August 26, 2026 - WASHINGTON — FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez has issued the following statement in response to a Media Bureau 
Order unlawfully expanding the interpretation of which political entities qualify for discounted broadcast advertising rates, which will now allow joint fundraising committees and party committees to purchase airtime at the same steep discount the law provides only for candidates, just weeks before voting starts in the fall general midterm election. The discount window opens September 4, 2026:
“In the final stretch of a national election, this FCC is unleashing a flood of coordinated campaign money into broadcast advertising, just as the Supreme Court has cleared the way for unlimited coordinated spending between parties and candidates. This unprecedented, last-minute decision gives the biggest political spenders an even bigger advantage over everyone else by expanding the candidate-only discount established by law to joint fundraising and party committees, an advantage that will make it hard for anyone else to catch up before Election Day. Broadcasters are being directed to slash prices and sell their most valuable inventory during their busiest and most lucrative season, even as this same FCC has spent months arguing broadcasters need economic and regulatory relief to compete with Big Tech and streaming. You cannot claim broadcasters are struggling to survive and then force them into a fire sale on the one thing that could actually help them compete and increase revenue.
“Even more concerning, this decision was made behind closed doors by agency staff, not by the full Commission, and it contradicts what this administration itself told the Supreme Court less than a year ago about who qualifies for this discount.[1] In direct conflict with the administration’s position, the FCC relies on alleged staff-level guidance that was never provided in writing and that nobody could find, and adopted it with no opportunity for the public to weigh in. The American people should not have sweeping election-year rule changes forced on them in the dark, on the eve of an election, without a single opportunity for public input. It is past time this Commission listens to them, not to the billionaires seeking to empty their pockets into dark money groups to try to influence the outcome of this upcoming election.”
Background:
The Media Bureau issued a Public Notice expanding the interpretation of which entities qualify for the lowest unit charge on broadcast political advertising. This change was made by agency staff, not through a full Commission vote. There was no public input, no notice and comment, no docket, no way for the public to track proposed changes from proposal to implementation the way they do with agency rules.
The Television Bureau of Advertising, a trade association representing local broadcast stations, filed a challenge with the Bureau, which the Bureau dismissed. Separately, four candidates for federal office in Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan filed their own challenge with the full Commission, which remains pending. In neither case has the public had any opportunity to weigh in, and the underlying record remained unavailable for public review until it was included in Commissioner Gomez’s dissent.
A full copy of Commissioner Gomez's dissent to the Media Bureau Order can be found here.
Office of Commissioner Anna M. Gomez: (202) 418-2100
ASL Videophone: (844) 432-2275
www.fcc.gov/leadership/anna-gomez
[1] See, Application for Review at 5 (“{I]n connection with the litigation over the constitutionality of the party coordinated expenditure limits in NRSC v. FEC, the Solicitor General argued in his reply brief that the Communications Act “require[s] broadcasters to charge low rates for candidate spending, but not for party spending—whether coordinated or independent.” Reply Brief for the Federal Respondents at 23, NRSC v. FEC, No. 24-261 (U.S. Oct. 1, 2025), 2025 WL 3068193 (emphasis added).”); see also, Petition for Reconsideration at 10.
Source: FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez
