According to this article, the Federal Communications Commission recently ruled that broadcast stations are not required to sell advertising time to candidates for office in any particular broadcast. Randall Terry, an opponent of legal abortion who is running for President in some Democratic Party primaries, had tried to buy TV time in Chicago during the Super Bowl. The television station refused and the FCC upheld the decision of the station.
The FCC also upheld the decision because Terry wasn’t on the ballot in the Illinois Democratic primary, nor could he show that his write-in campaign in Illinois was vigorous. The FCC didn’t express any opinion about another argument against letting Terry buy time, the argument that he isn’t a bona fide Democrat.
If you demand a prime time slot do they have to give it to you?