Press: TV Politics

Campaigning for air time

In the 1976 presidential campaign, no candidate bought 30 minutes of television air time until about six months before the balloting. Election Day 1980 is still a year away, but already three top contenders are requesting half-hour spots.

The networks, in a decision that must delight sitcom fans everywhere, have refused. Stated reason: it is too early for TV politicking.

Representatives of John Connally, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter went shopping for tube time as early as mid-September. ABC and NBC told them to come back later. CBS offered each candidate two five-minute spots, one during prime time and the other during the day.

Connally and Reagan grudgingly accepted the offer—the Texan’s first ad, which cost about $31,000, was shown last week —but Carter was determined to get 30 minutes in early December to announce for reelection. His campaign committee filed a complaint with the FCC. “For them to say that the political season hasn’t started is absurd,” said a Carter aide. “The reason they don’t want to sell the time is because it’ll cost them money.”

Indeed, commercial spots for a half-hour episode of M*A*S*H would bring in $900,000 now, compared with the $180,000 or so the Carter-Mondale Committee would have to fork over. (An FCC decision on their case is expected within two weeks.) The networks deny that money is a factor. They argue that if they sold one half-hour spot, they would be besieged with other requests; moreover, they say the candidates would do better buying time on local stations during the primaries. Reagan’s staff did just that, but on a national scale. They organized a network of stations in the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas and many smaller ones to broadcast his declaration speech on Nov. 13.