| Costs for a 30 Second Political Advertising Spot in Texas, 2004 |
| Station |
Immediately
Preemptible |
Fully
Non-
preemptible |
Viewing
Households |
| KPRC (NBC, Houston) |
$3,000 |
$9,000 |
1,848,770 |
| KSAT (ABC, San Antonio) |
1,500 |
3,500 |
736,240 |
| WOAI (NBC, San Antonio) |
1,600 |
2,750 |
736,240 |
| KABB (Fox, San Antonio) |
750 |
1,700 |
736,240 |
| KXAN (NBC, Austin) |
3,000 |
6,000 |
577,740 |
| KVUE (ABC, Austin) |
950 |
2,500 |
577,740 |
| KEYE (CBS, Austin) |
900 |
2,000 |
577,740 |
| KXXV (ABC, Waco) |
325 |
1,700 |
310,280 |
| KCEN (NBC, Temple) |
500 |
1,000 |
310,280 |
| KWKT (Fox, Waco) |
300 |
350 |
310,280 |
| KRGV (ABC, Weslaco) |
300 |
1,200 |
297,390 |
| KETK (NBC, Tyler) |
500 |
2,250 |
260,080 |
| KLTV (ABC, Tyler) |
675 |
1,800 |
260,080 |
| KZTV (CBS, Corpus Christi) |
475 |
950 |
194,040 |
| KFDX (NBC, Wichita Falls) |
525 |
1,400 |
158,290 |
| KAMC (ABC, Lubbock) |
250 |
700 |
152,090 |
| KLBK (CBS, Lubbock) |
250 |
550 |
152,090 |
| KJTV (Fox, Lubbock) |
150 |
225 |
152,090 |
| KGNS (NBC, Laredo) |
185 |
280 |
60,210 |
| KLST (CBS, San Angelo) |
190 |
750 |
53,980 |
|
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Federal regulations require that television stations charge
candidates for federal office their lowest unit rate. This means that
political candidates pay no more per unit of time than a station charges
its most favored commercial advertiser for the same class and amount of
time for the same time period. Since there are many different time
slots, variously sized blocks of time, and multiple classes of time, the
dollar value of "lowest unit rate" depends on choices candidates make.
For instance, advertisers typically have four or more classes of time to
chose from. The most expensive is fully nonpreemptible time. A
candidate buys a specific time slot on a specific day and the station
guarantees it will air the ad at that time. The lowest rate for a
specified time slot is immediately preemptible time. A candidate
purchases advertising time during a particular time period which may be
bumped in favor of higher, more expensive classes of advertising but
will run during that time slot on a day when time is available. The
cheapest advertising is run-of-schedule time. A station promises only
to air the ad as many times as are purchased, but only when the station
can work it into its schedule.
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