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Univision agrees to $24-million FCC fine
Associated Press
Published February 25, 2007
WASHINGTON - The nation's largest Spanish-language broadcaster has agreed to a record $24-million fine for failing to meet government rules for educational children's programming, a Federal Communications Commission official said Saturday. The penalty is part of a consent decree that would pave the way for Univision Communications Inc. to complete its $12.3-billion sale to private investors. The decree awaits approval by a majority of the agency's five commissioners. The penalty involves charges that 24 Univision stations between 2004 and early 2006 circumvented guidelines on airing educational children's programs by running soap operas aimed mainly at adults. Under a 1996 law, television broadcasters are required to air educational shows for children for at least three hours a week. Univision had maintained that it met those requirements by broadcasting several soap operas. They included Complices al Rescate, which followed 11-year-old identical twin girls who switched identities after finding out they had been separated at birth. "A significant purpose and key educational objective of this program is to illustrate how friendship, love and kindness can help overcome life's adversities," the network's lawyers said in court papers. Critics said the show featured adult plots and complex themes that were ill-suited for children. Messages left at Univision's New York and Miami offices were not immediately returned Saturday.
[Last modified February 25, 2007, 01:34:44]
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