Noncommercial broadcasters get no breaks when dealing with proposed FCC fines, said the Commission's Media Bureau in two cases released this week. While many noncommercial broadcasters may yearn for a day when they were treated leniently if violations were discovered - getting off with perhaps an admonishment letter - those days are over, as they have been for some time. In one case released this week, the FCC specifically states that noncommercial broadcasters are no different than commercial ones when dealing with fines (or "forfeitures" as they are called by the FCC). If the noncommercial broadcaster violates a rule, they will be treated just like a commercial broadcaster, and have to pay the same fine as would the commercial broadcaster.

Noncommercial broadcasters have often argued that they cannot afford to pay big fines, as their budgets are limited. Even when noncommercial stations are owned by colleges or local governments, they have limited budgets, and fines don't figure into them. But, in two recent cases, the FCC has rejected arguments for the reduction of proposed fines based on financial hardship, in both cases finding that the budget of the station was not important - it is the total budget of the licensee that is important in assessing if a fine is too much (see our post about how the FCC determines if a fine should be reduced because its payment would create a financial hardship on a station).