Articles

Today the Supreme Court denied cert in a First Amendment challenge to the FCC’s ban on certain types of paid advertising on public television stations. The ban prohibits commercials for for-profit businesses and politicians, but allows the stations to broadcast ads for non-profit entities. The Minority Television Project (Minority TV), a publ ...

For years, FCC has prohibited public broadcasters from showing paid advertisements by for-profit entities or political candidates.  So when Minority TV—a non-profit channel out of San Francisco—aired advertisements for Korean Air, Gingko Biloba Tea, and the like, FCC scrambled to silence them (and fine them $10,000.)  Minority TV sought refug ...