Are There ANY Biden Ads on the Fox Channel?

[Jim_B]

A question, not an accusation. Also there is a very important reason why I put this in General Questions (more on that later).

I have satellite TV. And I do sometimes surf into the Fox News Channel. Then when I have about as much as I can tolerate, I change channels.

Anyway I do see plenty of Trump presidential ads, but never any Biden. Is the Fox Channel showing any Biden ads?

Remember that this a factual question. I am only asking that. I do realize it could ignite quite a serious debate. And if anyone wants that, I am sure I or anyone else would be glad to do that. Just one question: Biden ads on Fox. Thank you.

[Si_Amigo]

Yes. They are targeting 22% of their ads to run on Fox. But unless you are in a battleground state you may not see them much on Fox.

Trump campaign focuses cable TV buys on Fox News, while Biden makes a wider play

[KarlGauss]

Can private media networks in the US choose not to air a particular candidate’s or party’s ads? What rules/laws if any apply?

I asked a similar question a year or so ago but can’t find it through searching (and can’t remember the details of the answer).

[Dr.Strangelove]

The Lincoln Project has bought ad time on Fox (during Tucker Carlson’s show at least).

[Si_Amigo]

If they broadcast over the public air waves they are subject to FCC regulations. No they cannot refuse to run political ads without being drawn into congressional hearings and risk loosing their broadcast license.

[kenobi_65]

@Si_Amigo

If they broadcast over the public air waves they are subject to FCC regulations.

However, FNC isn’t an over-the-air network, and, as I understand it, such regulations don’t apply to them.

The regulations apply to the traditional “broadcast” networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox*, CW, and, I suppose, PBS, too), as well as local broadcast stations.

*- The entertainment network Fox Broadcasting Company, not Fox News Channel.

[nearwildheaven]

I’m guessing that they show them in the wee hours of the night/morning.

[AlsoNamedBort]

@Si_Amigo

No they cannot refuse to run political ads without being drawn into congressional hearings and risk loosing their broadcast license.

I believe broadcast stations could do a blanket ban on political ads right? They just couldn’t ban a specific party.

[Si_Amigo]

The Fox News Channel is on cable and cable is regulated by the FCC. If it were a internet only entity like Facebook or Twitter I believe (not sure) they might fall into a grey area known as net neutrality. But even Facebook and Twitter have been called out by congress to police themselves or face oversight by the FCC, mainly over political BS by letting outright lies go unchecked.

Federal Communications Commission

[kenobi_65]

@Si_Amigo

The Fox News Channel is on cable and cable is regulated by the FCC.

Yes and no. As per an article on Slate:

The FCC’s regulatory powers extend only to over-the-air broadcasters, who transmit their programs via the publicly owned spectrum. In order to obtain the FCC’s permission to use slivers of that spectrum, broadcasters agree to abide by the commission’s rules, which include indecency standards.
Cable, on the other hand, travels to American homes via privately built and maintained hardware. (The same goes for satellite services like the DISH Network, whose orbiting hardware is privately launched.) So, cable channels needn’t strike a bargain with the FCC in order to operate.

And, the “Equal-time rule” only applies to “U.S. radio and television broadcast stations.”

[kenobi_65]

@kenobi_65

And, the “Equal-time rule” only applies to “U.S. radio and television broadcast stations.”

Slight addendum – it appears that it is an open question whether the rule applies to cable networks. From a 2011 Mental Floss article:

Do these rules apply to cable networks?

That’s a good question, and it’s also one that doesn’t have a simple answer. As Scott Horsley reported on NPR’s Morning Edition during the discussion of the Thompson/ Law & Order issue, equal time on national cable networks is a bit of a gray area. TNT kept broadcasting the Thompson episodes of L&O during his campaign without any repercussions. (Networks only have to provide equal-time if an opposing candidate asks for it, and apparently none of Thompson’s Republican rivals felt like forcing the question over a few reruns.)

When Horsley interviewed former FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson for his piece, though, Johnson admitted that even though the equal-time rules haven’t been applied to national cable networks yet, there might be a legal case for extending the rules in that direction. As attorney David Oxenford noted in a post on the Broadcast Law Blog last month, this question is still unresolved.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

FOX ad execs have surprisingly discovered that a blue dollar is worth the same as a red dollar.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Fox can and does reject various political ads. I assume other networks choose to do the same.

Doubtless they are all quite aware of their obligations and scrupulously stay just on the legal side of those.

That said, you cannot expect to be able to have a political ad you made broadcast just because you are willing to pay for it.

[kitap]

I thought it odd that our local Fox channel hasn’t shown either convention.

[mbh]

@nearwildheaven

I’m guessing that they show them in the wee hours of the night/morning.

I’ve been seeing them in prime-time shows.

@kitap

I thought it odd that our local Fox channel hasn’t shown either convention.

My local Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate has not, but the Fox News Channel has given an hour per night (8:00pm to 9:00pm Mountain Time) for each convention, plus interrupting other shows when one of the big celebrities gives a speech. As I understand it, most of the coverage this year is via streaming services.