Future of TV Ads are Issue Ads

Many broadcasters, both television and radio, have been running the NAB spots on the Future of Television. Those spots contain a description of the service available from local television stations and the new technologies that over-the-air television are in the process of deploying, and end with the suggestion that the Future of Broadcast Television lies in "technology not regulation from Washington DC."

Obviously, these ads are geared to address some of the many legislative and administrative issues facing TV broadcasters - including the proposals to take back some of the TV spectrum for wireless broadband uses. Given that these spots could be arguably be seen as addressing Federal issues, to be safe, they should be identified as issue ads in stations' public inspection files, and appropriate information about those spots should be placed in the files.

Specifically, when a station receives any request for time to address any issue dealing with a Federal matter (one to be considered by Congress, the President or any US government agency), the public file entry should include:

• If the request to purchase time is accepted or rejected
• If the ads are accepted, the dates on which the ad is run
• The rates charged by the station (or in the case of the NAB spots, that there was no charge but the ads themselves were furnished at no charge)
• Class of time purchased
• The issue to which the ad refers
• The name of the purchaser of the advertising time including:
The name, address and phone number of a contact person
• A list of the chief executive officers or members of the executive committee or board of directors of the sponsoring organization.