11 States Now Have Laws Limiting Artificial Intelligence, Deep Fakes, and Synthetic Media in Political Advertising – Looking at the Issues

By |2024-04-22T10:29:33-05:00April 22nd, 2024|Legal News|

Artificial Intelligence was the talk of the NAB Convention last week.  Seemingly, not a session took place without some discussion of the impact of AI.  One area that we have written about many times is the impact of AI on political advertising.  Legislative consideration of that issue has exploded in the first quarter of 2024,... Continue Reading…

Broadcaster’s Legal Considerations for Early Season Political Ads

By |2023-09-22T10:06:47-05:00September 22nd, 2023|Legal News|

With the 2024 election looming, broadcasters are already receiving requests for political advertising time, from PACs and other issue groups, and from both established candidates and newcomers eager to make an early splash to enhance their public standing.  Some of these potential buyers advance unique policy positions and, sometimes, unusual ad buying strategies.  How are... Continue Reading…

Facebook to Reject New Political Ads the Week Before the November Election – Why Broadcasters Can’t Do That

By |2022-08-25T10:32:40-05:00August 25th, 2022|Legal News|

Facebook will disable “new” political ads the week before this year’s November mid-term election (see its post on this policy here), just as many broadcast stations will be struggling with commercial inventory issues, trying to get last minute political ads on the air without having to dump all of their regular commercial advertisers who will... Continue Reading…

This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 16, 2022 to April 22, 2022

By |2022-04-24T11:12:33-05:00April 24th, 2022|Legal News|

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. The FCC this week released a Public Notice announcing that it is soliciting public comment on the recent tests of... Continue Reading…

Reasonable Access and the Problem Candidate – FCC Declares a Write-In Candidate Not Entitled to Buy Radio Spots, But That May Not Be the End of the Story

By |2022-04-21T11:34:43-05:00April 21st, 2022|Legal News|

Last week, much was made of an FCC Media Bureau decision rejecting the “reasonable access” claim of a write-in candidate for a Congressional seat in Ohio against radio stations which, after initially running his spots, decided to pull those spots because he had not made a “substantial showing” of his candidacy.  Candidates for federal office... Continue Reading…

This Week in Regulation For Broadcasters: April 2, 2022 to April 8, 2022

By |2022-04-09T15:03:36-05:00April 9th, 2022|Legal News|

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the last week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations. Broadcast operations that use uninterruptable power supply (UPS) devices as either a primary or backup power source should be alert... Continue Reading…

Candidate Filing Deadline for the Primaries in the Texas 2022 Elections Just Passed – What Should Your Station, No Matter Where It Is, Be Doing to Prepare for the Coming Election Advertising Deluge?

By |2021-12-16T11:13:52-06:00December 16th, 2021|Legal News|

The deadline for 2022 candidates in Texas to file for a place on the March 1 primary ballot was this past Monday.  Deadlines in other states will follow during the first part of 2022.  As a result, broadcast stations and cable companies in Texas are already dealing with legally qualified candidates, and the FCC political... Continue Reading…

Reports that Facebook Will End Policy of Not Censoring Politician’s Posts – How Other Communications Platforms are Regulated on Political Speech

By |2021-06-04T09:49:29-05:00June 4th, 2021|Legal News|

According to press reports (see this story in Verge and this one in the Washington Post), Facebook will end its policy of not subjecting posts by elected officials to the same level of scrutiny by its Oversight Board that it applies to other users of its platform.  Facebook’s announced policy has been that the newsworthiness... Continue Reading…

Reminder – 2021 Will Include Some Off-Year Elections for State and Local Office – and FCC Political Broadcasting Rules Do Apply

By |2021-01-12T10:51:08-06:00January 12th, 2021|Legal News|

After this year’s contentious elections, it is with reluctance that we even broach the subject – but broadcasters and cable companies need to be aware that in many jurisdictions there are elections this November. While most broadcast stations don’t think about the FCC’s political broadcasting rules in odd numbered years, they should – particularly in... Continue Reading…

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