Viacom and ESPN must pay $1.4 million to the government as punishment for airing a movie commercial that misused Emergency Alert System (EAS) warning tones.

The commercial for the 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen (see video below) used actual emergency alert tones along with messages such as "This is not a test" and "This is not a drill." The Federal Communications Commission prohibits transmission of actual or simulated EAS tones except during real emergencies or authorized tests.

"The cable networks transmitted EAS warning tones for several days in 2013 to promote the movie 'Olympus Has Fallen,' which portrayed a terrorist attack on Washington, DC," the FCC said today. "Broadcast or transmission of these tones outside an emergency or test violates the FCC’s laws protecting the integrity of the system."

The FCC proposed fines against Viacom, ESPN, and NBCUniversal in March 2014.

"NBCUniversal paid its $530,000 fine, but ESPN and Viacom objected and requested reductions," the FCC's announcement said. "The FCC rejected their arguments and imposed fines of $1,120,000 against Viacom and $280,000 against ESPN. The fines, which differ based on several factors including the number of channels involved and the number of transmissions on each channel, must be paid in 30 days."

Viacom and ESPN never disputed the key facts, that they included the commercial in programming supplied to cable and satellite systems for distribution to subscribers, that the commercial contained actual EAS tones, and that broadcasting the tones "was not done in connection with an actual national, state or local area emergency or authorized EAS test," the FCC's forfeiture order states.

"When Viacom and ESPN... transmitted or caused the transmission of advertisements containing actual EAS tones, they violated the law and jeopardized the essential and exclusive function of the EAS—to immediately alert the public to an actual emergency," the commission wrote.

Viacom and ESPN claimed they did not knowingly violate the rules, and that the rules do not apply to "non-deceptive movie trailers." Viacom also argued that the FCC's prohibition on transmitting or causing the transmission of EAS tones does not apply to intermediates like itself, which did not produce the advertisement or transmit it directly to customers.

Viacom argued that the FCC should have instead gone after Horizon Media, which produced the trailer, and the cable and satellite companies that aired it. But the commission noted that it has "prosecutorial discretion in choosing to initiate investigations" and that "Entities acting as 'conduits' for misconduct cannot shift blame to a third party." Even if the blame could be shifted, "Viacom cannot credibly argue on the facts of this case that it is entitled to such relief," the commission said. That's because Viacom "was an active participant in inserting the No Surrender Trailer into its programming feeds on multiple occasions."

Viacom and ESPN also made arguments that "rest on the assertion that they lacked notice that the Commission would enforce the EAS Rules against them with respect to transmission of the No Surrender Trailer," the FCC wrote. But the FCC said its rules have been well settled in rulemakings and administrative actions over the past two decades.