[BC] Re: LPFM Operations

[Black, Mike]

>>NCE's (and similarly LPFM's) can air underwriting and 
>>sponsor announcements which can say and position itself such that the
only 
>>thing verboten is the promotion of a specific product, pricing, or
sales 
>>campaign, locations, and services offered. 

My comment was specific to legally licensed non-profits buying
commercials, such as the Red Cross, Art Council, or a College, and they
can be Commercials, that include call to action, price, and comparative
or qualitative language. This is FCC legal. HOWEVER, as previously
stated, it will likely cause some IRS and other tax issues for you and
the organization. Suggested practice by DEI, NPR, NFCB, PRPD, and others
suggest a consistent policy for all underwriters, to avoid confusion or
get into problems. 

>> MANY stations air polished/ad agency quality 60 or 30 second
underwriting >>announcements which so closely  mimic commercials that
you really need to >>listen to make sure they don't cross the line.
That would include music >>beds, sounders, professional V/O's, the whole
thing.

Yep. And this is where the FCC has stated that while it may stay legal
in terms of word content, the addition of beds and sfx can violate the
intent of the rules, and lead to sanctions. One conference I attended,
the former head of the Enforcement Bureau gave the example of using
music that is identifiable with a product, such as "That's Amore" behind
a Pizza underwriting or Car Crash sfx for a collision shop.

>>PBS pushed that envelope years ago when they wanted to air polished
>>program sponsorships. Simple text credits were not doing the trick any
>>more.  

Oh yeah. Read the WTTW NAL and look at some of the other issues raised.
I was working at a public TV station during the "commercial experiment"
and we were running the same AMEX image add as commercial TV. The
difference was the graphic at the end was not promotional. Same 30
second spot, however. 
Non-com TV has always gotten away with so much more, just due to being a
visual medium. You don't have to use language as a call to action, when
you show video of a Bud being poured into a glass, or seeing shiny new
cars. This has always been an inequity, and will be under current rules.
You can't even use the logogram that Met Life had "Get Met, it Pays" as
it was promotional. However, it showed up on the TV graphic. 

>>Just watch This Old House or Hometime and the opening and closing
>>sponsorships. Each one gets 30 seconds at the front and end.

This actually did get FCC attention. I worked on the first two seasons
of Hometime for PBS, and there were discussions on the promotional
nature of some of the underwriting. It has only gotten worse. The FCC
needs to put radio on an equal playing field, at least expanding some of
the language. You can still do that, IMHO, without blatant calls to
action or price, and without changing the nature of non-commercial
broadcasting. 

>>WRONG...NCE station assets and rights to the license are just as
saleable 
>>as a commercial station.  OTOH, you are correct that LPFM licenses are
not 
>>transferable through the traditional asset purchase or rights
transfer.


I should have been more clear. Of course a licensee can transfer or sell
their station. Even LPFM stations are now able to be transferred on a
case by case basis. My comment was the selling of program blocks similar
to brokered commercial programs is not permitted. This is the opinion of
at least 5 attorney's to which I have asked this question, and FCC
staff, some pretty high up. However, the FCC has allowed LMA
arrangements, where another licensee programs or operates the station.
While some may say this is semantics, it is quite different then selling
blocks of time to producers for a program. 

>>Tell that to PBS...  Years ago, I would agree that the FCC's view on 
>>"polished production" was far more conservative.  Today, not so.

I agree. At one point, the FCC was going to look into this in the recent
past, but it seems to have gone away or stalled by nipple-gate and other
issues, such as ownership.

MB