An alternative plan to the FCC political file proposal floated by the Television Operators Caucus has gained support of broadcasters who are hoping for a compromise. It would require stations to regularly report who is buying political spots and how much they are paying.
Broadcasters Rally For Political File ‘Win-Win’
In a last-ditch effort to head off new FCC rules requiring TV stations to post their entire political advertising online, broadcasters have rallied around an alternate plan that would require stations to regularly report who is buying political spots and how much they are paying.
The alternative was first proposed by the Television Operators Caucus, which comprises leading station groups.
A vote on the rules is scheduled for this Friday. At the NAB convention last week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made clear that he supports the staff proposal calling for stations to post all their political advertising data online. It’s “common sense,” he said.
Broadcasters object to the everything-goes-online proposal, arguing that it would costly to implement and that would disrupt their business giving rivals easy access to sensitive ad rate information.
A broader coalition of broadcasters, including NAB and the station groups of the Big Four networks and Univision, sent a letter to the FCC last Friday saying they all now supported the TOC plan, which it called a “win-win solution that provides transparency concerning political candidate spending while avoiding the anti-competitive impact of online disclosure of per-spot rate information.”
The letter also said that attorneys for all of the state broadcasters associations were advising the associations to get on board.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Under the alternate proposal, stations would upload in a format of their own choosing the following information:
- The name of the sponsor;
- The name of the candidate on whose behalf the political spots (or program material) were purchased (for candidate purchases);
- The office for which the candidate is running (for candidate purchases);
- The issue to which the communication refers (for BCRA issue ads);
- The entity that sponsored the spots (or program material), including the officers that it has identified;
- The name given to the spot by the sponsor (if and to the extent that a sponsor provides such a name);
- The total amount of the ad buy; and
- On an ongoing basis, the aggregate amount of money paid by the sponsor for spots (or program material) on the television station during the election window.
Stations would update the online political file with the following frequency:
- Generally, every other day, during the lowest unit charge period.
- Every day during the last seven days before the election.
- Outside the lowest unit charge period, once a week.
Comments (4)
Gregg Palermo says:
April 23, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Leave it to this site to pander to the neanderthal element of the broadcasting biz. Any rational person who has examined the amount of effort to put political requests online in addition to inside a physical file has concluded that this is a tempest in a teapot. Really. Scanning a document is so easy it defies explanation that the broadcasters are fighting this so hard. What a bunch of whiners these broadcasters are.
Ellen Samrock says:
April 23, 2012 at 6:30 pm
In part, this is about fairness. No other group; not radio, cable or other MVPDs are being asked to do this–only broadcast TV. And it’s also about a systematic bullying on the part of the FCC. Genachowski laughingly calls it “common sense.” But anyone with real common sense can see what is going on here–making it harder and more expensive for television broadcasters to do their job by requiring additional fussy online record keeping and revealing sensitive information in the hopes that more broadcasters will consider throwing in the towel and giving up their licenses. The frustrating thing is that while the FCC should be called out on this, bureaucrats like Genachowski take comfort in the knowledge that they will not be held accountable for their actions, especially with the president behind them.
Martha McIntosh says:
April 24, 2012 at 2:47 pm
no other group besides the TV broadcasters enjoys the right to insist on carriage of its signal by MVPDs if it chooses, or demand huge fees upon threat of loss of signal during key events. Broadcasters always want to cherry pick the rules that help them and cry foul when they don’t. This is not about the work required to post the data, it is about the money and how much they charge politicians for the ad time.
Eric Braun says:
April 27, 2012 at 11:34 am
Actually, this will in fact take quite a large amount of time. You wouldn’t believe the amount of time it takes to file political paperwork for a public file. There are many specifics that must be included that may compile over a period of time. The papers don’t magically compile themselves instantly & fly into a folder. Also, stations must keep a separate public file per transmitter, for example if the exact same programming is broadcast from another tower with a different set of call letters, that makes the filing times two. Some of the smaller stations don’t have fancy automated systems & yes, scanning & posting a vast pile of political info is definately cumbersome. It already is without the internet posting.