NAB, NCTA Tag-Team on Senate Version of DISCLOSE Act

The National Association of Broadcasters and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association see eye to eye on perceived problems with the Senate version of the DISCLOSE Act.

The bill is an attempt to take some of the teeth out of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which lifted a ban on direct corporate and union funding of election ads. The bill passed the House of Representatives last week without changes to broadcast and cable's lowest-unit-rate obligations. But those changes remain in the Senate version. Among them would be to extend the requirement that broadcast and cable operators provide political airtime at the lowest rate (the lowest unit charge, or LUC) to non-pre-emptible spots, which usually go for a premium, and to extend the LUC to political parties and political action committees. In their joint letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow and NAB joint board chairman Steve Newberry said they are "greatly concerned" about expanding the scope of the lowest unit charge. They are also concerned about what they call "burdensome and unworkable" reporting requirements in the bill, which would require random audits of TV stations and cable networks.