Online Political Ad File ‘Trouble’ for Small Stations, Says Attorney
An FCC rule that will require all broadcast stations to post detailed information about their political ad sales online instead of just maintaining hard copies in their offices will be burdensome and difficult for smaller stations to comply with, said Fletcher Heald’s Peter Tannenwald, an attorney for many independent broadcasters. The rule is already in effect for the big four network affiliates in the top 50 markets, and set to apply to all broadcasters starting July 2014, but the FCC asked for comments on possible changes to its implementation, in a June 27 public notice (CD June 27 p20).
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The proposal to change the rule is a result of negotiations with NAB (CD Jan 23 p2) and is at the behest of a group of TV station owners who argued in FCC filings that the policy is anticompetitive and costs them money and time. “Those filings represent an extraordinary amount of trouble for clerical personnel at the stations I represent,” said Tannenwald. However, some public interest groups and media buyers said the rule is important for public access. The political ad filing rule should require stations to put “real information” online, said former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, “not just post something that’s locked in the station. Let’s go beyond that and have some real reforms,” he said.
Broadcaster concerns that posting information about political ad rates online could be anticompetitive are a “ridiculous red herring,” said TV advertising consultant Bill Hillsman, president of North Woods Advertising. “If everyone has to do it, there’s no competitive advantage,” he told us. “This information is already public,” said political media buyer Robert Kahn, CEO of LUC Media. “If their competitors want it, they can already get it,” he said. But an attorney who represents broadcast clients said it’s rare for competing stations to physically seek out political ad rate information. “As a practical matter, they've never done that,” the attorney said. “It’s another thing entirely to be able to sit at your desk anywhere in America and access that information.”
Claims that smaller broadcasters will have trouble complying with the filing rules after they take effect in 2014 are also spurious, said Kahn. “If the station is small, it’s going to sell less time, and if it’s bigger and selling more time, it’s going to make more money,” said Kahn. Tannenwald said because political ads tend to come in fast and furious during a political season, it’s very difficult for stations with smaller staffs to keep up with them, and smaller stations are hit harder by the expensive fines that come with noncompliance. He said several of his clients will likely ask the FCC not to apply the rules to all stations. “I would like to know how many people use that information compared to the time and effort it takes to post online,” he said.
In its public notice requesting comment, the FCC also referenced a filing by the Public Interest Public Airwaves Coalition, opposing the station owners’ proposal to provide aggregated information online while still having stations keep the full political data at their station offices. “Without online access to the complete political file, it would be impossible to verify the accuracy of the aggregate figures,” said PIPAC.
However, some public interest groups have found the online political ad files provided by the stations currently following the rule “voluminous and so hard to use,” said Wilkinson Barker attorney David Oxenford in a blog post (http://bit\.ly/16MmSVL). “Groups have noted that it is hard to determine how much money was being spent by various organizations for or against political candidates,” Oxenford said. The Radio Television Digital News Association said the aggregate data proposed by broadcasters will be easier for journalists to use. However, Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood, said that just because the aggregate data is more digestible, it doesn’t mean stations should have to provide less information online. “Easier isn’t necessarily better,” he said.