Privacy Policy

Updated: December 31, 2022

WCIU-TV Limited Partnership and its affiliates (collectively, “WCIU”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) take your electronic privacy seriously. This privacy policy applies to visitors and users (individually, “you”) and describes our practices regarding personal information collected to operate our websites, systems, applications, and other services that include an authorized link or reference to this privacy policy (collectively, the “Services”). Your use of our Services is also subject to the WCIU Terms of Use.

Questions regarding this statement or our practices should be directed to the WCIU.com Privacy Coordinator by email at [email protected]. You may also send inquiries by mail to:

You may also call our toll free number: 1-833-367-6388

We reserve the right to change our policy from time to time as we deem appropriate in our sole discretion. We encourage you to review this privacy policy on a regular basis for any changes, as indicated by the “Updated” date above.

KINDS OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We may collect the following categories of personal information about you, including currently and in the preceding 12 months:

• Identity information, which includes name or other similar identifiers;
• Contact information, which includes address, email address, and telephone number;
• Profile information, which includes your username, password, zip code, gender, age, and MVPD provider;
• Commercial information, including products or services purchased;
• Financial information, including payment card information for purchases;
• Precise geolocation information, including through our app in order to identify your designated market area in order to display you the correct content;
• Marketing and communications information, which includes your preferences in receiving marketing emails; and
• Internet or other electronic network activity information, which includes internet protocol (IP) address, device and browser information, and webpage and app interactions.

Without this information, we are not able to provide you with all requested Services.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION

We collect your personal information either directly or automatically when you:

• create an account with us;
• sign up for our newsletters;
• respond to surveys and registration forms;
• enter contests or sweepstakes;
• submit auditions, feedback, or other content to us;
• contact us on behalf of your employer;
• use our Services, including browsing our website; and
• give us feedback or communicate with us.

When you visit our site, you may be directed to other sites outside our service. For example, if you click on a banner advertisement, you will leave our site. This includes links to sites operated by advertisers, sponsors and partners that may use our logo as part of an agreement with us. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information. These other sites are not subject to our privacy policy and we are not responsible for the privacy policies for these other sites, nor for the use of any information that these sites may collect.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use these categories of personal information to provide our Services and for the other purposes outlined below. Specifically, we may use your information to:

• manage our relationship with you, including providing you with the information, products, and services you requested from us and notifying you about contests and sweepstakes you enter;
• send you promotional materials, advertisements, or information about the WCIU network and this website;
• improve our website and Services, including customizing the articles and information you see, troubleshooting, data analytics, and statistical purposes;
• review any submissions you make to us, such as audition content;
• keep our Services safe and secure;
• comply with applicable laws and regulations; and
• protect or exercise our legal rights against legal claims.

HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose these categories of personal information, including currently and in the preceding 12 months, to the following third parties and for the following business purposes:

• Third-party vendors and service providers: We may disclose information to parties that provide services to us for a variety of business purposes, including to facilitate the provision of the Services to you or for advertising purposes.
• Publicly available information: This includes information that you have voluntarily shared with the public that can be seen by anyone, including those who do not an account. This may include your name, social media links, website, and information or content you share through interactive features on the Services or when you post in public areas of our Services.
• Other parties in connection with transactions: We may disclose your information to a third party as part of an actual or planned merger or transfer, acquisition or sale, or in the event of bankruptcy.
• Other parties when required by law or as necessary to protect our Services: There may be instances when we disclose your information to other parties, including to comply with the law or respond to compulsory legal process (such as a search warrant or other court order); to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing our Services; and to protect our rights, property, or safety.
• Disclosures with your consent: For example, if you win one of our contests or sweepstakes, we will not publish your name, hometown, or other personally identifiable information on the Site unless you give us your permission.

We may use and disclose sensitive personal information for a subset of these purposes. For example, we may use sensitive personal information to provide you products or services you have requested.

We do not sell your personal information for money. However, some of our websites and online Services may use standard analytics and advertising tools that enable our analytics and marketing partners to collect Internet or other electronic network activity information, including to serve you advertisements that are relevant to you based on your activity across our services and other sites (“targeted advertising”), both over the past 12 months and currently. However, our practices may vary for different jurisdictions and by Service.

On relevant online Services, WCIU offers choices to opt-out of sharing for targeted advertising that can be accessed via the Service, such as through the footer of relevant websites, as described further below. WCIU honors these choices for residents of jurisdictions in which consumers have a right to opt-out of sale or sharing. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 without consent.

YOUR CHOICES

• Opt-Out of Promotional Email: To opt out of future promotional email messages from us, you can opt-out based on the instructions provided in the promotional message that was sent to you, or send an opt-out request to us at [email protected].
• Opt-Out of Cookies: As noted above, some of our websites and other online Services may use standard analytics and advertising tools to serve you targeted advertising. In addition, we may use cookies and similar technologies to recognize repeat users, obtain analytics, and otherwise gather information about your activities on WCIU.com to improve our Services. You have a number of choices with respect to these technologies:
  • State Opt-Out Rights. Where applicable, WCIU offers choices to opt-out of sharing for targeted advertising that can be accessed via the footer of relevant websites or otherwise via the Services. WCIU honors these choices for residents of jurisdictions in which consumers have a right to opt-out of sale or sharing.
  • Depending on the Service, WCIU may work the vendors below, which each provide additional choices via their privacy policies:
    • Google Ads: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en and https://adssettings.google.com
  • You may be able to opt-out of the delivery of targeted advertising from participating companies via the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance. Please note that, if you choose to exercise these opt-outs, you may continue to receive ads that are less relevant to your interests/browsing behavior.
  Some of these opt-out mechanisms must be exercised on each device and browser that you wish to have opted out.
• Do Not Track Signals: Some mobile and web browsers transmit "do-not-track" signals. Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. We currently do not take action in response to these signals.

SUBPOENAS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

We reserve the right to cooperate with government and law enforcement agencies engaged in investigations of activities that are, or are believed to be, illegal. Further, we may share your Personally Identifiable Information with such agencies if we believe that a crime or any act that endangers the health and safety of others may have been or may be committed. We may also share your Personally Identifiable Information in response to an appropriate subpoena.

COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC AREAS

Information posted to message boards or chat areas is available to the general public. Please use caution when posting any such information. Users under the age of 18 should be particularly careful not to provide any personal information while using chat rooms or message boards. We reserve the right to, but are not obligated to, refuse or delete any content that in our sole discretion is considered inappropriate. Please see our Terms of Use for additional information.

DATA RETENTION AND SECURITY OF PRIVATE INFORMATION

We keep your personal information for as long as needed or permitted for the purpose(s) described in this policy and consistent with applicable law. In addition, we might keep the information for longer based on criteria such as any legal requirements to retain your personal information in light of compliance obligations or the duration of your use of our website and receipt of our services.

We maintain reasonable security measures to safeguard information from loss, theft interference, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. We also maintain reasonable procedures to help ensure that such data is reliable for its intended use and is accurate, complete, and current. You should understand that no data storage system or transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure, accurate, complete, or current. Please note that information collected by third parties may not have the same security protections as information you submit to us, and we are not responsible for protecting the security of such information.

JURISDICTION-SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS

Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights, including:

• Access to your personal information in a portable format, or other information about our data processing practices.
• Deletion of the personal information we have collected from you.
• Correction of the personal information we have collected about you.
• Opt-out of the sharing of your personal information for targeted advertising, as described in the “Your Choices” section above.

These rights are not absolute and are subject to limitations, such as when we are retaining personal information to comply with our legal obligations. You will not be discriminated against as a result of your choice to exercise these rights, although some account and personalization functionality may be lost when you exercise certain rights. We do not process sensitive personal information for purposes for which you have a right to limit under the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we do not knowingly share personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes without your consent.

You or your authorized agent may exercise your access, deletion, and correction rights by using one of the following options:

1. By Completing the form below:
   Name:

   Email:

   Request Type: ---Select---- Delete my Information Modify my Information Access my Information Opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information

   Modification Request:
2. By sending inquiries by mail to:
   Privacy Coordinator
   WCIU-TV Limited Partnership
   26 North Halsted
   Chicago, IL 60661
   
3. By calling our toll free number: 1-833-367-6388

We may ask you to provide information that will enable us to verify your identity in order to comply with your request. We will attempt to do so based on your account information (where applicable) and the information you provide when submitting the request. However, there may be instances where we will require additional information from you in order to verify your identity.

You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We may request that you provide your authorized agent with signed, written permission demonstrating that they have been authorized by you to act on your behalf.

If you live in a jurisdiction where you have the right to appeal any denials of your requests, you may file your appeal using the above mechanisms.