Rogue Valley Community Television

Recommended by the Public Access Advisory Board on April 11, 2013.

a)      Private Programs and Public Access Programs appearing on Rogue Valley Community Television are permitted to garner underwriting support to assist the production of their program, so long as they adhere to the criteria in this policy to ensure the non-commercial format of this support, whether this underwriting support is a specific product, service or financial in nature.

b)      Underwriting credits may only be applied to programs which are 15 minutes or longer.

c)      The total run-time of underwriting credits on any program between 15 and 60 minutes shall not exceed 60 seconds, and shall all appear either at the beginning or the end of the program. Programs longer than 1 hour may run the same sequence of underwriting credits, not exceeding 60 seconds, once every 30 minutes.

d)      No individual, business or organization providing underwriting support shall exercise any editorial control over the program in question.

e)      Underwriting credits may take the form of either pre-produced audio/visual packages or verbal acknowledgements by the host of a program, both forms following the same terms and conditions.

f)       No single underwriting credit may exceed 15 seconds in length.

g)      Underwriting credits are permitted to contain:

1. The individual, business or organizational underwriter’s name;
2. The underwriter’s logo;
3. The underwriter’s physical address;
4. The underwriter’s phone number;
5. The underwriter’s website address;
6. A photograph or video of a business or product, so long as this is presented in a “value-neutral manner” without depiction of satisfaction by the customer or consumer;
7. A description of a product or service, so long as it is not gratuitously or blatantly promotional in nature;
8. An expression of support for public access television as part of the acknowledgement (otherwise known as a “healthy ingredient”).

h)      Underwriting credits are not permitted to contain:

1. Any call to action;
2. Any comparative language to any other purveyor of a product, service or viewpoint;
3. Any mention of price whatsoever;
4. Any inducement to buy, sell, rent or lease;
5. Any depiction of a client or celebrity who appear to be interacting with approbation or satisfaction so as to constitute an endorsement of a product or service.

i)        The following shall be prohibited from providing any underwriting support or appearing in any underwriting credits:

1. Tobacco of any kind;
2. Weapons of any kind;
3. Illicit drugs;
4. Products made from the fur or hide of animals included on endangered species lists;
5. Radar detectors or other devices designed to enable motorists to evade traffic safety or anti-speed laws;
6. Pornography;
7. Human body parts for transplant purposes;
8. “Adult content” and “adult themes,” except for programs that are specifically labeled as containing mature content and presented during Safe Harbor hours;
9. Political parties, political candidates, PACs and other political committees advocating for the support/defeat of any candidate for public office or the support/defeat for any initiative, referendum or recall measure on any ballot;
10. Material promoting religious conversion or religious participation/non-participation;
11. Material that violates laws, rules or regulations (slander, libel, etc.);
12. Material that is disguised as editorial content;
13. Material promoting violence or advocating against any organization, person or animal (public, private or protected);
14. Material promoting pyramid or multi-level marketing schemes;
15. Material that directly advertises products to children.

j)        Producers are specifically reminded that any cash, goods and/or services received may need to be reported as income, as producers are acting independently within the confines of this policy. No relationship of employer-employee or principal-agent exists between Producers and RVTV. Producers are considered independent contractors in terms of their relationships with underwriting entities and should report any income under this designation.

k)      RVTV Staff may impose other restrictions not specifically annunciated in this policy to ensure compliance with applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations, and for any other purpose deemed necessary.