Colorado political ad watch: This week’s numbers

 
The totals: More than $3.7 million in contracts for 4,575 ads through May 1 at Denver’s five television stations, based on documents filed with FCC. That’s 38 hours of ads coming to your TV — on the Denver network stations alone. Cable companies don’t have to report ad buys to the FCC. The only candidate to buy ad time thus far is Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall. Here’s a breakdown:

 
The latest buys: Protecting Colorado’s Environment, Economy and Energy contracted with KMGH Channel 7 for more than $366,000 worth of ads in June, July and August. That group is opposing anti-fracking ballot initiatives and it raised $2.1 million from a few oil companies through April 30 for its campaign. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall’s campaign bought ads through May 20 at four of the five stations. And, as pointed out earlier this week, not all these stations are filing in a timely manner, so there are likely more contracts out there. Here are the spenders so far:

 
The news: Coloradans for Responsible Reform is jumping into the fracking fray to oppose the ballot initiatives that would deliver greater regulatory control to local governments. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and former U.S. Senator and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are on board. Between 2000 and 2011, the coalition of business and community groups spent $19 million supporting and opposing a variety of initiative campaigns. They were quite successful.