Advertising Issues

January Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Annual Report, EEO, License Renewal, Political Rate Windows, FM Auction Dates and More

By David Oxenford|2019-12-19T10:24:06-06:00December 19th, 2019|Legal News|

With many Americans using the holiday season to rest and recharge, broadcasters should do the same but not forget that January is a busy month for complying with several important regulatory deadlines for broadcast stations. These include dates that regularly occur for broadcasters, as well as some unique to this month. In fact, with the... Continue Reading…

Election Season in High Gear for Broadcasters – Lowest Unit Rate Windows to Begin in Iowa This Week, New Hampshire Next and Other States Soon to Follow

By David Oxenford|2019-12-18T09:45:59-06:00December 18th, 2019|Legal News|

While political broadcasting never seems to be totally off the airwaves, the 2020 election season is about to click into high gear, with the window for lowest unit rates to begin on December 20 for advertising sales in connection with the January Iowa caucuses. That means that when broadcasters sell time to candidates for ads... Continue Reading…

Court of Appeals Finds Maryland Law Imposing Political Disclosure Obligations on Online Platforms to be Unconstitutional – Finding Different Treatment of Broadcasters is Justified

By David Oxenford|2019-12-11T10:51:45-06:00December 11th, 2019|Legal News|

Late last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a decision in a case called Washington Post v. David J. McManus, upholding the ruling of the US District Court finding that the State of Maryland’s attempts to impose political advertising reporting obligations on online platforms to be an unconstitutional abridgment of these... Continue Reading…

Many More Warning Letters Sent by FDA to CBD Companies – More Issues for Advertisers

By David Oxenford|2019-12-10T11:20:44-06:00December 10th, 2019|Legal News|

We have written many times about the concerns regarding the marketing of CBD products on broadcast stations. As we wrote here, here, and here, the FDA and FTC have repeatedly warned makers of these products that they cannot make specific health claims about the products and cannot market products that are intended to be ingested.... Continue Reading…

More on Required Public File Disclosures of Issue Ads – Comment Dates on NAB Petition for Reconsideration and Another Admonition for Inadequate Disclosures

By David Oxenford|2019-12-05T10:23:21-06:00December 5th, 2019|Legal News|

The FCC on Friday issued a Public Notice seeking comment on a petition for reconsideration by the NAB and several broadcast groups seeking review of the FCC’s October decision, deemed a “clarification” of the public file disclosure rules for federal political issue ads requiring that all candidates and issues mentioned in any political issue ad... Continue Reading…

NAB Seeks Reconsideration of FCC’s Clarification of Issue Advertising Public Disclosure Requirements – Rules Remain in Effect Though Some Clarification Provided

By David Oxenford|2019-11-25T10:55:01-06:00November 25th, 2019|Legal News|

Last month, the FCC issued what it termed a “clarification” of the obligations of broadcasters to disclose in their public inspection files each and every candidate and issue discussed in any Federal issue ad. We wrote about the Clarification here. That decision prompted many questions among broadcasters as to how they would comply with the... Continue Reading…

USDA Issues Interim Rules for Hemp Production – How Does it Affect CBD Advertising?

By David Oxenford|2019-11-13T11:02:31-06:00November 13th, 2019|Legal News|

On October 31, the US Department of Agriculture published in the Federal Register interim rules governing the production of industrial hemp under the provisions of the 2018 Farm Act (see the USDA press release here). These rules will allow the USDA to approve state and tribal plans for the regulation of hemp production. It also... Continue Reading…

Twitter Bans Political Ads – Doing What Broadcasters are Forbidden to Do

By David Oxenford|2019-11-04T10:26:14-06:00November 4th, 2019|Legal News|

It seems like every other week, there is a story about an online media giant making changes in their rules that govern political advertising on their platform – and being either praised or condemned for doing so. We recently wrote about the controversy over Facebook deciding to not fact-check candidate ads, and how Congress itself... Continue Reading…

FCC To Hold Symposium on Radio and TV Industry – What Does it Mean for Broadcast Regulation?

By David Oxenford|2019-10-31T06:32:00-05:00October 31st, 2019|Legal News|

The FCC announced on Friday that it will be hosting a symposium on the state of the broadcast industry on November 21. On that day, there will be a panel in the morning on the state of the radio industry and one in the afternoon on television. The Public Notice released Friday lists a diverse... Continue Reading…