Party political broadcast

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (October 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Party political broadcast" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A party political broadcast (also known, in pre-election campaigning periods, as a party election broadcast) is a television or radio broadcast made by a political party.

In the United Kingdom the Communications Act 2003 prohibits (and previously the Broadcasting Act 1990 and earlier broadcasting practice prohibited^[1]) political advertising on television or radio; parties are instead allocated broadcast slots (usually around five minutes long) free of charge on broadcast channels using a formula set by Parliament.^[2][3] From 1953 to 2012, government and opposition commentaries were broadcast on the evening of the annual budget statement. Ministerial Broadcasts are occasionally made on urgent matters of a non-partisan nature.

A similar format exists in the Republic of Ireland, though for smaller parties, because a greater number of them are represented in the Dáil, their allocated time may be as little as one or two minutes each.

In Canada, the Canada Elections Act includes provisions for free-time election broadcasts (in addition to paid advertising) during Canadian federal elections, on all licensed terrestrial television and radio networks; notably, however, none of Canada's main English-language private television networks (CTV, Global and Citytv) actually operates under a network license anymore, meaning that in actual practice in the 2020s this provision applies only to the CBC's main radio and TV networks, and the private French-language networks TVA and Noovo.^[4] CBC Television formerly broadcast the regular weekly series The Nation's Business, in which Members of Parliament from all parties could give a short speech on a political issue, but this series no longer airs.

In Asia, party political broadcasts have existed in Singapore since 1980, where they are known as political party broadcasts. In Japan, party political broadcasts are known as seiken hōsō (政見放送). In Brazil, party political broadcasts are known as horário político. In Chile, party political broadcasts are known as franja electoral.