Political Broadcasting 2012: Things Change

[Commentary] As a result of the 2010 Census, a number of states are still dancing at the Redistricting Disco, redrawing the boundaries of their Congressional districts. In Texas, this has led to a lengthy court battle.

The latest development: a federal court in San Antonio has rescheduled the state’s primary elections, moving them back nearly two months, from April 3 to May 29, with runoff elections, if necessary, on July 31. (The elections had already been pushed back from their original date of March 6.) The court also re-opened the candidate filing window, which will now run from March 2 through March 9. The court’s decision establishes a new 45-day window (starting April 14) in which broadcasters’ lowest-unit-charge (LUC) requirements will apply, and it terminates the LUC window that had been started based on the April 3 date. So not only will broadcasters have to extend LUC rates for several weeks beyond their original expectation, but they will also have to deal with political advertising contracts entered into for the previous LUC period. And for a further potential complication, the re-opening of the candidate filing window could also change the pool of qualified candidates.