This would not normally be an issue, but with the very public disclosure that Microsoft had very restrictive language in the proposed Rocketboom agreement restricting the negative things can be said about them is quite concerning.
To this point podcasters and videocasters sponsorship have had significant levels of transparency in keeping sponsorship separated from editorial content. That separation has allowed me in the past to address concerns, and make public those concerns and recommendations to my sponsors.
If the Diggnation / Zune podcast sponsorship advertising deal has the same language as the Rocketboom deal, then how can a primarily tech review show give an objective overview of that sponsor when they are not allowed to say anything negative. Or will the Diggnation duo now have to abstain from any Microsoft related news items.
As a leader in the Podcasting Community and a also business owner who is very concerned about transparency in any podcast advertising deal my gut reaction is that we will have to wait and see what happens but needless to say I think that Kevin needs to fully disclose whether or not Microsoft has put this restriction upon them.
I will go on record and say that any sponsorship deals that my companies RawVoice and Podcast Connect do, will never be inked in a way that limits, restricts or alters editorial control of the content producer. We will always fully disclose the relationships we have with sponsors and I will say again we will never restrict the content of a content producer. [mediaright.vox.com] [Diggnation]