The Federal Communications Commission announced Monday it intends to fine WDBJ7 $325,000 for airing sexually explicit material during a 6 o'clock newscast three years ago. The commission says the action comes from viewer complaints it investigated after a July 2012 story aired about an adult film star who joined a local rescue squad.

The commission says "Our action here sends a clear signal that there are severe consequences for TV stations that air sexually explicit images when children are likely to be watching."

WDBJ7's President and General Manager, Jeffrey Marks, issued a statement saying "we are surprised and disappointed that the FCC has decided to propose to fine WDBJ7 for a fleeting image on the very edge of some television screens during a news broadcast."

Marks says the story had gone through review before it aired and inclusion of the image was purely unintentional. He says "The picture in question was small and outside the viewing area of the video editing screen. It was visible only on some televisions for less than three seconds."

Marks called the fine an extraordinary burden on protected free speech and fails to take into account six decades of outstanding broadcasting by WDBJ7.

The FCC says the fine would be the largest ever levied against a station for a single incident.

Here is the statement from Jeffrey A. Marks, President and General Manager of WDBJ7:

We are surprised and disappointed that the FCC has decided to propose to fine WDBJ7 for a fleeting image on the very edge of some television screens during a news broadcast. The story had gone through a review before it aired. Inclusion of the image was purely unintentional. The picture in question was small and outside the viewing area of the video editing screen. It was visible only on some televisions and for less than three seconds.

This year, WDBJ7 celebrates 60 years of broadcasting in the public interest, with news that is trusted and family friendly. We are sorry that this incident happened, of course, but we truly believe that the FCC failed to take into account the history of WDBJ7 and its six decades of outstanding broadcasting.

The enormous fine proposed by the FCC is also an extraordinary burden on protected speech. The FCC’s largest base fine for other types of violations by broadcasters is $10,000. That is the fine for a misrepresentation to the FCC. A transfer of a license without authorization has a fine of only $8,000; use of a station to commit fraud results in a fine of $5,000; broadcast of an illegal lottery costs a station $4,000. As the FCC admits, its base forfeiture for a violation of the indecency rules is $7,000. This unprecedented proposed fine is more than 46 times higher than the FCC’s own determination of the punishment for indecent speech.

As the FCC noted, Schurz Communications --- in its 60-plus year history of TV ownership -- has paid only one other FCC fine. That was for a minor and self-reported Children's Video issue.

WDBJ will oppose the FCC’s proposed sanction.

Here is the news release from the FCC:

The Federal Communications Commission intends to fine WDBJ Television, Inc., Roanoke, Virginia, $325,000 for broadcasting graphic and sexually explicit material during the station’s evening newscast. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau investigated viewers’ complaints that WDBJ aired a news report that included graphic sexual images taken from an adult film website in the report. This enforcement action would be the highest fine the Commission has ever taken for a single indecent broadcast on one station.

“Our action here sends a clear signal that there are severe consequences for TV stations that air sexually explicit images when children are likely to be watching,” said Travis LeBlanc, Chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.

The Enforcement Bureau investigated complaints surrounding a WDBJ news story about a former adult film star who had joined a local volunteer rescue squad. The investigation found that station staff obtained a sexually explicit video clip from an adult film website and broadcast those explicit images in the news report that aired at approximately 6 p.m. on July 12, 2012. The Commission’s enforcement action alleges that the broadcast of such explicit sexual content violated federal laws prohibiting the broadcast of indecent programming. The Commission plans to fine WDBJ $325,000, the maximum available penalty.

It is a violation of federal law to air indecent programming from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when there is reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. The FCC has defined broadcast indecency as “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.”

For more information on the FCC’s policies on indecent programming, visit http://www.fcc.gov/guides/obscenity-indecency-and-profanity.

This is the third action the Enforcement Bureau has taken regarding the broadcast of indecent material since January 2014. In April 2014, the Enforcement Bureau settled its investigation into allegations of the broadcast of vulgar language on radio station KRXA(AM), which resulted in a payment of $15,000. In August 2014, Border Media Business Trust paid $37,500 in penalties to settle an investigation into the use of indecent sexual language during a morning show on radio station KDBR(FM).

The Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture is available at: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-32A1.pdf