Broadcasting Company, LLC, 
SHALL PAY the full amount of the proposed forfeiture or SHALL FILE a written statement seeking 
reduction or cancellation of the proposed forfeiture.
12. Payments of the proposed forfeiture must be made by check or similar instrument, wire 
transfer, or credit card, and must include the FRN referenced above. An FCC Form 159 (Remittance 
Advice) must be submitted with payment unless payment is made online at the Commission’s Fee Filer 
website.
19
  When completing the FCC Form 159, enter the Account Number in block number 23A (call 
sign/other ID) and enter the letters “FORF” in block number 24A (payment type code).
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? Payment by check or money order must be made payable to the order of the Federal 
Communications Commission. Such payments (along with the completed Form 159) must be 
mailed to Federal Communications Commission, P.O. Box 979088, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000, or 
sent via overnight mail to U.S. Bank – Government Lockbox #979088, SL-MO-C2-GL, 1005 
Convention Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63101.
? Payment by wire transfer must be made to ABA Number 021030004, receiving bank TREAS/NYC, 
and Account Number 27000001. To complete the wire transfer and ensure appropriate crediting of 
the wired funds, a completed Form 159 must be faxed to U.S. Bank at (314) 418-4232 on the same 
business day the wire transfer is initiated.
? Payment by credit card must be made by providing the required credit card information on FCC 
Form 159 and signing and dating the Form 159 to authorize the credit card payment.  The 
completed Form 159 must then be mailed to Federal Communications Commission, P.O. Box 
979088, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000, or sent via overnight mail to U.S. Bank – Government 
Lockbox #979088, SL-MO-C2-GL, 1005 Convention Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63101.
13. The response, if any, must be mailed to Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications 
Commission, 445 12
th
Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554, ATTN:  Evan Morris, Attorney Advisor, 
Video Division, Media Bureau, Room 2-C827, and MUST INCLUDE the NAL/Acct. No. referenced 
above.
14. The Commission will not consider reducing or canceling a forfeiture in response to a 
claim of inability to pay unless the respondent submits: (1) federal tax returns for the most recent three-
year period; (2) financial statements prepared according to generally accepted accounting practices 
(“GAAP”); or (3) some other reliable and objective documentation that accurately reflects the 
                                                     
19
Payment may be made at the Commission’s online Fee Filer website: https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/fee-filer. 
Payment may also be made by FCC Form 159; detailed instructions for completing the form may be obtained at 
http://www.fcc.gov/Forms/Form159/159.pdf.
20
Questions regarding payment procedures, it should contact the Financial Operations Group Help Desk by phone at 
1-877-480-3201, or by e mail at ARINQUIRIES@fcc.gov.
Federal Communications Commission DA 17-501
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respondent’s current financial status.  Any claim of inability to pay must specifically identify the basis for 
the claim by reference to the financial documentation submitted.
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15. Requests for full payment of the forfeiture proposed in this NAL under the installment 
plan should be sent to: Associate Managing Director- Financial Operations, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 
1-A625, Washington, D.C. 20554.
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16. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT copies of this NAL shall be sent, by First Class 
and Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, to Pollack/Belz Broadcasting Company, LLC, 5500 Poplar 
Avenue, Suite 1, Memphis, TN, 38119, and to its counsel, Barry D. Wood, Wood, Martin & Hardy, P.C., 
3300 Fairfax Drive, Suite 202, Arlington, VA 22201-4400.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Barbara A. Kreisman
Chief, Video Division
Media Bureau
                                                     
21
See San Jose State Univ., 26 F.C.C. Rcd 5908 (2011) (noting that “[t]ypically, the Commission uses gross revenue 
as the primary measuring stick by which it evaluates a licensee's ability to pay. Other financial indicators may be 
considered….”).
22
See 47 CFR § 1.1914.