Popular US talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been fined $395,000 for mimicking Presidential Alert in a skit, the US Federal Communications Commission has announced.
The ABC program played an imitation of the emergency alert tone at three different points during a 3rd October 2018 broadcast, mocking the warning system on the same day it was officially tested in the US - over 200 million Americans received test notifications, which are designed to warn of major threats such as missile attacks, natural disasters and terrorism, on their mobile phones. "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed," the alert said.
The President is in charge of ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to activate the warning system, in the event such a catastrophe erupts.
The FCC found Jimmy Kimmel Live! broke broadcasting rules, as TV shows are banned from mimicking the system "to avoid confusion when the tones are used, alert fatigue among listeners, and false activation".ABC admitted to broadcasting the alert, but claimed it did so in the belief "use of the tone was permissible", and has agreed not to broadcast the episode again.
In addition to the fines, all offending companies agreed to "a strict compliance plan" to ensure those alerts will not be played again when there's no emergency. All offending networks have 30 days to pay their fines.