Expressing “concern that these deals could break FCC rules about commercial clients within news programs,” the New York Daily News‘ Richard Huff reports (2/10/09) a local scandal related to the WPIX/Channel 11 Pix Morning News program that “features a local restaurant chef whipping up a meal and often an anchor talking about a chance for viewers to purchase discounted coupons to the restaurant”:
What’s not said, however, is that some of those appearances are part of a marketing agreement in which the restaurant gives the station 100 $100 gift certificates and gets a guarantee of on-air time during the Pix Morning News.
The coupons, worth $10,000 altogether, are sold on WPIX/Channel 11‘s Web site for half their face value, with the revenue going to Channel 11 and a corporation that handles the coupon distribution.One marketing plan obtained by the Daily News clearly stated to the restaurant being pitched that in exchange for the coupons, the customer got on-air time–not a commercial–during the weekly “Dining Pix” segment.
The crucial–and potentially illegal–part is that “the on-air segments are not labeled commercials, but rather pitched as something the restaurants are doing to give diners a discount on food in hard times.” But Huff is not fooled: “since Channel 11 keeps some of the money from the coupon sales, in a way, the ad-sales department is selling part of the program to a client.”
