Sep. 11, 2023: MAD filed with FCC with further evidence WTXF violated rules

On September 11, 2023, MAD filed a reply to the FCC rebutting the claims Fox Television made in their August 29, 2023 filing regarding political files.

This was a fairly technical filing on a point that is not central to the case; it is included for completeness of the record.

As background, a part of the original July 3, 2023 Petition to Deny, MAD pointed to numerous occasions that WTXF was late in required filing of reports on political advertising. In Fox’s August 29 response, they asserted that MAD had misinterpreted the rules. In this filing, MAD explained why Fox’s interpretation did not make sense and that their proposed interpretation would undermine the purpose of the rule. MAD reviewed one case in detail to illustrate the point.

MAD notes that “[Fox’s] Ex Parte letter accepts MAD’s factual showing that many of the station’s political contract’s were filed days or even weeks after the effective dates of the contracts.”, MAD further stated that Fox is trying to muddy the waters and that [Fox]’s claim that the date on the contract is actually the initial request is demonstrably false.”

MAD FCC Filing can be found here.