Last week, the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (“NAL”) against a tower owner for failing to timely repair lighting on a tower.  The proposed fine was set at $15,000.

FCC rules require towers exceeding 200 feet above ground level or requiring “special aeronautical study” to be painted and lit according to FAA standards. Tower owners must also monitor and periodically inspect tower lighting systems, report lighting outages to the FAA immediately, and repair lighting outages “as soon as practicable.”

In this case, an FCC field agent inspected a tower in November 2012 and found that all of the tower’s lights were unlit.  A representative of the tower owner reported that the company had noticed the lighting outage in August 2010 and reported it to the FAA.  The company did not repair the outage, but re-reported it to the FAA every two weeks.

The FCC agent issued a Notice of Violation for failing to repair the tower’s lighting as soon as practicable.  In response, the tower owner did not deny that the tower’s lights had been out for over two years, but claimed repairs were complicated.  The company repaired the lighting in December 2012.

Nonetheless, the FCC proposed a $15,000 fine for the lighting violations.  The base fine for violation of the FCC’s tower painting and lighting rules is $10,000.  Here, the FCC increased the fine to $15,000 because, in its view, the company’s failure to repair the outage for over two years “demonstrates a deliberate disregard for the Commission’s rules….”

With the release of the NAL, the tower owner has 30 days to pay the proposed fine or file a written statement seeking to reduce or cancel the proposed fine.

This violation continues a trend we saw last year of increased antenna structure rules enforcement by the FCC and their field inspectors.  Cable operators with registered towers should make sure their towers are painted and lighted in accordance with their FCC registrations.  If you have any questions about the FCC’s antenna structure rules, please contact Scott Friedman or Jake Baldwin at (312) 372-3930 or sfriedman@cinnamonmueller.com or jbaldwin@cinnamonmueller.com.