FCC Levies $1.4M Fine For EAS Tones In Promos

The FCC has fined Viacom and ESPN $1.4 million for transmitting emergency alert warning tones in connection with the promotion of the movie “Olympus Has Fallen” in 2013, according to Variety.

The movie portrayed a terrorist attack on Washington.

“The public relies on this system to prepare them for real emergencies,” said Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. “Our action here sends a strong signal that use of the EAS tones for non-emergency purposes presents a danger to public safety which we will not tolerate.”

According to the FCC, the emergency alert tones were heard in commercials promoting the movie.

“The networks admitted that the commercial contained actual EAS codes and appeared multiple times on the networks,” the FCC said.