NAB

ATSC 3.0 has hit a sludgy stretch of path toward its end goal of broad U.S. adoption and providing new content services. It will take many hands — a potential FCC task force, station group cooperation and an elongated pipeline for receivers included — to get the standard’s implementation flying again.

The deputy chief of staff for former Sen. Cory Gardner succeeds Ann Marie Cumming in leading messaging strategies to further NAB’s initiatives and advocacy issues before Congress and the administration. He will also be the chief spokesperson for NAB and a key adviser to the association’s senior leadership.

The association’s SVP of communications is exiting on Feb. 21 after more than 20 years. She’s becoming the executive director of the Congressional Club Museum and Foundation in Washington.

The commission should heed broadcasters’ request to prioritize the ATSC 3.0 standard and launch a task force to concentrate the agency’s resources in getting it unstuck. Broadcasting’s future wellbeing may depend on it.

The National Association of Broadcasters is suggesting the FCC is putting the 2018 quadrennial review cart before the 2022 quadrennial horse, asking the agency to finish its 2018 review before starting the next one.

The National Association of Broadcasters said that without some action by the FCC, including sunsetting the requirement to broadcast in both the current and next-generation transmission formats, that next-generation format — the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard — is “in peril,” and with it broadcasters’ future.

The Justice Department is apparently giving broadcasters some help with one of their top Washington priorities — Big Tech’s dominance as an ad platform. As expected, the DOJ on Jan. 24 said it was filing an antitrust suit against one of the biggest of Big Tech — Google parent Alphabet — over its online ad practices, a move that could lead to Google divesting its ad business and aid TV stations in what the NAB Broadcasters has called Big Tech’s “stranglehold” on digital advertising and ad rates.

Plans include an interactive website, a story sharing campaign and special events.

Following President Joe Biden signing the Low Power Protection Act into law on Jan. 5, the NAB has issued a statement applauding the new law, which provides eligible low-power television stations an opportunity to obtain interference protections.

The National Association of Broadcasters is looking to get the FCC to classify over-the-top video services as multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), making them subject to carriage and program-negotiation obligations.

The NAB New York Show will be back at the Javits Center after a long pandemic hiatus. Following a strong showing at IBC earlier this month, expectations around it are rising.

Pilot, the National Association of Broadcasters tech innovation arm, has tapped the Google News Initiative for a program to help broadcasters protect their advertising competitiveness by mastering use of first-party data and engagement within direct-to-consumer models.

Given a “once in a century” pandemic, no additional spectrum and “unparalleled” regulatory requirements, broadcasters say their transition to ATSC 3.0 next generation transmission technology has made “remarkable progress.” The National Association of Broadcasters made that case to the FCC in comments on the state of that transition, saying the lack of additional spectrum meant that they were trying to make the move “with one hand tied behind their backs.”

Catherine Badalamente and Phil Tahtakran join the association’s TV Board, while Kevin Godwin is appointed to the Radio Board.

NAB analysid of Nielsen data finds that both English- and Spanish-language newscasts increased substantially between 2011 and 2021.

NAB tells the FCC that the ch. 6 spectrum offers “a critical transition path for television broadcasters as they migrate to ATSC 3.0.”

Broadcasters are praising the House of Representatives for telling the FCC to “Keep off the grass”… advertising, that is. The House Wednesday (July 20) passed the 2023 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which prevents the FCC from taking any actions against broadcasters who air cannabis advertising if it is not against the law in the state or jurisdiction in which the station is licensed. Broadcasters have been looking for such protections, arguing that without them they cannot air cannabis ads even where the product is legal, which is in most states.

The National Association of Broadcasters said the FCC should start imposing regulatory fees on businesses that benefit indirectly from its activities, particularly internet service providers — regulation of which is taking up a lot of the agency’s resources. The FCC supports itself entirely from fees levied on its licensees, including broadcasters, cable providers and satellite services. The NAB, whose constituency includes owners of broadcast TV stations, has been telling the FCC — and anyone else within earshot — that it’s time for that to change.

Responding to FCC proposals to increase regulatory fees on broadcasters, the NAB has filed new comments criticizing the FCC’s proposed fees as “unfairly, unlawfully, and disproportionately burdening broadcasters.” The NAB also complained that the FCC is proposing to “raise broadcasters’ fees by a staggering 13%, despite the commission’s budget increasing by 2.1%,” a fee increase that is more than six times the magnitude of the commission’s budget increase.

Broadcasters and cable operators continue to spar over how much flexibility TV stations should have in transmitting their signals in the transition to the new ATSC 3.0 standard, specifically broadcasters’ ability to have another station transmit its digital subchannels. The idea is to ease the transition from ATSC 1.0 to the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard, also known as NextGen TV, which is not backward compatible.

Actor and television host Mario Lopez will emcee the live, in-person event honoring broadcasters’ public service. Presenters include CBS Sports’ James Brown, ABC News’ Juju Chang, musician/singer Maggie Rose and syndicated radio show host Angela Yee.

The FCC should conclude its long-overdue, congressionally mandated quadrennial review of whether its media ownership regulations are necessary in the public interest, NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt told FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel earlier this month, according to an FCC filing. A politically tied FCC is unlikely to approve reregulation of broadcasters and so far there has been no movement on a Senate confirmation vote on Gigi Sohn, the Democratic nominee who would break that tie.

With attendance predicted at around 60,000 with nearly 1,000 vendors, the NAB Show in Las Vegas next week will likely be down from its pre-pandemic numbers. However, vendors say that a more focused, less congested show might not be a bad thing.

Broadcasters said they are willing to compromise on the amount of licensed spectrum they have wanted the FCC to carve out of the 6 GHz band. That came in a letter to the commission from the National Association of Broadcasters, which has been trying to insure that licensed mobile operations can preserve a protected space — including guard bands — as the FCC opens up the band for unlicensed use.

Whether it is Spotify or Netflix, streaming platforms compete with broadcasters for eyes, ears and ad dollars and the FCC’s regulatory approach must reflect that. The National Association of Broadcasters tried to hammer home that point in an ex parte filing with the FCC over media ownership regulations.

Broadcasters told a federal appeals court that the FCC’s decision to make broadcasters affirmatively investigate whether programming — including ads and infomercials — was being paid for by foreign entities was an arbitrary and capricious, unconstitutional response to a “phantom” problem.

Broadcasters told a federal appeals court that the FCC’s decision to make broadcasters affirmatively investigate whether programming — including ads and infomercials — was being paid for by foreign entities was an arbitrary and capricious, unconstitutional response to a “phantom” problem.