anti Bush ad not on TV?

[Southpaw]

I saw this a bit ago and in the al frankin thread in p8ntball sig The main commercial. And the REST
it made me think why do they have to show any comercials? Walmart does not have to sell anything I want why does CBS have to?

[Chojin Man]

umm $$$ and lots of it is why they have commercials

[Southpaw]

But the point was they dont HAVE to. CBS does to make money but they dont all the time just think back to 9-11 they lost a ton of money not running commercials. Is it not ultimately up to them to choose who/what they want on CBS?

[impostal22]

Originally posted by Southpaw
But the point was they dont HAVE to. CBS does to make money but they dont all the time just think back to 9-11 they lost a ton of money not running commercials. Is it not ultimately up to them to choose who/what they want on CBS?

righto..the major networks are owned by the big 5 major corporations of america. the corporations ultimately decide.

[Southpaw]

I want to see the tobacco ads they speak of.. unless I am wrong they cant have tobacco ads on tv. It is not like media is left leaning anyway right?

[1stdeadeye]

Originally posted by impostal22


righto..the major networks are owned by the big 5 major corporations of america. the corporations ultimately decide.

Not this again!

I already told you that GE, Viacom, News Corp, AOL Time Warner, and Disney are big, but they are not "the big 5 major corporations of america". Check out the S&P 500 for the biggest com-panies in America and then come back.

Why must they run the commercials? To stay in business. ER is a great example, NBC does not own that show. They buy it from Warner Brothers. To pay for it they need the revenue from ads! Advertising is the bread and butter of network television. Cable is different for obvious reasons (paying customers for you slower AOers out there! )

They do need to make money all the time. If not, the management will be removed and replaced by the Shareholders!

[Southpaw]

What I was getting to is that they are a business and the whole free speech does not apply. They are not "forced" to show any specific commercials they choose every day what commercial they want to show and when they want to show it. It will be interesting to see the Bush ad and see if it attacks the democrats or if it is the general this is what I have done for you ad. I bet it is the latter. That would be very different from the attacking commercial.

[Restola]

I think refusing to sell advertising space can be a violation of free speach (for an organization/company willing to pay the price). It would probably only be enforcable with the "hot" political topics though.

[Chojin Man]

Didn't CBS say that the anti-Bush commercials were too controversial(sp), and that is why they didn't run them? And something about not being able to draw the line about what is and what is not too controversial(sp).