Broadcasters Unite Over Political File Counter-Proposal

Broadcasters on April 20 presented a united front on a compromise proposal to post political ad info online. According to a filing at the Federal Communications Commission, the National Association of Broadcasters, the stations groups owned by ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision and Fox joined with TV station groups that had proposed the compromise and a number of state broadcaster associations to present the proposal before the sunshine period triggered for the planned April 27 vote on online disclosure of TV station public files, including political files. Station groups pitching a compromise had indicated more groups might be willing to sign up. The unified broadcaster proposal includes a schedule for updating the information. The broadcasters say they are OK with phasing in the requirement by starting with about 200 stations in the top markets, as the FCC has proposed to help test it.