Local broadcasters are rubbing their hands briskly at the prospect of increased ad dollars flowing in, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling Wednesday that lifted limits on political donations.
The ruling means individuals can give more cash to scads of candidates, though the amount they can give to any one candidate remains capped at $2,600 for each primary or general election.
Scott Roskowski, chief development officer at the Television Bureau of Advertising, which represents local broadcast TV, says that around $6 billion has been raised by candidates in advance of the mid-terms versus 2010, another mid-term year, when the figure was $4.7 million. Broadcasters are already poised to take 75 percent of that cash.
“The net effect will be extremely positive,” said Roskowski. “It will open up more gates for the money to flow to local broadcast TV. This ruling should really incentivize the super PACs and independent contributors to start opening up.”
A spokeswoman for Clear Channel radio stations added: “We think it’s a positive for these businesses.”
Not everyone thinks the news will dramatically boost local media coffers in the usual swing states and at stations located where there are toss-up Senate races — Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and North Carolina.
Not all see it as a windfall.
“The effect will be more modest. It will redirect the flood of money a little bit but it won’t change the amount by a significant amount,” said Ken Goldstein, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.
The theory is that money that was previously spent on groups might now switch to candidates rather than grow dramatically.
Goldstein updated his mid-term spending projections earlier this week because of a widening number of Senate seats but won’t tweak it upward on the new ruling.
He projects a $2.6 billion take by broadcasters during the mid-terms later this year, an increase of $200 million versus an earlier projection.