§  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, 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 under §  73.3526. 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 §  73.3526. 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 §  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 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;  77 FR 27655 , May 11, 2012]

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