The nation's broadcasters are trying another method to stop the Federal Communications Commission from putting information about political ads online.

On Tuesday, the same day that the FCC put TV stations in the nation's top 50 markets on notice to begin posting the ad information by Aug. 2, the National Association of Broadcasters filed a petition asking that the order be delayed until the trade association can try to have it countermanded in federal court. That likely would push resolution of the dispute well past this fall's election.

In its petition to the FCC, the broadcasters' association ...

Pushing back against the nation's broadcasters, the White House Office of Management and Budget has approved a rule requiring television stations in the nation's top markets to put information about political ad buys online.

The Federal Communications Commission had already passed the rule but the OMB had to certify that it does not violate government rules that call for minimizing paperwork. That's exactly what the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) unsuccessfully argued that it does.

That could mean that commercial time purchased on local broadcast stations by candidates and as well as by outside groups trying to ...

If posting already-public information on political ad spending is so damaging to broadcasters, as the National Association of Broadcasters argues, then why has one of the country's biggest cable providers been doing it since 2010?

Back then, Time Warner Cable created an online portal to search information regarding political ads sold on its system. Initially the portal served only the east coast, but has since provided data nationwide since 2011, according to a Time Warner spokesman. The ad buy records are available as downloadable PDFs.

Current law requires TV stations to keep political ad purchase orders on file at ...