Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how GAC Media, LLC (“GAC” or “we”) may collect, use, and disclose, or otherwise process personal information through our websites, including gacmedia.com, greatamericancommunity.com, greatamericanfamily.com, greatamericanliving.tv, greatamericanpress.com, and our mobile apps (the “Mobile App”) (collectively, the “Services”). By using and accessing any of our Services, you consent to the collection and use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy and acknowledge and agree to the terms of the accompanying Terms of Service.

GAC creates and provides programming through our channels Great American Family and Great American Living and our platform Great American Community, and we also provide you with a messaging function to provide your thoughts about our programming, learn more about our shows and stars, and interact with each other. We give you tools to communicate with others one-on-one (“messaging”) and to the public at large (“posting”).

Personal Information We Collect

“Personal information” means information that is linked or could reasonably be linked to an identified or identifiable individual. 

Information You Provide Us When Using Our Services.

Identifiers and Account Information. When you sign up for our Services, we collect personal information that you choose to provide us, which may include your name, address, email, phone number, username, and password. We may also collect information you choose to upload, sync, or import from a device (such as a contacts list or location) to your account.

Demographics and Interests. When you use the Services, we may collect certain demographic from you, such as age and gender, and your interests and preferences. 

User Content. When you participate in our messaging, posting, and other interactive features, we may collect content, communications, images, files, and other information you provide when you use our Services (collectively, “User Content”).

For more information about User Content, please see out Terms of Service. Please note that User Content, such as public posts, post contents and replies, are public and are publicly displayed. 

Your Purchase Transactions. If you make any purchases or engage in any other financial transactions through our Services, we collect information necessary to process the transaction, including payment information, such as your credit card or payment account information; authentication information; and billing, shipping and contact details.

Information Collect through Your Device. When you download or access the Mobile App or use the Services, the Services may (depending on  your device or Mobile App permission settings) have access to certain information from your device, such as:

Information Collected From Other Parties.

Our vendors and partners may disclose with us personal information that you submit to them. For example, if you use our features to find channels in your area, this may be facilitated by one of our vendors. When submitting information to a third party, you are subject to that third party’s terms of use and privacy policies. We are not responsible or liable for the accuracy of the information provided to us by such third parties or for third-party policies or practices. We may combine information that we have about you with information we obtain from such parties.

If you submit the personal information of another person, you represent that you have obtained the authorization from that person to submit such personal information to us.

How We Use Personal Information

We may use information collected via the Services for various purposes including to:

Provide our Services. Our Services allow you to communicate and collaborate with others, and we use your personal information in providing those services. We also use information you provide or we collect from you to personalize the Services to you. 

Personalize your Experience.We use your preferences, interests and activities to customize your experience. We may also use your location information to personalize certain content on our Services.

Improve and enhance our Services. We may use personal information we collect to understand how our Services are used, analyze trends and conduct research, to develop and test new services and features. We may also use personal information to conduct troubleshooting activities, and to evaluate and improve our Services.

Secure our Services and Enhance Safety. We may use and monitor personal information to verify accounts and account activity, detect and prevent account takeover and malicious activity, detect and prevent spam, maintain the integrity of our Services, promote safety and security, combat illegal or harmful conduct, and comply with legal requirements, including valid requests from regulatory authorities or law enforcement. 

Communicate with You. We may use your information to communicate with you within our Services, and through other means such as by email, text, call, or mail. We may provide support and respond to your inquiries. 

Analyze Trends. We aggregate and parse information to analyze usage of our Services, including to determine trends. 

Provide Tailored Content. We may use your personal information to provide specific relevant marketing, promotional, and other content and information. We may also communicate with you about Services and products that we believe may be of interest to you.

Take Legal Action. We may use the personal information to take certain action with regard to any suspected or actual fraudulent or illegal activity or activity that violates our policies. We may also use the information to comply with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and legal processes. 

We may also use your personal information for any other purpose with your consent. 

We will store information collected via our Services for no longer than is necessary for the performance of our obligations or to achieve the purposes for which the information was collected, or as may be permitted under applicable law.

How We Disclose Personal Information

We may disclose the information we have about you with our affiliates, business partners, and vendors. For example, we may use vendors to administer activities on our behalf, such as sending emails. To the extent that we grant other parties access to information collected via your mobile device, they are expected to follow privacy practices no less protective than our practices to the extent allowed by applicable law. In addition, we may disclose personal information: (1) in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business assets (e.g., further to a merger, liquidation, reorganization, or any other business transaction, including negotiations of such transactions); (2) as permitted or required by federal and state laws and regulations; (3) when we determine that disclosure is necessary or appropriate to comply with law or legal process or to protect legal rights, property, or safety; (4) to enforce our policies; or (5) with your consent or at your direction.

Securing Your Information

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures that are designed to help protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure, use, and modification. Although we make reasonable efforts to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk associated with the processing of personal information, no system can be 100% secure and impenetrable and we cannot guarantee the security of your information collected through the Services. 

Your Choices

Interactive Features.We want you to be in control of your information. In most cases, these controls are included directly in the Services themselves. For example, many of our interactive features provides the option to delete.

Account Information. If you have a registered account with GAC and would like to update or delete your contact information, please sign in to your account.

Marketing and Communication Preferences. You may have certain controls regarding our communication with you depend on the mechanism of communication.

Email. If you wish to unsubscribe to promotional email communications we send to you, select “unsubscribe” in the emails. Opting out of such promotional communications will not affects our administrative or transactional emails to you. 

Text/SMS. If you wish to unsubscribe to any text messages we send to you, text “STOP” in reply to any text message you receive from us.

Mobile Apps. You can delete your data collected via the Mobile App by making a request through the delete account form. You can revoke your consent to our data collection practices on the Mobile App and stop all future collection of data generated through the Mobile App by uninstalling the Mobile App. Also, you may be able to exercise specific privacy choices, such as enabling or disabling certain features (e.g.,location-based services or push notifications), by adjusting the permissions on your mobile device. Note that uninstalling the Mobile App or changing your Mobile App permissions may not affect your user account or any information we previously collected via the Services.

Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Like most websites and applications, we and our vendors may use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that allow a website to recognize a visitor’s device, record a visitor’s preferences, track areas and features of our Services are popular. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default, but you usually can change your browser setting to remove or reject cookies. Please note that blocking certain cookies when using the Services may prevent you from using some of the Services features. By disabling cookies, you may invalidate opt outs that use cookies to recognize devices that have opted out. 

There are a variety of Tracking Technologies that may be included in the Mobile App, and these are not browser-based like cookies and cannot be controlled by browser settings.  Some use device identifier, or other identifiers such as “Advertising IDs,” or may use “SDKs,” to associate app user activity to a particular app and to track user activity across apps and/or devices. SDKs are blocks of code that may be installed in our Mobile App by third party companies with which we work. SDKs help us understand how you interact with our Mobile App and collect certain information about the device and network you use to access our Mobile App, such as the advertising identifier associated with your device and information about how you interact with our application. 

Please note that we, or other parties, may collect personal information about your online activities over time and across different devices and online properties when you use the Services. Some web browsers may have settings that allow you to transmit “Do Not Track” signals. Our Services are not designed to respond to “Do Not Track” signals received from bowsers. To learn more about “Do Not Track” signals, visit: allaboutdnt.com. 

We may use certain third-party technology vendors (such as Google) in connection with your activity on our Site, including for advertising purposes and to understand details about your use of the Services (including referring URL, clicks, cursor movement, and scrolling activity). For more information on how Google Analytics uses data it collects, visit policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. To opt out of Google Analytics, visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. 

We may offer third party integrations on our Sites. If you choose to connect a third party account to our system, you should refer to that party’s privacy policy for information on how your Personal Information is collected, used and protected. One such integration is YouTube API Services, which may collect, store, use, process and disclose personal information as described in this Policy. The YouTube API Services also may serve content and store, access and collect Personal Information from your devices as described in this Policy. For more information about the YouTube API Services, please refer to the Google Privacy Policy (http://www.google.com/policies/privacy).

We may use the Hyvor Talk service, a commenting platform. The comments and other data exchanged are stored securely within the Hyvor Talk system. Your personal data will be processed and transmitted in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For more information, please refer to the Hyvor privacy policy.

Certain cookies on our websites may be used to collect personal information about your online activities over time and across different devices and online services. You may be able to opt out of certain interest-based advertising. To find out more about online advertisements how to opt out of such advertising, please visit: youradchoices.com/appchoices, optout.aboutads.info, or thenai.org. Please note that opting out of cookies and other tracking technologies may limit personalized advertising, however, you may still receive advertising that is not customized to you. 

Children’s Information

The Services are not directed at children under the age of 16 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 16, we will delete that information in accordance with applicable law.

Links to other online platforms

We may provide a number of links that lead to other online platforms outside of the Services, including social networks operated by unaffiliated parties. This Privacy Policy applies only to the Services. Please note that if you visit an online platform that is not operated by GAC, that party may collect information about you. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites or other online platforms. You should review the terms, polices, and settings of these online platforms to learn more about their data practices. 

The Services may permit you to interact with online platforms operated by social networks. For example, you may be able to “like” GAC on another website or “share” content from the Services to other websites. (a “Social Feature”). If you choose to “like” or “share” content using a Social Feature, that information may be publicly displayed and the other party may have access to certain information about you and your use of the Services. Similarly, if you interact with us through a Social Feature, we may have access to information about you (for example, if you “follow” our page on another website). Please note that if you mention GAC or our Services in your post on another website, that website may allow us to publish your post on the Services. 

You may also choose to use the Social Feature on the Site, such as by logging into the Services with your username and password from another website (for example, using “Facebook Connect”). Use of such feature may allow us to collect certain personal information about you. 

California Consumer Privacy Notice

If you are a California resident, this section supplements the other information provided throughout this Privacy Policy. This section describes how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information in our capacity as a “business” under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (“CCPA”), and the rights that you may have with respect to your personal information. For purposes of this section, “personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.

Unless otherwise noted, the disclosures contained within this California notice describes our current practices and our activities in the 12 months prior to the Effective Date.

Personal information we collect.

The chart below summarizes the personal information we may collect and why we may collect such personal information. Note that the specific pieces of personal information we collect about you may vary depending on the nature of your interactions with us and may not include all of the examples listed.

We do not use or disclose Sensitive Personal Information for purposes to which the right to limit use and disclosure applies under the CCPA.

Sources of Personal Information.

We may collect the personal information described in the chart above directly from you when you provide us information in person, online, or through electronic forms; through our customer service number; automatically through our Services via cookies and other tracking technologies; when you visit one of our locations; and from our service providers, vendors and suppliers, our affiliates, or other individuals and businesses.

How We Disclose, Sell or Share Personal Information

The chart below describes how we may disclose the categories of personal information we have collected about you. For more information about the business purposes for the disclosure the categories of Personal Information, please see the “How We Disclose Personal Information” section above. 

Although we do not sell personal information in exchange for money, some of the ways in which we share personal information for advertising may be considered “sales” or “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising under the CCPA. We do not have actual knowledge that we sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16 years of age. 

We have sold and/or shared the categories of personal information provided below to marketing and advertising companies for the purpose of providing analytics for us:

How Long We Keep Your Information

How long we keep your information depends on the type of information, the purpose for which it is used, how sensitive it is, and other similar factors. Note that information that you have made public with our Services made be retained by others who had access to that information through our Services even if we delete the information. We will also retain information for the length of time reasonably needed to provide you with our Services and to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. This generally means holding the information for as long as one of the following apply: 

Where personal information is used for more than one purpose, we will retain it until the purpose with the latest period expires. We may also retain aggregated, anonymized, and de-identified information indefinitely. For more information about our retention policies, please contact us using the contact details below

Your Consumer Privacy Rights

If you are a resident of a California, you have the right to submit certain requests relating to your personal information as described below. To make a request relating to your personal information, please submit a request by emailing us at [email protected]. Please note that we will need to verify your identity before your request can be processed. For verification, you may be asked to log into your account or to provide 2-3 pieces of personal information that we will match against our records. 

Right to Know

You have the right to know the following information:

Right to Delete

You have the right to request that personal information we collected from you, subject to certain exceptions. You can also directly delete most information we have about you through your account. 

Right to Opt Out of Sales and Sharing of Personal Information 

Consumers in California have the right to opt out of the sale and/or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell or share personal information under the CCPA. 

Right to Correct Inaccurate Information 

If you believe that the personal information we maintain about you is inaccurate, you have the right to request that we correct that information.

Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information 

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes to which the right to limit use and disclosure applies under the California privacy law. 

We will not discriminate against you if you choose to exercise any of your privacy rights under the CCPA.

Requests by authorized agents

Your authorized agent may make a request on your behalf upon our verification of the agent’s identity and our receipt of a copy of valid power of attorney given to your authorized agent pursuant to California Probate Code Sections 4000-4465. If you have not provided your agent with such a power of attorney, you must provide your agent signed permission to exercise your CCPA rights on your behalf, provide the information we request to verify your identity, and provide us with written confirmation that you have given the authorized agent permission to submit the request. 

Shine the Light

Under California’s Shine the Light law (California Civil Code Section 1798.83), California users of our Services may ask us to provide the names of third parties to which they have disclosed certain personal information (as defined under the Shine the Light law) during the preceding calendar year for their own direct marketing purposes and the categories of personal information disclosed. 

To make a Shine the Light request, you may send us requests for this information to GAC at 2001 Beach Street, Third Floor, Fort Worth, Texas 76103. In your request, you must include the statement “Shine the Light Request,” and provide your first and last name and mailing address and certify that you are a California resident. We reserve the right to require additional information to confirm your identity and California residency. Please note that we will not accept requests via telephone, email, or facsimile, and we are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or that do not have complete information.

Please note that your California’s Shine the Light law rights are distinct from your rights under the CCPA law and must be exercised separately.

Residents Outside The United States

GAC is located in the United States and provides its Services in the United States. Data collected from you will be stored in the United States. The data protection and other laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country.

By using our Services, you acknowledge and agree that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we disclose it as described in this Privacy Policy.

Changes To Our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post a notice to our Services and will update the Effective Date at the top of this Policy. Your continued use of the Services following notice of the changes constitutes your acceptance of the changes, so we encourage you to review the Privacy Policy regularly. If you do not agree to the updated Privacy Policy, you may delete your account(s).

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].