Since there is no longer a specific board about Boston or New England televison, I'm going to post this message on the Boston radio board and use it to discuss an issue that could both affect Boston TV and radio stations.
With a special primary set for Decemebr 8th and a special election set for January 19th to fill the U.S. Senate seat here in Massachusetts vacated by the recent death of Senator Ted Kennedy, radio and (especially) TV stations here in the Boston area (and to a lesser extent in other parts of Massachusetts) could be geting a huge windfall in political advertising dollars.
Here's why: Recent articles in both The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald have noted that there will probably be quite a few candidates in both parties (maybe three or four Republicans and at least a half-dozen Democrats), and that several of them have "war chests" (funds available to spend on a campaign) in the millions.
I looked over the numbers and have come to the conclusion that Christmas will come early to Boston-area broadcasters this year: I think there's a good chance that $10 million to $15 million will be spent by the candidates combining the primary and runoff elections. There may also be some money spent by groups favoring certain candidates.
Most of this will be spent on TV (as for radio, I think only three stations in the Boston area----WBZ-1030, WRKO-680, and WTKK-96.9----will see much of any revenue from these candidates).
It could be that there will be so much political advertising on Boston-area TV for this special Senate election that retail advertisers may be all but frozen-out from buying TV spots between Thanksgiving and December 8th, the first two weeks or so of the "traditional" Christmas-shopping season.
I wonder, given that the Patriots' season is about to begin and the Red Sox could go into postseason play, whether candidates would want to buy spots in telecasts of these games. They do reach a large audience.
This special election will be a big financial boost to Boston's TV stations, and to a lesser extent, radio stations WBZ, WRKO and WTKK.