Sec. 73.1212 Sponsorship identification; list retention; related
requirements.
(a) When a broadcast station transmits any matter for which money,
service, or other valuable consideration is either directly or
indirectly paid or promised to, or charged or accepted by such station,
the station, at the time of the broadcast, shall announce:
(1) That such matter is sponsored, paid for, or furnished, either in
whole or in part, and
(2) By whom or on whose behalf such consideration was supplied:
Provided, however, That ``service or other valuable consideration''
shall not include any service or property furnished either without or at
a nominal charge for use on, or in connection with, a broadcast unless
it is so furnished in consideration for an identification of any person,
product, service, trademark, or brand name beyond an identification
reasonably related to the use of such service or property on the
broadcast.
(i) For the purposes of this section, the term ``sponsored'' shall
be deemed to have the same meaning as ``paid for.''
(ii) In the case of any television political advertisement
concerning candidates for public office, the sponsor shall be identified
with letters equal to or greater than four percent of the vertical
picture height that air for not less than four seconds.
(b) The licensee of each broadcast station shall exercise reasonable
diligence to obtain from its employees, and from other persons with whom
it deals directly in connection with any matter for broadcast,
information to enable such licensee to make the announcement required by
this section.
(c) In any case where a report has been made to a broadcast station
as required by section 507 of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended, of circumstances which would have required an announcement
under this section had the consideration been received by such broadcast
station, an appropriate announcement shall be made by such station.
(d) In the case of any political broadcast matter or any broadcast
matter involving the discussion of a controversial issue of public
importance for which any film, record, transcription, talent, script, or
other material or service of any kind is furnished, either directly or
indirectly, to a station as an inducement for broadcasting such matter,
an announcement shall be made both at the beginning and conclusion of
such broadcast on which such material or service is used that such film,
record, transcription, talent,
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script, or other material or service has been furnished to such station
in connection with the transmission of such broadcast matter: Provided,
however, That in the case of any broadcast of 5 minutes' duration or
less, only one such announcement need be made either at the beginning or
conclusion of the broadcast.
(e) The announcement required by this section shall, in addition to
stating the fact that the broadcast matter was sponsored, paid for or
furnished, fully and fairly disclose the true identity of the person or
persons, or corporation, committee, association or other unincorporated
group, or other entity by whom or on whose behalf such payment is made
or promised, or from whom or on whose behalf such services or other
valuable consideration is received, or by whom the material or services
referred to in paragraph (d) of this section are furnished. Where an
agent or other person or entity contracts or otherwise makes
arrangements with a station on behalf of another, and such fact is known
or by the exercise of reasonable diligence, as specified in paragraph
(b) of this section, could be known to the station, the announcement
shall disclose the identity of the person or persons or entity on whose
behalf such agent is acting instead of the name of such agent. Where the
material broadcast is political matter or matter involving the
discussion of a controversial issue of public importance and a
corporation, committee, association or other unincorporated group, or
other entity is paying for or furnishing the broadcast matter, the
station shall, in addition to making the announcement required by this
section, require that a list of the chief executive officers or members
of the executive committee or of the board of directors of the
corporation, committee, association or other unincorporated group, or
other entity shall be made available for public inspection at the
location specified by the licensee under Sec. 73.3526 of this chapter.
If the broadcast is originated by a network, the list may, instead, be
retained at the headquarters office of the network or at the location
where the originating station maintains its public inspection file under
Sec. 73.3526 of this chapter. Such lists shall be kept and made
available for a period of two years.
(f) In the case of broadcast matter advertising commercial products
or services, an announcement stating the sponsor's corporate or trade
name, or the name of the sponsor's product, when it is clear that the
mention of the name of the product constitutes a sponsorship
identification, shall be deemed sufficient for the purpose of this
section and only one such announcement need be made at any time during
the course of the broadcast.
(g) The announcement otherwise required by section 317 of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, is waived with respect to the
broadcast of ``want ad'' or classified advertisements sponsored by an
individual. The waiver granted in this paragraph shall not extend to a
classified advertisement or want ad sponsorship by any form of business
enterprise, corporate or otherwise. Whenever sponsorship announcements
are omitted pursuant to this paragraph, the licensee shall observe the
following conditions:
(1) Maintain a list showing the name, address, and (where available)
the telephone number of each advertiser;
(2) Make this list available to members of the public who have a
legitimate interest in obtaining the information contained in the list.
Such list must be retained for a period of two years after broadcast.
(h) Any announcement required by section 317(b) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, is waived with respect to
feature motion picture film produced initially and primarily for theatre
exhibition.
Note: The waiver heretofore granted by the Commission in its Report
and Order adopted November 16, 1960 (FCC 60-1369; 40 F.C.C. 95),
continues to apply to programs filmed or recorded on or before June 20,
1963, when Sec. 73.654, the predecessor television rule, went into
effect.
(i) Commission interpretations in connection with the provisions of
the sponsorship identification rules are contained in the Commission's
Public Notice, entitled ``Applicability of Sponsorship Identification
Rules,'' dated May 6, 1963 (40 F.C.C. 141), as modified by Public
Notice, dated April
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21, 1975 (FCC 75-418). Further interpretations are printed in full in
various volumes of the Federal Communications Commission Reports.
[ 40 FR 18400 , Apr. 28, 1975, as amended at 46 FR 13907 , Feb. 24, 1981;
49 FR 4211 , Feb. 3, 1984; 49 FR 33663 , Aug. 24, 1984; 50 FR 32417 , Aug.
12, 1985; 57 FR 8279 , Mar. 9, 1992]
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