12-26-2012
The NAB has has filed comments supporting Entercom's request that the FCC update its rules, allowing stations to provide listeners with contest rules on station websites. The 1976 rule requires stations to make periodic on air announcements. These promos often take up valuable air-time that could be used for ads (or other programming), they are read at warp speed or buried at times few people are listening. Entercom filed a "Petition for Rulemaking" in January of 2012.
The NAB, which filed it comments last week, wrote "The Commission should revisit the Contest Rule and consider making ?adjustments to better serve the public by recognizing that there are now better ways to communicate detailed contest information and removing from the rules the requirement of counterproductive undesirable program content.?
Today, the public expects to be able to access information over the internet via computers, tablets, hand-held devices and smart phones. Communication is expected to be crisp, concise and brief. Consumers have many choices for entertainment, information and news and will flip from one to another if their expectations are not met. Reading detailed contest terms on air interrupts radio programming and can drive listeners away. It is also unnecessary, given other communication options today. In particular, accessing contest terms via the internet is a more user-friendly way for consumers to read, understand and assess the terms of a contest, rather than trying to catch a fleeting and periodic on air announcement.
Read the Entercom Filing HERE
Read the NAB Filing HERE
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