The NAB Takes on Media Issues In the 118th Congress

Three NAB presenters Shawn Donilon Executive Vice President of Government Relations Josh Pollack Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Charlyn Stanberry Vice President of Government Relations pictured at top left to right lent their time and knowledge to MFM during its recent quotMedia Issues in the 118th Congressquot webinar Attendees got an overview of the myriad congressional regulatory and legislative issues the broadcast industry is currently facingThe team kicked off the webinar with their take on the results of the most recent midterm elections The Senate has moved from a 5050 majority to a 5149 DemocraticRepublican majority with Chuck Schumer remaining as Majority Leader Republicans control the House with a 222213 split with Democrats Donilon noted that quotthe House Republicans stumbled out of the block in electing a speaker but once they elected Kevin McCarthy amp8230 committees organized quickly and are off to the races on oversightquot The Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees and the House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary committees make the most decisions affecting the broadcast industryThe remainder of the webinar focused on three main issues broadcasters are grappling with music licensing Big Techjournalism and NextGen TV Donilon kicked off the music licensing segment explaining that the NAB has advocated for decades on behalf of radio broadcasters on the topic of music rights Currently a pair of bills are at the top of their radarOne is a new Terrestrial Performance Right legislation aka a sound recording copyright law quotThe specter of a performance royalty is the single biggest existential threat to local free overtheair radio in the USquot said Pollack quotIt39s the camel39s nose under the tent We39ve been successful thus far in beating back these attempts but they continue to be reintroducedquot The second law put in front of Congress for more than 10 years is the Local Radio Freedom Act which argues against a performance right on local radio quotWe currently have 160 House cosponsors of this bill and need to get to 218 representatives to show there39s huge bipartisan opposition to a performance taxquot said StanberryBig Tech and journalism issues are both on the forefront of the NAB The regulatory team was relieved that President Biden recognizes the power of companies like Google Apple Facebook and Microsoft even penning an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal saying quotWe need bipartisan action from Congress to hold Big Tech accountablequotDonilon described what they call the quotBig Tech regulatory lanesquot antitrust privacy and content moderation Antitrust boils down to competitive concerns stemming from Big Tech companies becoming so large that there are quotunquestioned impacts and downsides for consumers such as Amazon conducting 39selfpreferencing39 promoting their own branded products over thirdparty sellersquot The policy concern around privacy is the collection and use of personal data One of the biggest hurdles is the patchwork of state and international requirements that are driving legislative discussions Regarding content moderation quotWhat39s the responsibility when content is spread on a tech platform How is the algorithm driving that content and what impact is it having on our democracyquot Donilon questioned quotI think this is going to be a tough one for Congress to unpack on a bipartisan basisquotThe JCPA Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is quota bipartisan bicameral effort to get rid of antitrust exemption that doesn39t currently give broadcasters and radio a seat at the table to negotiate compensation for the use of our contentquot Stanberry explained Despite making strides in the Senate and into a Judiciary Committee markup as Pollack commented quotIt didn39t get over the finish line but we made it to the twoyard linequot Republicans remain opposed to any antitrust exemption but Pollack expects the bill to be reintroduced soon Pollack reminded attendees that the Local Journalism Sustainability Act LJSA would offer a significant tax credit for local broadcastersFinally NextGen TV is an issue at a critical juncture the NAB team said quotIt39s the broadcast technology of the future improving emergency alert systems audio video and interactivity The NAB is looking to make sure the FCC takes an active role in expediting its continued rolloutquot Stanberry said quotThere39s been a huge investment across the industry it39s been launched in 60 of the country and available to 60 of TV viewers The NAB will send a letter to Congress to ensure rollout continues Need to champion these new technologies so broadcasters and radio can competequotIt39s a sure bet the NAB will address all of these regulatory issues and many others at its annual conference and trade show taking place in just a few days from April 1519 in Las VegasClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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The NAB Takes on Media Issues In the 118th Congress

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Krista Van Lewen

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