The month of November is one of those rare months on the FCC calendar when there are few routine regulatory filing deadlines for broadcasters. In odd years, we would have Biennial Ownership Reports but, being an even year, we can wait until 2015 for that obligation for commercial broadcasters. There is a new November 28 … Continue Reading
Just a month ago, the FCC denied complaints alleging that Washington DC TV stations had not adequately identified the true sponsor of political ads sponsored by a political action committee. When that decision came down – denied on procedural grounds by the Commission – we warned that it opened the door to more complaints in … Continue Reading
With SuperPAC money flowing and political ads running on Internet streams, caution in dealing with political spots is in order. There may be just a few weeks remaining in this election season, but broadcasters should be paying attention – now and...
As we move into the final weeks of the election season, and races heat up, there are always issues about attack ads and what a station needs to do when they receive a “take-down” notice from a candidate who is being attacked. We recently wrote about candidate ads, and the “no censorship” provision of Section … Continue Reading
Every election season there is the same refrain from candidates who are attacked in political ads run on broadcast stations – that ad is unfair and the broadcaster who is running it should take it off the air. Sometime, that request is sent by a lawyer with threats to bring legal actions if the broadcaster … Continue Reading