Reminder: NAB Resources to Help Ensure Compliance with the FCC's Political Advertising Rules

With Election Day right around the corner, now is the time to make sure your station is carefully complying with the FCC's rules for political advertising. The transition of stations' political advertising files to the FCC's online database has allowed for increased scrutiny of your compliance with the FCC's rules. The documents that stations must upload to the political file are now date-stamped and easily accessible to FCC staff and third-party groups. Therefore, it has never been more important that all required information about political advertising requests are promptly uploaded and that your political file is accurate and up to date at all times. The FCC is closely monitoring station compliance and initiating enforcement actions for violations.

NAB has produced several tools to help members understand and follow the rules. NAB's Template Political File Compliance Manual may be used by any stations that are required to create a political advertising compliance manual as part of a consent decree with the FCC, and should be useful for all other stations. The guide provides suggested best practices for maintaining your political file, including comprehensive checklists to help stations thoroughly review political ads and upload all of the required information for each type of political ad. The guide also provides an overview of the lowest unit rate, equal opportunities and other political advertising requirements.

NAB recently produced an educational webcast with the leaders of the FCC's Political Programming Branch that covers all of the essential political file obligations. The webcast also provides a useful discussion of some of the more nuanced, yet critical questions that often arise regarding the online political file. Both the compliance manual and the webcast provide step-by-step technical instructions for how to upload documents to the FCC's online database.

NAB's Legal and Regulatory Affairs department is always available to answer any questions you may have about the FCC's political advertising policies. They can be reached at (866) 682-0276.