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Guest Commentary July 22, 2002
The Case for Free Air Time for Political Candidates
The Honorable John McCain
The case for free air time is one that has been made for a very long time, and it is a good one.
Like the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act that finally passed this year, the free air time proposal has the ambitious though vital goal of improving our democracy. Whereas the campaign finance reform act's emphasis was on eliminating improper financial contributions, the free air time bill would help de-emphasize large contributions by reducing candidate's dependence on raising money to reach voters.
Clearly, our democracy will be improved when a candidate's success is less dependent on money, and more dependent on the value of his or her ideas. The benefits of free air time are not only for candidates, however. By increasing the flow of political information, free air time can better inform the public about candidates and invite viewers to become more engaged in their government by learning more about the individuals seeking to represent them.
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Of course the term "free" in this town, or any other, rarely means "free" for everyone. While the legislative proposal that we are contemplating anticipates that candidates for public office will receive, gratis, a prescribed amount of coverage prior to elections, and vouchers that they can trade in for radio and television broadcast advertising, this broadcast time will have to be paid for in some way. I believe it is appropriate that this payment come from radio and television broadcasters.
Since 1927, we have required broadcasters, in those days just radio broadcasters, to serve the public interest. We have required this public interest service in exchange for the privilege of obtaining an exclusive license to use a scarce public resource: the electromagnetic spectrum. ...
In 2001, a leading Wall Street analyst estimated that if the airwaves used by the broadcasters were sold at auction -- the way the federal government has been auctioning off other portions of the spectrum in the last decade to cellular phone companies and other wireless communications firms -- it would bring in a staggering $367 billion to the public treasury.
When considering the value of the spectrum compared to the value broadcasters give back in the form of public interest obligations, what had been lopsided prior to 1996, later became grossly distorted. In 1996, Congress agreed to "loan" each television broadcaster an additional six MHz of prime spectrum to facilitate the broadcasters' conversion to digital television.
In what I have previously called the "Great American Ripoff," the American taxpayers' "loaned" $70 billion worth of spectrum to the TV broadcast industry. In exchange, broadcasters committed to deploying by a date certain, digital television, which they asserted was vital to their continued existence.
Television broadcasters who had received additional spectrum allocations in 1996 were supposed to be broadcasting a digital signal on May 1, 2002. Theoretically, consumers should now be able to receive a digital signal from each and every commercial broadcaster in the country.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of broadcasters missed that deadline, leaving consumers' digital TV tuners with little more than static. According to recent figures from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), over 1,011 or 77% of commercial broadcasters failed to meet the May 1 deadline. Moreover, 834 commercial stations filed waiver requests with the FCC seeking an extension to complete the construction of their digital facilities.
The transition to digital television has been a grave disappointment for American consumers and nothing short of a spectrum heist, for an indefinite period of time, by television broadcasters. As USA Today reported on May 1, "Today was supposed to be a milestone in the grand conversion to digital broadcast television. Instead it serves as a marker for how poorly the transition is going . . . At the current pace, broadcasters will be able to keep all of their spectrum, digital and analog, in perpetuity. That means a substantial chunk will remain locked up in broadcasters' hands, instead of being put to more valuable uses, such as for advanced cell phone services. Not only are those needed, the spectrum also could be sold for billions, aiding a deficit-laden U.S. Treasury."
The broadcasters have not only missed the May 1 deadline, but have broken their promise to Congress and the American public. In testimony before the Commerce Committee in 1997, the NAB stated, "We agreed to an aggressive rollout for this new technology . . . Broadcasters have made a compact with Congress concerning high definition television. We will meet our commitments."
I recite these commitments made by television broadcasters, not because I believe that their failure to live up to their commitments on DTV means that we should punish them by requiring them to provide free air time to candidates, but because the DTV fiasco is evidence that broadcasters have reneged on their commitment to serve the public interest.
I believe that one of the most beneficial ways for broadcasters to meet their public interest obligation is through the provision of free air time to candidates. Not only will this serve viewers, voters, and candidates, it will serve to help restore the integrity of the democratic process.
John McCain, a Republican, is a U.S. Senator from Arizona. The above commentary has been adapted from remarks by Sen. McCain at a symposium sponsored by the Alliance for Better Campaigns and the New America Foundation, on June 19, 2002 in Washington, D.C. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
