• Broadcasting & Cable, Thursday, June 21, 2007 10:30 AM

A campaign finance reform bill working its way through a Senate committee could take a slice out of hundreds of millions that broadcasters garner from election-related ad campaigns. The Fair Elections Now Act -- co-sponsored by Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) -- is part of a push for more public funding for elections and is designed to help candidates who take only small contributions to afford TV ads.

Candidates are currently charged the lowest unit rate for TV time, but the new bill would give them an extra 20% discount in the period before election day. It would also extend the unit rate and discount rules to political parties. And it would bar stations from preempting political ads, while taxing them 2% of gross advertising revenues to fund a political advertising voucher system.

Durbin concedes the current system was created by incumbents like him, but says it's time to change it. The current system is "creating a trust fund for TV stations," he says, as they receive the millions he collects from "generous contributors."

Read the whole story at Broadcasting & Cable »