FCC approves revised rules for on-air contests

Fri, 09/18/2015 - 09:03

From the September 17, 2015, Commission Meeting, the FCC has approved new rules that modernize on-air contests. Under the previous rules, terms and conditions of radio station contests had to be announced over the air.  This was lengthy and many stations relegated these required announcements to overnight periods.  Under the new rules, radio stations can now opt to announcing the station's website over the air and providing a link to the contest information. 

Under the newly revised rules, broadcast stations running contests:

  • Must broadcast the relevant website address periodically with information sufficent for a consumer easily to find material contest terms online;
  • Must establish a link or tab to material contest terms on the website's home page;
  • Must maintain contest terms online for a period of at least 30 days after the contest has ended; and
  • Must announce on air that the material terms of a contest have changed since the contest was first announced, where that is the case, and direct participants to the website to review the changes. 
  • Any announcements about changes to the contest terms must be made within 24 hours of the change and periodically thereafter.
  • All licensees must ensure that any material terms disclosed on a website conform in all substantive respects to those mentioned over the air.

The effective date of the new contest rules will be announced at a later time as this rule change is still subject to the final approval by the government's Office of Management and Budget.   Until that happens, the current rules that require on-air disclosure are still in place.  

MB Docket 14-226, Report and Order:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0917/FCC-...