A number of countries provide for a mixture of free direct access broadcasts and paid advertising. This may be an effective compromise between the "freedom of expression" argument that will not allow prohibition of advertising and the "equality of opportunity" argument that says that all parties or candidates should have a voice.
Barbados, for example, has just such a mixed system. Parties and non-party candidates are allowed to buy radio and television advertising to top up their allocation of free broadcasts. But they can only buy slots up to a predetermined number, calculated on the basis of the number of candidates they are fielding. The system for determining this limit is in fact different from that used to allocate free broadcasts, but has the same effect. There is also a time limit on each advertisement (30 seconds on radio and 60 seconds on television).
In Montenegro, the regulations for state media in the elections provide for a mixture of paid and free advertising. Each electoral list is entitled to five minutes direct access time in total, of which two minutes are free and broadcast at times specified in the regulations. The remaining three minutes are purchased at market rates and their broadcast time is a matter of arrangement between the election list and the broadcaster. Presumably, this means that variable rates would apply (as they would for commercial advertisers) depending on when the political advertisement was broadcast.
The Canadian system is also, in effect, a mixed one. Between elections, there is an allocation of free party political broadcasts: 60 per cent for the opposition parties and 40 per cent for the governing party. The exact allocation of these broadcasts is generally made by the parties themselves (although the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will make the allocation if the parties cannot reach agreement). In addition to these "free time broadcasts", there are occasional ministerial and prime ministerial broadcasts. There is an opposition right of reply to the latter, but not the former. In election periods, however, this system is overlaid by one of paid political advertising.There is a given amount of advertising time available, which is allocated to the parties according to a formula that they agree among themselves. They are then allowed to purchase advertising time up to the limit of their allocation.[1]
[1] Howard R. Penniman and Austin Ranney, "The Regulation of Televised Political Advertising in Six Selected Democracies", Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, n.d.
