As a Broadcaster I guess I never gave this much thought. Obviously, if the organization has a copyright or service mark registration on it's letters (as well as its' crest or coat of arms) then they could most likely enforce non-use of the letters on the air.
The exception would be in newscasts where the story is about the GLO, or the showing of the letters is incidental -- that is that they just happen to be in the shot. I think that would fall under what is called "fair use."
I kind of suspect that in some (certainly not all) of the cases noted above, the GLO probably enjoys the publicity and overlooks the use.
As an aside, one of the funnier uses of alleged letters is in one of those insipid Geek vs. Greek spring break movies. There is a big crowd scene and some guy in the background has a sweat shirt with "PPP" on it. Think about it.
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