ESPN faces $146K fine for using emergency alert tones in NBA ads

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could go all the way with a proposed fine against ESPN.

The proposal calls for a penalty of $146,976 against ESPN for violating the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules when the network aired ads to promote the 2023-2024 NBA season. The FCC said the tones were used “in the absence of an actual emergency.”

Penalty! ESPN faces a proposed FCC fine for using an emergency alert tone in a promo ad. Using this tone is out of bounds - it's a public safety hazard to confuse or desensitize viewers to actual emergency alerts. As the refs for these important systems, we made the call.

— The FCC (@FCC) October 17, 2024

The offending ads contained the unauthorized EAS tune and were aired six times from October 20 to 24, 2023. Several complaints were filed on October 20 about the TV spots. The cable network ...