Dems want pay TV and radio to disclose buyers of political ads

Last August, as reported in Speed Matters, the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation called on the Federal Communications Commission today to extend to cable and satellite systems the requirement that their political files be posted on the FCC’s online database.

This week, House members Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) wrote to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urging the commission to adopt the foundation petition for rulemaking. The trio said that it was urgent that FCC act quickly because “Spending on political television advertisements is expected to surpass $2.4 billion in the 2014 election cycle, a 70 percent increase over 2010.” And that Americans should have the right to see who’s spending this money.

As Waxman, Eshoo and Nelson said:

“We also urge the FCC to consider taking steps to enhance the accessibility of online political file documents. For example, requiring online filings to be uploaded to the FCC's database in a standardized or searchable format would substantially improve the ability of the public, journalists, and policymakers to aggregate and analyze political spending data.”

Post political files online for cable and satellite as well as broadcast (Speed Matters, Aug. 8, 2014)

Waxman, Eshoo, Nelson letter to Wheeler (House of Representatives, Sep. 16, 2014)