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April 29, 2005
Politicians Wanted Their Ads Subsidized
The U.S. Senate is wrangling over campaign finance, centered largely on Section 527 groups. You won’t read about it in the Washington Post or other accounts of the development, but there’s bi-partisan agreement on one point: getting political ads subsidized by broadcasters (and ultimately, other advertisers).
According to the Television Business Report, a last minute amendment was attached to Senate Resolution 271 by Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin. Durbin’s amendment requires broadcasters to charge the lowest unit rate to political candidates during the year leading up to Election Day. Moreover, such ads would be non-preemptible.
If this proposal becomes law, broadcasters will inevitably make up for this discounted airtime by charging higher rates to their other advertisers. As the TVBR notes, it would be encouraging to broadcasters (and to voters at large) if this proposal were about increasing debates or town hall meetings.
Forget about that, says Washington: we want unobstructed, discounted airtime to paste the country with as many ads (invariably negative) as possible.
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