• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Could Holiday Commercials On Georgia TV Stations Get Bumped For Senate Runoff Political Ads?

J

Joseph_Gallant

Many retailers have started to run Christmas season commercials. Given that Election Day is over and that many often nasty political commercials have vanished (in some states, non-political advertisers were supposedly all but shut out from buying local TV spots in the final weeks before the election), commercials from retailers have begin to really flood the airwaves.

But in Georgia, there will be a runoff election for the United States Senate on December 6th, as no candidate got at Ieast 50% of the vote in the original election on November 8th.

Since I'm not in Georgia, I'd like to ask someone who is "on the ground" there whether the flood of pre-election commercials has returned to TV stations in Georgia, and whether you've heard that Christmas ads from retailers are being bumped to accommodate more political spots.

While news programs remain the prime target for political ads, I could see the candidates and outside groups buying local spots in live sports, especially games of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, and to a lesser extent, games of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and the football teams of the University Of Georgia and Georgia Tech. Live sports may well be the most watched TV programs in most Georgia markets.

At least for retailers whose TV spots in Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and even Jacksonville, Florida (the stations there also serve Southeast Georgia) get bumped for political ads, their commercials that do get bumped between now and December 5th can probably get rescheduled for the two and a half weeks between December 6th and Christmas Eve, December 24th.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
At least for retailers whose TV spots in Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and even Jacksonville, Florida (the stations there also serve Southeast Georgia) get bumped for political ads, their commercials that do get bumped between now and December 5th can probably get rescheduled for the two and a half weeks between December 6th and Christmas Eve, December 24th.
Click to expand...
Most ads placed are not pre-emptable as a matter of contract between the buyer and the broadcaster. So no, ads will not be prempted on November 15th and made up on December 15th.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Most ads placed are not pre-emptable as a matter of contract between the buyer and the broadcaster. So no, ads will not be prempted on November 15th and made up on December 15th.
Click to expand...
Political candidate (not PAC) get priority. I can remember working at a TV station in election season where we haad to pre-empt CBS prime-time 2 Fridays in a row and run movies for the sole purpose of catching up on inventory
 
gr8oldies said:
Political candidate (not PAC) get priority. I can remember working at a TV station in election season where we haad to pre-empt CBS prime-time 2 Fridays in a row and run movies for the sole purpose of catching up on inventory
Click to expand...
The lowest unit rate regulation are on price and fairness, not quantity. In general, candidates must receive "reasonable access" to the airwaves from broadcasters. Here is the relevant phrase from The Communications Act (as amended):

(7) for willful or repeated failure to allow reasonable access to or to permit purchase of reasonable amounts of time for the use of a broadcasting station, other than a non-commercial educational broadcast station, by a legally qualified candidate for Federal elective office on behalf of his candidacy.

A station may elect to run more ads during an election season or other periods of high demand. Lord knows I've worked at stations that did that. However, they are not obligated to do so.

I should note that some of the political advertising rules were revised in the early 2000s by Congress, as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, so the rules of today may not be the rules of the past.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
The lowest unit rate regulation are on price and fairness, not quantity. In general, candidates must receive "reasonable access" to the airwaves from broadcasters. Here is the relevant phrase from The Communications Act (as amended):

(7) for willful or repeated failure to allow reasonable access to or to permit purchase of reasonable amounts of time for the use of a broadcasting station, other than a non-commercial educational broadcast station, by a legally qualified candidate for Federal elective office on behalf of his candidacy.

A station may elect to run more ads during an election season or other periods of high demand. Lord knows I've worked at stations that did that. However, they are not obligated to do so.

I should note that some of the political advertising rules were revised in the early 2000s by Congress, as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, so the rules of today may not be the rules of the past.
Click to expand...
Some years ago, our FCC counsel and I took a plan up for Commission review. It was to limit each eligible campaign to maximum numbers of spots. The FCC gave it approval as being within the spirit of the law and rules and we successfully avoided excess political ads on a female-targeted AC station where we felt too many adversarial spots would hurt us.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom