This Friday, September 8, begins the 60 day "window" during which lowest unit rates will apply for broadcast advertising for the November 7 general election.  Stations should already be observing equal opportunities obligations and maintaining their political files, as these obligations exist as soon as there are legally qualified candidates, even outside of the political windows.  Reasonable access, the right of Federal candidates to demand to buy time on commercial broadcast stations, also applies as soon as there are legally qualified candidates.

According to reports in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Broadcasting and Cable Magazine, this may be one of the most active political broadcasting years ever.  With many observers believing that both the US House of Representatives and the Senate are potentially up for grabs, and there being many significant gubernatorial races in large states including New York, California, Texas and Michigan, money should flow into political advertising, straining the inventories of some broadcast stations in battleground states.  Now is the time, early in the campaign, for broadcasters to consider how to manage these political buys.  Remember that a station must give equal opportunities to opposing candidates to match spots run by their opponents within the prior 7 days.  So stations, when approached early in a campaign by candidates with lots of available funds, need to be careful about booking too many large buys from one side of a political race for spots to be run in the last days of the campaign.  By booking too many large buys now from only one side, the station may find itself, in the last few days of the campaign, with requests from the opposing candidate for equal time, which will have to be accommodated.  Accommodating those equal opportunities may require the preemption of commercial advertisers, something that stations may be loath to do to advertisers who will be around well after the political season ends.Continue Reading Political Broadcasting – The Window Opens