Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008 - (Page 31)

Second, news adjacencies can be considered a separate class of time for politicians only when the spots are guaranteed to run adjacent to the news and when candidates have been banned from access to the news programming itself. The lowest unit rate for this class cannot exceed the lowest unit rate for commercial spots within the news. However, if candidates could have purchased spots within the news, then adjacencies may be priced consistent with the lowest unit price of commercial spots in the same adjacent time slot, even if it reflects a premium over the price of the news spots themselves. Stations must distinguish this type of spot from one which is sold as part of a broader rotation but which happens to run adjacent to the news programming; the lowest unit rate for such a spot would be that of the rotation under which it was sold. Political Discounts While stations may create a special class of time for political advertisers only under one of the special circumstances noted above, there is nothing in the rules to prevent stations from creating a discount available only to political advertisers. Thus, a station may offer non-preemptible time to political advertisers at a special discounted rate not available to other advertisers. This may be an efficient way for broadcasters to avoid many of the complications in calculating the LUC when a station has multiple levels of preemptible time. In this way, stations may avoid a later accusation that the candidate could have purchased preemptible time and obtained the practical benefit of non-preemptible time. For example, a station may offer non-preemptible time to political advertisers at a rate less than that offered to other advertisers. This rate must be lower than the highest level of preemptible time that is actually subject to preemption. This will avoid the possibility that candidates will be steered toward buying non-preemptible time when they could have purchased preemptible time and had a significant chance their spot would have aired. Assume that a station has three levels of preemptible time. Level A (the highest-priced time) historically has a 90 percent chance of airing. Level B has a 70 percent chance of airing and Level C has a 50 percent chance of airing. That station could offer non-preemptible time to a candidate at a price between level A and Level B preemptible time; that is, if non-preemptible time is offered to candidates at a discount, the price must be lower than the highest level of preemptible time. A similar result would be achieved by pricing this special non-preemptible political time at the “average unit rate” for the particular class of preemptible time. However, there must be more expensive preemptible time that is actually subject to preemption. In the above example, if Level A time were not preempted, then time purchased at the special discounted rate for non-preemptible time would be subject to a rebate lower than Level B, the level of the LUC for spots actually subject to preemption. http://www.teamgroup.tv http://www.teamgroup.tv

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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