Last fall’s government shutdown has produced an unexpected downstream effect for broadcasters: FCC penalties will not increase in 2026.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau confirmed that civil monetary penalties will remain frozen at 2025 levels after the federal government’s lapse in appropriations prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from producing the October 2025 Consumer Price Index data required to calculate the annual adjustment.
The decision stems from the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, which requires agencies to adjust civil monetary penalties annually based on October CPI data from the prior year. When that data went unproduced due to the funding lapse that began September 30, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued guidance directing all federal agencies to continue using 2025 penalty levels.
The practical effect for broadcasters is this: any forfeiture penalty assessed on or after January 15, 2026, will be calculated using 2025 figures rather than an inflation-adjusted 2026 rate. That includes fines issued under the PIRATE Act, which authorizes penalties of up to $100,000 per day per violation, with a maximum of $2.3 million, against unlicensed operators and property owners who permit pirate broadcasts.
The freeze pairs with a separate development that further complicates the FCC’s enforcement posture. As Radio Ink reported earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in FCC v. AT&T, Inc. that Commission forfeiture orders are not binding obligations. Any company that refuses to pay is entitled to a de novo jury trial before the DOJ can collect. Taken together, fines are both smaller than they might have been and harder to enforce than regulators have historically implied.
The OMB decision applies only to penalties tied to specific monetary amounts under federal law and does not affect the FCC’s broader enforcement authority.
