**DA 07-1726**

**Released: April 16, 2007**

**[CERTIFIED MAIL -- RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED]{.underline}**

C-28 FCC Licensee Subsidiary, LLC

WLWC(TV)

2175 K Street, N.W.

Suite 350

Washington, D.C. 20037

Re: C-28 FCC Licensee Subsidiary, LLC

WLWC(TV), New Bedford, Massachusetts

Facility ID No. 3978

File No. BRCT-20061201AGD

Dear Licensee:

This refers to your license renewal application for station WLWC(TV),
New Bedford, Massachusetts.

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.[^1] The commercial limitations
became effective on January 1, 1992.[^2]

On December 1, 2006, you filed the above-referenced license renewal
application for station WLWC(TV). In response to Section IV, Question 5
of that application, you certify that, during the previous license term,
WLWC(TV) failed to comply with the limitations on commercial matter in
children's programming specified in Section 73.670 of the Commission's
Rules. In Exhibit 19 and in a March 14, 2007 amendment to that
application, you indicate that station WLWC(TV) violated the children's
television commercial limits and policies on five occasions between
November 4, 2001, and December 23, 2006. Of those violations, three were
15-seconds in duration, and one was two minutes in duration. You
attribute the conventional overages to human error and inadvertence and
describe corrective measures taken subsequently to prevent future
violations. The fifth and remaining incident you reported occurred on
December 23, 2006, when station WLWC(TV) aired a commercial for Post
Cereal's Cocoa Pebbles during the "Xiaolin Showdown" program. You state
that the commercial contained appearances of "Xiaolin Showdown"
characters.

C-28 FCC Licensee Subsidiary, LLC's record of exceeding the children's
television commercial limits on five occasions, including one
program-length commercial, is unacceptable and means that children have
been subjected to commercial matter in excess of the limits contemplated
by Congress when it enacted the Children's Television Act of 1990.
Congress was particularly concerned about program-length commercials
because young children often have difficulty distinguishing between
commercials and programs.[^3] Given this Congressional concern, the
Commission made it clear that program-length commercials, by their very
nature, are extremely serious violations of the children's television
commercial limits, 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."[^4]

The only reason cited for the conventional overages, human error and/or
inadvertence, does not mitigate or excuse the violations. In fact, the
Commission has repeatedly rejected human error and inadvertence as a
basis for excusing violations of the children's television commercial
limits.[^5] Furthermore, while corrective actions may have been taken to
prevent subsequent violations of the children's television rules and
policies, this does not relieve C-28 FCC Licensee Subsidiary, LLC of
liability for the violations which have occurred.[^6]

While we consider any violation of our rules limiting the amount of
commercial matter in children's programming to be significant, the
violations described in your renewal application appear to have been
isolated occurrences. 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 you for the violations of the
children's television commercial limits rule and policies described in
station WLWC(TV)'s renewal application.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, a copy of this Letter shall be sent by
First Class and Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested to the licensee
at the address listed above, and to its counsel, Anne Lucey, Esq., CBS
Corporation, 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 540, Washington, D.C.
20004.

> Sincerely,
>
> Barbara A. Kreisman
>
> Chief, Video Division
>
> Media Bureau

[^1]: *Children's Television Programming*, 6 FCC Rcd 2111, 2118, *recon.
    granted in part*, 6 FCC Rcd 5093, 5098 (1991).

[^2]: *Children's Television Programming,* 6 FCC Rcd 5529, 5530 (1991).

[^3]: S. Rep. No. 227, 101^st^ Cong., 1^st^ Sess. 24 (1989).

[^4]: *Children's Television Programming,* 6 FCC Rcd at 2118.

[^5]: *See, e.g., LeSea Broadcasting Corp. (WHKE(TV))*, 10 FCC Rcd 4977
    (MMB 1995); *Buffalo Management Enterprises Corp. (WIVB-TV)*, 10 FCC
    Rcd 4959 (MMB 1995); *Act III Broadcasting License Corp.
    (WUTV(TV))*, 10 FCC Rcd 4957 (MMB 1995); *Ramar Communications, Inc.
    (KJTV(TV))*, 9 FCC Rcd 1831 (MMB 1994).

[^6]: *See, e.g., WHP Television, L.P. (WHP-TV)*, 10 FCC Rcd 4979, 4980
    (MMB 1995); *Mountain States Broadcasting, Inc. (KMSB-TV)*, 9 FCC
    Rcd 2545, 2546 (MMB 1994); *R&R Media Corporation (WTWS(TV))*, 9 FCC
    Rcd 1715, 1716 (MMB 1994); *KEVN, Inc.* *(KEVN-TV)*, 8 FCC Rcd 5077,
    5078 (MMB 1993); *International Broadcasting Corp.*, 19 FCC 2d 793,
    794 (1969).