One of the few groups who want the current election campaign to continue, forever, are broadcasters who are making millions on political ads.
According to Paul Farhi in The Washington Post, “Faced with an unprecedented flood of commercials for candidates and causes, Washington’s TV stations have had to get creative to fit them all in. Some are trimming their regular programming to squeeze in a few more ads, and some are adding more news at other hours.
"WTTG (Channel 5), the District’s Fox affiliate, for example, began bumping daily reruns of “The Simpsons” on Monday to add an extra half-hour to its 6 p.m. newscast. The expanded “News Edge” program will focus on political news — the kind of programming political advertisers demand most.”
Farhi added that “WJLA (Channel 7), the area’s ABC affiliate, has temporarily added two weekend newscasts to its schedule for the same reason. On Saturday, the station preempted network programming and aired a two-hour movie in prime time in order to create more local ad slots. The station has occasionally shaved time from some of its weekday programming to accommodate an extra political ad or two, said Bill Lord, WJLA’s general manager.”
Farhi reported that “Washington’s TV stations are the beneficiaries of a record amount of political advertising this fall. During a one-month period that ended Friday, the stations collected $58.6 million from political advertisers, a sixfold increase from the $9.8 million spent on political issues in the same period in 2008, according to an estimate by Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), a tracking firm.”
For the full Farhi story, click here:www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dilemma-for-dc-stations-so-many-political-ads-so-little-airtime/2012/10/22/6ee44c1c-1a37-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html