Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008 - (Page 28)

demand has been presented to honor the request. Compensation received by individual broadcast station affiliates of a network for advertising sales generated by a network need not be included in the affiliate’s calculations of Lowest Unit Charges (“LUCs,” discussed in Section VIII, below). LUCs will not apply to network sales, provided: • • • No commercial advertiser, even the “most favored,” could go directly to the station and receive a rate comparable to that which is offered to the network. Each station charges the network a rate which would not be available to that station’s most favored commercial advertiser for time sold on that station alone. Any candidate who chooses to buy time from the network must be given the network’s LUC for the various kinds of time it sells to commercial advertisers. VIII. Lowest Unit Charges Without question, the most difficult and contentious area of the political broadcasting rules is the matter of determining the correct charge for political time. Section 315(b) of the Communications Act provides: The charges made for the use of any broadcasting station by any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office in connection with his campaign shall not exceed: • during the forty-five days preceding the date of a primary or primary runoff election and during the sixty days preceding the date of a general or special election in which such person is a candidate, the LUC of the station for the same class and amount of time for the same time period; and at any other time, the charges made for comparable use of such station by other users thereof. • Charges Outside the Political Window – Comparable Rates The second part of Section 315(b) generally poses few problems. Outside the 45 and 60 day periods preceding primary and general elections, each station is obligated to charge a political candidate no more than what it would charge a commercial advertiser for comparable time. That is, political advertisers must not be charged more than anyone else for the same frequency, class, and amount of time in the same period. A few cautions: • • • If a station has both national and local rates, the latter would apply to candidates who seek to appeal to residents of the same general area as advertisers who qualify for the local rate. The “comparable use” rates are upper limits, and a station is free to charge less if it wishes. However, a discount rate given to one candidate must be extended to all of his or her opponents. All opposing candidates must be given the same rate. Thus, if a station raises its commercial rates after A buys a spot package, his opponent B is entitled to the same rate given to A. Conversely, if a station lowers its commercial rates after A buys a spot package, it would be obligated to sell spots to B at the new low rate and issue a refund to A for the difference. Run-of-Schedule (“ROS”) or preemptible political spots must be scheduled in the same manner as commercial ROS’s or preemptibles. If A’s ROS spots happen to all run in prime time (through no manipulation or other favoritism by the station), then B would still assume the risk that his would not if he, too, bought an ROS package; to be assured of prime time exposure, B would have to buy fixed prime time spots (and pay the higher rate). • In determining comparable charges, the rates actually charged to commercial advertisers must be used, even if they are discounted from the station’s rate guide. Charges Inside the Political Window – Lowest Unit Rates The LUC rules take effect during the 45 and 60 day periods preceding primary and general elections when most political advertising is purchased. These rules are complex and subject to varying interpretations, not all of which are entirely clear. The basic point to remember is this - the political advertiser must be treated no worse than a station’s “most favored advertiser” without regard to the quantity of advertising purchased. Thus, even though the political advertiser may be buying only a few spots over a relatively short period of time, the candidate must be treated as though he or she had been the station’s 28 « March 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008

Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008 Contents Introduction – The Scope of the Political Broadcasting Rules “Legally Qualified” Candidates Reasonable Access “Uses” of Broadcast Facilities Exempt Programs Requests for Equal Opportunities Equal Opportunities Lowest Unit Charges The Disclosure Censorship of Uses Sponsorship Identification Political File Contents Access to the Political File The Fairness Doctrine Political Editorials Personal Attacks Issue Advertising News Distortion Conclusion

Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008

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