The Government Relations team at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) had been preparing for change following last year's midterm elections, and they were wise to do so. Between new leaders winning seats on both sides of the House, the slightest of Democratic majorities in the Senate, a thus-far unsuccessful fifth FCC commissioner appointment and multiple issues happening throughout the TV, radio and publishing industries, the team has its hands full.
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 "Media Issues in the 118th Congress" webinar. Attendees got an overview of the myriad congressional, regulatory and legislative issues the broadcast industry is currently facing.
The team kicked off the webinar with their take on the results of the most recent midterm elections. The Senate has moved from a 50/50 majority to a 51/49 Democratic/Republican majority, with Chuck Schumer remaining as Majority Leader. Republicans control the House, with a 222/213 split with Democrats. Donilon noted that "the House Republicans stumbled out of the block in electing a speaker but once they elected Kevin McCarthy … committees organized quickly and are off to the races on oversight." The Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees and the House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary committees make the most decisions affecting the broadcast industry.
The remainder of the webinar focused on three main issues broadcasters are grappling with: music licensing, Big Tech/journalism 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 radar.
One is a new Terrestrial Performance Right legislation -- aka a sound recording copyright law. "The specter of a performance royalty is the single biggest existential threat to local, free, over-the-air radio in the U.S.," said Pollack. "It's the camel's nose under the tent. We've been successful thus far in beating back these attempts, but they continue to be reintroduced." 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. "We currently have 160 House cosponsors of this bill and need to get to 218 representatives to show there's huge, bipartisan opposition to a performance tax," said Stanberry.
Big 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, "We need bipartisan action from Congress to hold Big Tech accountable."
Donilon described what they call the "Big Tech regulatory lanes": antitrust, privacy and content moderation. Antitrust boils down to competitive concerns stemming from Big Tech companies becoming so large that there are "unquestioned impacts and downsides for consumers, such as Amazon conducting 'self-preferencing' -- promoting their own branded products over third-party sellers." 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, "What's 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 democracy?" Donilon questioned. "I think this is going to be a tough one for Congress to unpack on a bipartisan basis."
The JCPA (Journalism Competition and Preservation Act) is "a bipartisan, bicameral effort to get rid of antitrust exemption that doesn't currently give broadcasters and radio a seat at the table to negotiate compensation for the use of our content," Stanberry explained. Despite making strides in the Senate (and into a Judiciary Committee markup), as Pollack commented, "It didn't get over the finish line, but we made it to the two-yard line." 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 broadcasters.
Finally, NextGen TV is an issue at a critical juncture, the NAB team said. "It's 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 rollout," Stanberry said. "There's been a huge investment across the industry -- it's 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 compete."
It's 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 15-19 in Las Vegas.
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