Appeals Court Bans Political Ads From Public TV

An appeals court upheld a ban on airing for-profit ads on public television, and extended that ban to include political ads. The court said Congress has the right to put such restrictions on those stations since such ads would “change the character of public broadcast programming and undermine the intended distinction between commercial and non-commercial broadcasting.” Public stations are barred from running paid advertisements for for-profit entities, but when the FCC fined the Minority Television Project for airing what it deemed to be ads for Chevrolet, Ford, and Korea Airlines the public channel challenged the restrictions as violation of the First Amendment.