Viacom, NBC Universal, ESPN fined for using official alert in film trailer
A US advertisement for a movie that sounded like an emergency alert has drawn fines of US$1.9 million for media companies Viacom, Comcast's NBCUniversal, and ESPN, co-controlled by Walt Disney, after viewer complaints.
A US advertisement for a movie that sounded like an emergency alert has drawn fines of US$1.9 million for media companies Viacom, Comcast's NBCUniversal, and ESPN, co-controlled by Walt Disney, after viewer complaints.
The Federal Communications Commission said it had found the companies violated rules that prohibit the use of the US Emergency Alert System sounds for purposes other than to warn viewers of national emergencies.
Several consumers had complained about the trailer for the movie shown on the television channels Comedy Central, ESPN and SyFy in March last year.
The FCC review said the 30-second advertisement used portions of Emergency Alert System codes and alert signals, accompanied by the text "this is not a test" and "this is not a drill".
Viacom faces US$1.1 million in penalties for airing the ad 108 times on seven of its channels; NBCUniversal faces a charge of US$530,000 for showing the trailer 38 times on seven of its cable networks; and ESPN faces a penalty of US$280,000 for showing the promo 13 times on three of its networks.
