FCC Issues Reminder To Broadcasters On Sponsorship IDs – Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment

Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
issued an enforcement advisory to remind broadcasters of their
sponsorship obligations.

What is the Sponsorship Identification
Rule?

Under section 317 of the Communications Act of 1934 (the
Sponsorship Identification Rule), when a broadcast station
transmits any matter for which money, a service, or other valuable
consideration is either directly or indirectly paid or promised to,
or charged or accepted by, such station, the station, at the time
of the broadcast, must make a disclosure that states: (1) that such
matter is sponsored, paid for, or furnished, either in whole or in
part, and (2) by whom or on whose behalf such consideration was
supplied. The notice provides that broadcasters who are paid for
programming without disclosing the program’s sponsor can
“mislead the public and promote unfair competition.”
Further, the disclosures help audiences distinguish third-party
content from station editorial content.

The advisory also reminds broadcast licensees to exercise
reasonable diligence to obtain from their employees, or from
third-party suppliers, sponsorship identification information in
order to enable the licensee to air the required sponsorship
identification announcement disclosing that the material was
broadcast in exchange for consideration.

Per the public notice, violation of the Sponsorship
Identification Rule can lead to sanctions, including imprisonment
or monetary forfeitures.

Takeaway: The enforcement advisory serves as an
important reminder to commercial broadcasters to ensure they
understand and comply with the Sponsorship Identification Rule.
Advertisers should be aware of the rule as well, especially those
that might be running public service announcement-like ads in paid
media. The Sponsorship Identification Rule is generally met if: (i)
the advertisement mentions the name of the source of the ad (i.e.,
the name of the brand, company, non-profit or governmental entity
paying for the advertising space), and (ii) there is a commercial
product or service mentioned in the advertisement. However, in the
context of a public service announcement, there is not normally a
commercial product or service mentioned in the ad. Thus,
advertisers who want to run public service announcement-like
advertisements will likely receive pushback from commercial
broadcasters if their ads do not also disclose the source and the
fact that the ads were paid for.

This article is presented for informational purposes only
and is not intended to constitute legal advice.