Miscellaneous Uses for a Blog

Do you like political ads (snicker) ? You are about to see a lot more of them. Is this because the party conventions are over? No. Is it because the full party tickets are now chosen with the selections of Joe Biden and Sarah Palin ? Nope. Is it because the 2-month mark is this some magical psychological trigger in citizen conscious about the upcoming election? Not that either. Today marks the day when rates for political ads drop.

According to federal law, commercial broadcasters are required to charge the lowest unit rate to any political advertisement by a candidate running for election 60 days prior to a general election and 45 days before a primary. This includes both national, state, and municipal elections. The only real requirement is that the ad has to be clearly sponsored or approved by the candidate (this is why so many political ads finish in "I approve this message". This means that airtime that can be sold full price by a broadcaster now needs to be sold at a discount.

Spending on political advertisements is always big news around election time, with more and more money being spent by candidates each year. One conclusion that always is brought up is how good this is for broadcasters. While the influx of political ads may make up for a few unsold advertising slots, the lower ad rates are usually bad for broadcasters, despite the concept of "reasonable access" which doesn’t REQUIRE broadcasters to replace commercial advertisements with political advertisements.

None the less, get ready for a dramatic upswing in annoying political mudslinging in your broadcasting outlets. They can afford a lot more of them for the next 2 months. I for one can’t wait for these next 60 days to be over.