FCC Fights against "'No Urban' Dictate" Ban
MMTC calls on FCC to install compliance officer for non-discrimination rule
From Radio Ink
(July 16, 2008) The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council has
asked the FCC to appoint a compliance officer to oversee enforcement of its new rule banning "no Urban" and "no Spanish" dictates, where
advertisers refuse to consider buying time on stations that serve
African-American or Hispanic audiences. The MMTC believes universal
compliance with the rule, which went into effect yesterday, would raise
revenue for minority broadcasters by 5 to 10 percent.
In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, MMTC Exec. Director David
Honig writes, "Public awareness of the rule is critical to effective
compliance and enforcement. An advertising non-discrimination compliance
officer would be responsible for alerting broadcasters to their
obligation to place nondiscrimination clauses in their advertising sales contracts, and their duty to observe and insist on performance of these
clauses just as they would with any other material term of an
advertising contract."
Honig says the appointment of a senior official as compliance officer would "significantly advance the commission's determined efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination in broadcasting."
