LUC Remains Limited to Qualified Political Candidates

Last week, only days ahead of the General Election LUC window opens on September 4, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the kibosh on the FCC’s March Public Notice announcing that LUC rates also apply to ads paid for by political parties so long as the ads are “authorized” by a candidate. (Read it here.)

The Court concluded that only stand-alone candidate campaigns ads are entitled to the LUC. The 4th Circuit decision was issued on Tuesday and the Court denied a motion for stay on Thursday, thus making its ruling the law of the land, effective immediately, unless the Supreme Court decides to step into the mix.

What does this mean for broadcasters? The key takeaway is that LUC remains limited to qualified candidate advertising. Political party ads do not become eligible for LUC simply because they are authorized by a candidate. As the General Election LUC window opens, stations can continue to apply LUC to qualified candidate ads while treating political party advertising separately for rate purposes.