FCC Fines for Non-Disclosure of Political Advertising Policies

$15,000-$75,000 per campaign per election cycle (overcharges on rates not disclosed as lowest unit; lost inventory opportunities; cost of re-negotiating post-discovery; potential campaign rebates owed if station non-compliance is discovered) • $25,000-$75,000 per election cycle from FCC fines for non-disclosure; additional rebates owed to candidates if rates were not accurately provided; legal fees for FCC defense • $30,000-$80,000 FCC violation fine; mandatory candidate rebates for rate undercharges; reputational damage; FCC consent decree requirements

Manual rate card creation, email chains, phone calls, paper records, spreadsheets without version control • News Director maintains separate notes in notebooks or personal emails; cross-references with programming schedule manually; no audit trail of disclosures made • Programming Director uses traffic system (non-compliant) plus manual supplemental tracking in Word documents; rates communicated verbally with incomplete written confirmation; no searchable disclosure log