Re: WMUR-TV Made Big Bucks This Election Year

[Dan Billings <billingsdan@yahoo.com>]

--- Sid Schweiger <sid@wrko.com> wrote:
> Betcha they don't.  Political ads within the
> specified windows (45 days before a primary and 60
> days before a general election) must be sold at
> lowest unit rate, and since radio and TV stations
> are obligated to take all political ads for federal
> office (including Senate and House seats), those ads
> would have displaced ads sold at higher rates.

Only candidates are entitled to the lowest unit rates.
 The third party ads, which made up a significant
percentage of the ads this year, have to pay whatever
the stations want to charge.

If WMUR, or any other station, was really losing money
on political ads, they would not sell ads to
candidates in state races -- which they are not
required to do under law.

On the Portland stations, I have noticed a lot of
non-revenue producing material where the political ads
were running just two weeks ago.  I don't think they
were turning down other customers to run political
ads.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

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