By law, stations are required to disclose extensive information about station policies, preemption priorities and alternative rotations to political advertisers.  We use that information for all our clients and all our clients see a benefit.

LUC Media reads disclosure statements very carefully and asks for clarification or explanation of policies where necessary. It can be confusing (do not try this at home), so perhaps this concept can best be illustrated through an example of what we do for political  clients:

For the early news, a station discloses its lowest preemptible rate as $1000, and its fixed rate as $1700. At the beginning of the 60-day window (early September), candidates begin placing buys. The first week, spots placed at $1000 clear. The second week, the station informs candidates that the market is really getting "tight" and that for future buys, it would be safer to pay the fixed rate of $1700. On Thursday of the second week, the station tells the candidates that the early news spots ordered for Monday and Tuesday were preempted. At that point, most candidates place all future orders at the fixed rate of $1700 for the early news, and probably buy at the fixed rate for other dayparts as well.

For LUC Media, however, the questions are just beginning:

• What is the lowest-priced spot placed for the early news next week?
• How many commercial spots are in at rates higher than $1000, but lower than $1700?
• What are our chances of clearing at, say $1200? $1300? $1400, etc.?