Akin Controversy Could Cost Missouri Stations

Leading Republicans weren’t the only ones pulling for Rep. Todd Akin to get out of the Missouri Senate race. Local TV stations across the Show Me State had a lot on the line, as well.

Stations stand to lose a lot of money with Akin defying pleas from the GOP establishment -- including Mitt Romney -- to abandon his campaign. Their urging came after his bizarre comments about women being able to prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape.” Akin, the Republican seeking to unseat incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill, prepped an ad apologizing for his remarks, saying he “used the wrong words in the wrong way” and he has “a compassionate heart” for sexual assault victims. But how many more ads he will be able to run between now and November remains a question that could negatively impact some of the country’s leading station groups, including Belo, Sinclair and Gannett (with affiliates in St. Louis) and Meredith, Hearst and E.W. Scripps (in Kansas City).