The Federal Communications Commission has levied a half-million dollars in fines against two TV networks as part of a crackdown on the use of emergency tones.
The FCC on Thursday fined ABC $395,000 for "simulated tones" used in a 2018 "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" skit that mocked a presidential alert test. The network has agreed to pay the fine, admitting it aired the tones "in the absence of an actual emergency."
Also on Thursday, AMC Networks agreed to hand over $104,000 to the watchdog agency for broadcasting an alert tone in a February episode of the "The Walking Dead."
When you hear an emergency tone, do you immediately think there's an emergency -- or atest?
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