WASHINGTON—In a move that could fundamentally reshape the broadcast industry and usher in a wave of consolidation, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on August 6 on an Order that repeals the FCC’s 39% national television multiple ownership rule.

Chairman Brendan Carr announced the move in a op-ed in Breitbart and the decision was immediately applauded by broadcasters and the NAB who have lobbied for decades to eliminate the rule.

The Commission, however, won’t be voting on an outright appeal of the 39% national television multiple ownership rule. Rather, the FCC will vote to replace the national cap with a granular, case-by-case review.

The agency said that this will allow the FCC to approve deals that promote the public interest while allowing the agency to reject any deals that do not meet that standard. This action will foster a competitive media market, enhance localism, and promote investment in trusted sources of news and information.

In the op-ed, Carr blasted national media and broadcast networks by arguing that the American public had lost trust in their “partisan” news coverage and described the decision to eliminate the ownership rules as a way to reduce their market power.

“New York and Hollywood interests have steamrolled those local TV stations and the broader media market in recent years in ways that run directly counter to the regulatory framework that Congress and the FCC put in place,” Carr said.

Carr also placed the decision in the context of his ongoing attacks on what he sees as "biased" programming because larger local station groups would have more power to preempt network programming.

"Local TV stations today lack the power to preempt or refuse to air national programming that does not fit their communities’ values," he wrote. "National programmers are now charging local TV more and more for the privilege of airing their shows. Local TV stations are struggling to find the resources to produce live, trusted, and local news programming. Many local broadcast TV stations are getting hollowed out as a result and turning into little more than mouthpieces for programming produced in New York and Hollywood. That is not what Congress or the FCC intended."

The FCC's lone Democrat Anna Gomez signaled her intention of voting against the proposed Order in a statement saying it was bad policy and unlawful because the FCC does not have the authority to lift the cap.

“This unlawful effort to hand control of the public airwaves to billionaire buddies of this administration will destroy local newsrooms, silence community reporting, and drive-up costs for the American families who depend on local stations for news and emergency alerts," she said. "A free and diverse media landscape depends on real limits on how much of the public airwaves any one company can control, and this FCC is now poised to allow local broadcasters to sell those airwaves off to the highest bidder. Congress set the 39 percent national ownership cap in federal law, and only Congress has the authority to raise or eliminate it. The Commission cannot waive away that limit simply because these corporate behemoths want to get out from under it.”

Broadcasters, however applauded the proposal.

In response to the announcement, NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said “NAB applauds Chairman Carr and the FCC for moving forward with consideration of an order to eliminate the national television ownership cap. This reflects the understanding that decades-old ownership restrictions that apply only to broadcasters – and none of our competitors – are out of step with today’s media marketplace.  Eliminating  the  broadcast ownership cap will empower local stations, ensuring they can better compete, invest and serve their communities with the most trusted and freely available news and information, premier sports and entertainment.” 

A spokesperson for Nexstar also praised the upcoming vote by saying, “The FCC's decision to review the national television ownership cap is a welcome and long-overdue step toward bringing broadcast regulation into the modern media marketplace. These rules were last updated before Netflix streamed a single movie, before the first iPhone, and before Instagram existed, and they continue to single out local broadcasters based on a competitive landscape that disappeared with the VCR. No one would suggest limiting the reach of YouTube, Amazon, or CNN, yet local broadcasters are still forced to compete under rules written for a different century. Modernizing these outdated regulations will help ensure broadcasters can continue investing in local journalism and providing the free, trusted news and information that communities across America rely on every day.”

In a statement, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said that: “It should not be controversial to suggest that changed facts should lead to changed rules. We commend Chairman Carr for considering action to modernize the FCC’s rules setting the national ownership cap – and for his continued leadership in looking at ways to preserve local news by taking proactive steps to empower local broadcasters. Given the undeniable change and disruption to the media ecosystem, updating these rules to reflect the current landscape is common sense.”

The draft Order was no available when this article was posted on July 15. The FCC said the draft order will be made available on July 16 at https://www.fcc.gov/August2026.

As broadcasters await a decision from the FCC to shut down the current ATSC 1.0 broadcast format, the industry’s leading lobbyist is reiterating its support for ATSC 3.0, (aka “NextGen TV”).

Since last October, when the FCC voted on a proposal to determine a date when to sunset ATSC 1.0, debate has swirled around the timing of the shutdown and what consumer protections will be in place to ensure viewers don’t lose access to free over the air broadcasting. The commission is expected to announce a final decision by the end of 2026.

The NAB, which has promoted NextGen TV as a way for broadcasters to better compete in the increasingly complex TV landscape, told the FCC six months ago that continuing uncertainty over the lack of a date is hampering progress.

“The record developed here confirms that the Commission’s central task is no longer to debate whether NextGen TV is worth pursuing—stakeholders across the ecosystem recognize that it is—but to decide whether the transition will be allowed to succeed through an orderly, coordinated framework, or instead be stranded indefinitely in a regime of regulatory uncertainty and half-measures, all to the detriment of the viewing public,” the NAB said in comments filed with the commission in February.

Currently approximately 76% of U.S. households can receive a NextGen TV signal, according to the ATSC. In April, Pearl TV Group, a consortium of broadcasters and tech suppliers, announced the launch of an initiative to develop consumer converter boxes that could retail for under $60.

The association has also launched a campaign to help preserve live sports on free over the air TV, again noting the increased competition from streaming giants.

The ability to access live sports over free TV, competition from Silicon Valley and the very survival of broadcasting were tied together in NAB’s latest blog. The association also took aim at viewers who criticize the content protection aspects of ATSC 3.0, with many claiming that certain devices on the market don’t carry the necessary software to decode DRM-protected signals.

“ATSC 3.0 includes security and service-protection mechanisms as part of its technical framework, just as modern communications and entertainment platforms routinely protect their content and distribution systems, the NAB said. “There is an important reason for these protections. Broadcasters invest substantial resources to secure sports, entertainment and other high-value programming. They also invest every day in local journalists, meteorologists, production professionals and the technology needed to keep communities informed and safe.”

“Without reasonable safeguards, unauthorized businesses can capture local stations’ signals and resell them at scale without permission or compensation,” the association added.

NAB also criticized the possibility that the broadcast industry could be saddled with outdated technology, impacting its competitiveness.

“Requiring broadcasters to operate a decades-old standard forever would effectively make free, over-the-air television the only major communications platform that is never permitted to modernize,” it said. “That would not protect viewers. Over time, it would leave viewers with an increasingly outdated service while streaming platforms, wireless providers and global technology companies continue to innovate.”

NAB’s latest blog can be accessed here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has launched a redesigned Spot Center website that makes it even easier for local radio and television stations to access high-quality public service campaigns from trusted nonprofit organizations.

Local broadcasters have a long history of serving their communities beyond news and entertainment by being involved in local issues and organizations with PSAs, volunteer efforts, education or fundraising.

The NAB's Spot Center is designed to support that mission by providing stations with educational resources to inform and engage their audiences.

The improvements to the site aim to provide a cleaner, more intuitive experience where broadcasters can browse, download and voluntarily air public service announcements on issues affecting their communities, including heatstroke, Alzheimer’s and drug-impaired driving.

More specifically, the NAB’s Spot Center includes:

• Broadcast-ready public service materials for local stations.
• Free-to-use campaigns available at no cost to broadcasters.
• Credible content from established organizations on important public issues.

More information on the new Spot Center is available here.

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has announced the regulator will hold a July 22 vote on plans to hold an auction of 160 megahertz of spectrum in the Upper C-band (3.98-4.14 GHz) next year.

As part of the Working Families Tax Cut Act passed in 2025, Congress required the FCC to auction at least 100 MHz of C-band spectrum by July of 2027.

The National Association of Broadcasters had pushed the agency to limit the auction to 100 MHz of spectrum, arguing that the Upper C-band is already “operating at its practical limit” and that less spectrum would create a “Tetris-like problem” that could endanger the production of major live events.

In response, the FCC indicated it would accommodate video programming delivery by enabling upgrades in satellite technology and content distribution.

[Editor's note: More detailed comments regarding the impact of the proposals from TV Tech columnist Doug Lung are available below.]

In a June 18 letter to the FCC, satellite operator SES estimated that its “total cost to clear 160 MHz of Upper C-band spectrum will be approximately $3.6 billion, with $150 million allowed for contingencies.”

The FCC does not plan to release its estimated costs of the transition until after the July 22 vote.

The NAB declined to comment at this time.

The proposed rules would effectively harmonize terrestrial wireless operations across the entire C-Band to create a single “super-band” spanning 440 megahertz (3.70-4.14 GHz).

The plan also aims to maximize the amount of spectrum repurposed while establishing a speedy transition for incumbent satellite services and the creation of a successful coexistence environment for critical aviation safety systems in the adjacent band, the FCC said.

“While more complex than your average spectrum auction, the FCC moved from NPRM [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] to Order in record time,” Carr said in a statement. “We have also coordinated with aviation and satellite stakeholders so that wireless providers can light up the Upper C-Band and provide service to most Americans by the end of 2030—ahead of many expectations.”

“The draft Order, which the Commission will vote on during our July 22 meeting, sets the stage for the FCC to auction 160 megahertz of prime, mid-band spectrum next year—exceeding the 100 megahertz minimum established in the law,” he added. “The Upper C-Band auction will also unify a big and contiguous swath of 440 megahertz of spectrum when combined with the Lower C-Band, which the FCC freed up during the previous Trump Administration.”

The FCC said that the auction is expected to raise “many billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury.” as well.

As part of the announcement of the upcoming vote and auction, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement saying that it “is confident that the use of radio signals from the FCC's 5G auction can safely coexist with aviation after years of FAA-led testing and technical analysis. The FCC worked closely with the FAA while developing its auction rule, which contains key safeguards that protect the band of frequencies that aircraft radio altimeters use. These safeguards include limiting the power of the auctioned 5G signals to levels the FAA has determined are safe for aviation; protecting the altimeter band with a buffer band between it and the band of frequencies that will be auctioned; and limiting the height of 5G transmission towers. Additionally, the FCC rule would ensure the functionality of key altimeter-based alerting systems including Terrain Avoidance Warning Systems.”

Later this summer, the FAA said it will issue its own rule to require aircraft altimeter upgrades to ensure altimeters can safely operate with signals from the 5G wireless signals that will be auctioned.

The FCC stressed that the draft Order, Order of Proposed Modification, and Order on Reconsideration, responds to the surging demand for additional valuable mid-band spectrum for wireless services and puts America on a path towards massive gains that could result in at least $264 billion in GDP, 1.5 million new jobs, and $388 billion in consumer surplus by freeing up additional spectrum.

The 2027 Upper C-Band auction will ultimately result in a 440 megahertz contiguous block of spectrum for the provision of wireless services by combining the Lower C-Band (3.7-3.98 GHz) and now the Upper C-Band (3.98-4.14 GHz).

The draft item, which will be made available to the public on July 1, would make available 160 megahertz of valuable Upper C-Band spectrum through the auction of 3,248 new flexible-use spectrum licenses throughout the contiguous United States.

It also proposes that winning bidders will be responsible for transition costs and incentive payments for in-band licensees, as well as rebates for the purchase and installation of upgraded radio altimeters. In addition, the draft item would allow winning bidders to commence wireless services in the Upper C-Band starting in December 2030 for top-75 markets, and in remaining markets starting July 2031.

The FCC also noted that specific dollar amounts on costs, incentives, and rebates have been redacted from the order prior to the July 22 vote given the sensitive nature of this type of financial information. The agency will release the figures publicly with the Commission’s vote.

The draft Order, Order of Proposed Modification and Order on Reconsideration will be made available to the public on July 1 via FCC.gov.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has updated the Federal Communications Commission on some of the notable advances that have been made by the NextGen TV News Technology Lab program, an initiative to develop and test innovative applications of ATSC 3.0 technology for journalism, public safety, accessibility and community service that just celebrated its first birthday.

As recently reported by TV Tech’s Phil Kurz, the projects featured through the News Technology Lab provide a practical demonstration of how broadcasters are using NextGen TV capabilities to strengthen local service and enhance the viewer experience.

One of the notable projects from the Lab has been WJLA-TV's Advanced Emergency Information initiative, which explores how broadcasters can use NextGen TV technology to deliver more relevant, more accessible and more actionable emergency information to viewers.

"The project demonstrates how ATSC 3.0 can build upon broadcasting's longstanding role as a trusted source of emergency information by enabling capabilities that are simply not possible with ATSC 1.0,” the NAB told the FCC in a June 23 letter.

For example, ATSC 3.0 can support geographically targeted emergency communications and offer capabilities for providing “richer emergency information, including maps, images, evacuation routes, shelter information, and other contextual information that can help viewers understand developing emergency situations and make informed decisions,” the NAB said. “These capabilities are particularly valuable during severe weather events, AMBER Alerts, wildfires, flooding, and other emergencies where timely and actionable information can help protect lives and property.”

In addition, ATSC 3.0 enables important advances in accessibility. NextGen TV can support multilingual emergency communications, helping to ensure that critical information reaches more viewers during an emergency. It also supports enhanced accessibility features that can improve access to emergency information for viewers with disabilities.

“These capabilities represent meaningful public-interest benefits that will become increasingly important as broadcasters continue to deploy and refine NextGen TV services,” the NAB reported. “ATSC 3.0 also provides a foundation for additional public-interest services that extend beyond traditional television viewing. For example, broadcasters are actively exploring the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS), which leverages ATSC 3.0 transmission infrastructure to provide a resilient terrestrial source of positioning, navigation, and timing information.”

The letter also address some of concerns in recent filings regarding alerting and certain receiver implementations.

In response, the NAB said that it “agrees that emergency information must remain reliable, accessible, and available to viewers. At the same time, it is important to distinguish between implementation-specific issues associated with particular devices and the capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 standard itself. The recent testing described in the record was limited to two receiver products and does not establish any inherent limitation of ATSC 3.0 emergency communications capabilities.”

“The existence of implementation issues in a limited number of first-generation devices should not obscure the broader public-interest benefits that ATSC 3.0 makes possible, particularly in the area of emergency communications,” the NAB argued. “The Commission should evaluate ATSC 3.0 not only by what it replaces, but by what it enables.”

“As the record continues to demonstrate, ATSC 3.0 is not merely a successor transmission standard,” the NAB concluded. “It is a platform for advanced emergency information, geographically targeted public warnings, multilingual communications, enhanced accessibility, resilient positioning and timing applications, and other innovative services that can strengthen broadcasting's service to local communities. Projects such as WJLA's Advanced Emergency Information initiative provide a concrete example of what becomes possible when broadcasters can fully utilize NextGen TV's capabilities.”

The full letter is available here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) today announced the results of the 2026 NAB Executive Committee elections, with Nick Radziul, executive vice president of Hearst Television, being reelected as television board chair.

Chris Ripley, president and chief executive officer of Sinclair Broadcast Group, was reelected as first vice chair; RaMona Alexander, vice president and general manager of WDBD, was reelected as second vice chair and Dan York, president and chief executive officer of Cox Media Group, was reelected as third vice chair.

Susan Fox, executive vice president of Government Relations at the Walt Disney Co., was designated as the television network representative.

In terms of the radio board elections, Chris Ornelas, executive vice president and general counsel of Beasley Media Group, was reelected as radio board chair.

Allen Power, president of Broadcast Media at Salem Media Group, was elected first vice chair and Julie Koehn, president and chief executive officer of Lenawee Broadcasting Company and Southeast Michigan Media, was elected second vice chair.

Eddie Harrell Jr., co-president of Audio at Urban One, Inc., was reelected as the major radio group representative.

Collin Jones continues the second year of his role as joint board chair. The position is elected every two years.

The elections took place at the NAB Board of Directors meeting, held June 8-9.

WASHINGTON—National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt urged Congress to reform the Sports Broadcasting Act so that it “applies only to league-wide negotiations with media companies that will distribute games through broadcast television, not lock games behind streaming paywalls.”

The SBA, passed in 1961, gives the National Football League a limited antitrust exemption that allows it to negotiate TV rights deals with media companies on behalf of all of its teams.

In recent years, LeGeyt and others at a House subcommittee hearing argued, the NFL has pursued a policy of selling media rights to subscription streaming services that has enriched the league but harmed consumers.

“The Sports Broadcasting Act was built on a simple public-interest bargain,” he said in prepared testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust. “Professional sports leagues received a limited antitrust exemption so they could pool and sell broadcast rights, and fans received broad public access to their games … For decades, that bargain worked. Fans could watch most games on free, local broadcast television. Leagues benefited from the unmatched reach of broadcasting.

“Yet today, it is increasingly apparent that the public access goals of that bargain are no longer being met,” he added. “Games from the four major professional leagues are now spread across Amazon Prime [Video], Netflix, YouTube TV and Apple TV. Fans increasingly need multiple paid subscriptions to watch their favorite teams, and survey after survey shows fans are confused and frustrated. Some estimates suggest that accessing every NFL game over the course of a season would cost a consumer well over $1,000. That’s a long way from the broad, free access Congress intended when it created the SBA.”

To remedy this, LeGeyt said: “NAB is not asking to eliminate the Sports Broadcasting Act. But this Committee should reaffirm that the SBA applies only to league-wide negotiations with media companies that will distribute games through broadcast television, not lock games behind streaming paywalls.”

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez also expressed serious concern about the way the NFL has sold media rights and handled its distribution strategy.

“The economics of how fans actually watch have shifted in ways that deserve serious attention,” she said. “What used to arrive through an antenna, available to anyone regardless of income, has increasingly migrated behind a growing stack of subscriptions and league-specific apps. For a family trying to follow their team through a full season, the cost of piecing together access across multiple platforms adds up quickly.”

Gomez also noted that the FCC is currently probing the state of sports rights on broadcasting.

“The FCC has a legitimate interest in helping gather information on how the Sports Broadcasting Act is functioning in a changing media environment, and I support efforts to ensure fans can access the games they love without paying a fortune,” she said. “When sports programming migrates behind paywalls, fans lose access, local broadcasters lose the revenue that keeps their stations alive, and the local journalism those stations produce loses the funding on which they depend.”

But she added that “I also want to be candid about where the FCC's authority ends. The Commission can gather information, raise concerns, and call out fouls where it sees them, but any meaningful update to the Sports Broadcasting Act will ultimately require legislative action.”

Also testifying was Jim Hallers, founder and managing partner of Tailgators Pub & Grill and Citizens Grill, a chain of sports bars in Texas, who blasted the NFL’s 2022 decision to sell the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market game package to YouTube. He said the general shift of sports rights to streaming has imposed significant costs on restaurants and bars.

“Because we promise customers every NFL game, we now have to figure out how to deliver multiple simultaneous streams across dozens of televisions,” he said. “One commercial video switch with enough inputs and outputs can cost in excess of $15,000. A full upgrade including equipment, wiring and the labor will cost $30,000 to $40,000 per restaurant. And then there is the bandwidth problem. It is one thing to stream a game at home. It is another thing to stream ten noon games at once while also running point-of-sale systems, credit card processing, security cameras, online ordering, music, office systems and customer Wi-Fi. When a game freezes during a key play, the customer does not blame the provider. They blame the restaurant.”

“Beginning with the 2026 season, EverPass is the commercial provider for NFL Sunday Ticket,“ he said. “But EverPass does not replace the rest of the programming my customers expect. I still need DirecTV, cable or another provider for the in-market football game, and all the other channels and programming that make a sports bar work. So instead of simplifying the business, the transition is adding another layer of cost and complexity. I cannot simply replace 40 DirecTV boxes in one venue with 40 streaming devices. It does not work like this. The internet capacity, hardware, control systems and reliability are not there yet.”

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has released a new 30-second TV spot in its effort to enlist the public in urging lawmakers to keep sports programming on local broadcast stations.

“More and more, the games fans love are getting locked behind paywalls,“ the spot says. “Another app. Another fee. Another way fans get left behind.”

Sports belong where everyone can access them—on broadcast TV, it says. The spot asks the public to text “Sports” to 39179. Doing so, takes people to a letter to lawmakers that says in part:

“Live sports should remain a shared experience that everyone can access, no matter where we live or what we can afford. That’s why I’m asking you to help keep live spots on broadcast TV.”

NAB’s “Keep the Game On” campaign emphasizes the role of local broadcasters in delivering major sporting events.

The spot is available in English and Spanish.

NAB’s Keep the Game On campaign is available online.

WASHINGTON—When the FCC gave the green light for ATSC 3.0 in 2017, the focus was on improving television broadcasting by combining IP with RF to bring a new range of consumer applications, better reception and enhanced picture and audio quality. While there were discussions of datacasting and enterprise solutions at the time, the idea that the standard—also branded as “NextGen TV”—had enormous potential beyond traditional television was still nascent.

Nine years later, any doubt that ATSC 3.0 could impact U.S. communications infrastructure has been erased. That reality took center stage at this week’s annual ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference here, with three of the six sessions focused entirely on applications outside the traditional broadcast environment.

Nevertheless, the standard remains in a state of policy limbo. Broadcasters are actively petitioning the FCC to set a definitive sunset date for ATSC 1.0 so stations can drop the burden of simulcasting and unleash the full potential of ATSC 3.0.

ATSC President Madeleine Noland aptly characterized this state of transition in her opening speech.

“The current U.S. situation, as one broadcaster in this room put it, feels kind of like 'the worst of both worlds' as we straddle between a 25-year-old technology with ATSC 1.0 and the tremendous opportunities in front of us with ATSC 3.0,” she said.

Maintaining Perspective
Although NextGen TV sets have been on the consumer market since late 2020—with about 18 million units sold, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)—widespread consumer adoption and enthusiasm have lagged. Noland looked to history to contextualize the current conundrum.

“We have to put these things in perspective—the issues we face today are similar to the issues of yesterday,” Noland said. “But perhaps more urgent, as technology and consumer habits are evolving at an ever-increasing pace, we don't quite have the luxury of a decade-plus to get things right in this media landscape.”

Despite sluggish hardware adoption, Noland touted the operational progress broadcasters have made with the standard.

“My estimate is that 1.3 million people in the United States today are enjoying High Dynamic Range (HDR) over the air for free for the first time; over half a million are enjoying Dolby Atmos; 1.2 million have access to interactive services, and over a half a million of those can use ‘Start Over TV,’” she said. “This is today, for free, in the United States over the air for the first time ever. So these numbers are growing, and growing fast.”

Noland also hailed the increased international attention on ATSC 3.0 in light of Brazil's adoption of the physical layer of 3.0 last summer.

“For many years, when we talked about ATSC, we naturally led with better television, better picture quality, better audio, better reception, better emergency information, more interactive viewer experiences,” she said. “And those benefits remain absolutely central to the transition now underway in the United States and Brazil and other countries.

“But around the world, governments, regulators, broadcasters and technology companies are increasingly recognizing something even bigger—ATSC 3.0 is not just a television system; it is a flexible IP-based broadcast communications platform capable of delivering many kinds of data services and public interest applications efficiently, securely and at scale,” she added. “In some countries, that broader capability is becoming the starting point of the conversation, whether it’s educational content delivery, resilient emergency communications, automotive applications, software distribution, positioning technology, smart city infrastructure or direct-to-mobile service.”

Shifting the Bipartisan Conversation
In a fireside chat with Noland, National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt praised the technology's momentum but offered a cautious perspective on the timeline for an FCC regulatory decision. In February, the NAB asked the commission to mandate an ATSC 1.0 sunset in the top 75 markets by the end of 2028, with the remaining markets following by the end of 2030.

“We understand that at any particular moment the FCC has a lot of competing priorities, and we need to ensure that the nationwide deployment of ATSC 3.0 is at the very top of that list,” LeGeyt said. “Shifting the conversation from whether ATSC 3.0 is going to be the standard of the future to how we are going to get there is tactical, given the Washington environment we are in.”

LeGeyt also emphasized the rare bipartisan support the standard has maintained on Capitol Hill.

“In a very polarized Washington environment, ATSC 3.0 doesn’t register Republican or Democrat; it registers local,” he said. “And that’s why you've got such positive remarks—maybe emphasizing different features of the technology—from each of the commissioners, as well as the Chairman…this is a transition that's going to need to transcend politics."

BPS Spinoff
LeGeyt used the event to announce the NAB’s launch of Merkhet Solutions, an independent company focused on the commercial deployment of the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS). BPS utilizes the NextGen TV standard to deliver precise terrestrial timing and location signals over existing broadcast towers, functioning as a vital backup to satellite-based GPS.

“BPS represents a powerful intersection of innovation, public safety, and opportunity for broadcasters,” LeGeyt said in a statement. “Launching Merkhet Solutions is the next step in commercializing this technology and ensuring it reaches the critical infrastructure operators who need it most, while continuing to create meaningful long-term opportunities for local stations.”

Speaking to attendees, LeGeyt added that BPS offers an opportunity to solve a massive public policy vulnerability while generating an entirely new revenue stream to help accelerate the 3.0 transition.

“We made the determination that for BPS to recognize its full potential—that we at NAB certainly believe that it has, and the NAB member companies on our board of directors believe that it has—not only to solve this important public policy issue, but also as a potential revenue stream for broadcasters, and as an accelerant to ATSC 3.0,” he said.

Sam Matheny, who previously led the NAB’s internal BPS initiatives, has been named CEO of the spinoff.

“BPS solves a problem we can no longer afford to ignore: an entire economy and national security posture resting on a single, contested signal from space,” Matheny said. “We built BPS at NAB because broadcast infrastructure is uniquely suited to deliver assured terrestrial timing at scale. We’re launching Merkhet Solutions because the time to operationalize this technology is now.”

Matheny updated the audience on real-world testing of the system in the Washington, D.C., area.

“We are at an actual critical infrastructure site—that was one of the requirements,” Matheny explained. “Our partner is Dominion Energy. We are at one of the largest power substations on the East Coast and we have put our leader-follower, self-synchronizing network in place with them.”

Plans will initially focus on regional rollouts. “Let’s do more relationships like we have with Dominion Energy, where we can hear directly from critical infrastructure partners on how they want to use it…and how we can best provide BPS as a complement to their GPS,” Matheny said.

Dr. Andrew Hansen, a prominent expert in navigation and timing who was instrumental in developing three global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), was profuse in his praise of BPS, calling the initial testing data "stunning."

“I am jealous—I’ve lived in standards my entire professional career, and 3.0 is a good one,” Hansen remarked. “GPS was a gift to the world; the idea that you can synchronize time around the world to ones of nanoseconds shook physical principles. The idea that we can now do this to ones of nanoseconds with BPS layered on ATSC 3.0 is remarkable.”

Improving the Viewer Experience
While enterprise infrastructure dominated the headlines, the “Better TV” session focused on local enhancements, including interactive applications, content curation and localized accessibility features.

Jason Quinn, director of engineering at New Mexico PBS, highlighted how the technology solves deep structural communication issues in rural, tribal areas. Covering the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation, the network is working with partners Ateme and Heartland Video Systems to deploy real-time AI translations and multi-language captioning.

“A lot of unique challenges that communities are facing have nothing to do with broadcast television, but have everything to do with the transfer of information,” Quinn said. Recent over-the-air tests successfully broadcast simultaneous Spanish and Vietnamese AI-translated caption tracks alongside standard English.

On the commercial datacasting side, Joe Fabiano, chief technology officer of EdgeBeam Wireless—a joint venture backed by E.W. Scripps, Gray Media, Nexstar Media Group, and Sinclair—updated attendees on the JV’s tech pipeline.

“We’re helping ATSC advance the standards to bring full IP networking, routing, and peering capabilities into the standard,” Fabiano said, noting that EdgeBeam’s ultimate goal is to blend seamlessly into background consumer ecosystems. “We’re not creating hardware and platforms for the purposes of becoming a hardware manufacturer. We're doing it for the purposes of bridging, so that we disappear into consumer electronics.”

The Race Against Wireless Competitors
The transition isn’t without immediate external competitive threats. During a panel focused on Advanced Emergency Information (AEI), So Vang, vice president of emerging technology at Sinclair subsidiary ONE Media 3.0, issued a blunt warning regarding impending features from the commercial wireless sector.

“We’re talking about keeping broadcasters relevant,” Vang cautioned. “If wireless alerting is going to do exactly what AEI is doing, we better step up and do it…The wireless industry is moving ahead. They will very likely roll out features like AEI—not with full interactivity, but at least with the ability to get a photo or a map to the handset. There’s a live FCC proceeding on that.”

Edward Czarnecki, vice president of global and government affairs at Digital Alert Systems, reminded the room that broadcasters possess a distinct structural advantage. Unlike wireless carriers, which hold blanket legal indemnification from emergency alert liabilities, broadcasters operate under strict statutory local obligations and hold far superior delivery capacity.

“AEI is an informational service, not an alert service,” Czarnecki noted. “We can do a lot more with languages, accessibility and multimedia than the wireless industry can because of our bandwidth and the versatility of the app environment.”

Chicken-and-Egg Redux
NAB’s LeGeyt compared the current 3.0 landscape to the classic “chicken-and-egg” hardware vs. content dilemma that defined the original digital transition decades ago—only this time, the stakes are exponentially higher.

“In order for consumers to see the value proposition of the ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV experience, we need to be implementing and deploying new features that are going to make this really attractive,” LeGeyt said. “And that goes beyond just a great picture. It's all the features that, frankly, may have been an innovation story 10 years ago, but really are just table stakes to compete in this media landscape today.”

The ATSC concluded the day by announcing the recipients of its two most coveted awards. Mark Aitken was named recipient of the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal and Julia Kenyon of the CTA received the 2026 Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has launched Merkhet Solutions, an independent company focused on commercial deployment of the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS).

BPS is a terrestrial timing and positioning technology that uses the NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) broadcast standard to deliver precise time and location signals over the existing network of U.S. broadcast towers.

First conceived by the technology team at NAB in 2021, the patented terrestrial, GPS-independent timing and positioning technology is designed to leverage the high-power, geographically diverse broadcast infrastructure already covering the United States.

"BPS represents a powerful intersection of innovation, public safety and opportunity for broadcasters,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “Launching Merkhet Solutions is the next step in commercializing this technology and ensuring it reaches the critical infrastructure operators who need it most, while continuing to create meaningful long-term opportunities for local stations."

BPS has been designed to address the more than $1 billion-per-day economic and national security risk posed by overreliance on GPS. To push forward the commercial deployment of BPS, Merkhet Solutions is engaging across critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, data centers, telecommunications and financial services where a loss of precision time can trigger grid instability, outages and lost trades.

“BPS solves a problem we can no longer afford to ignore: an entire economy and national security posture resting on a single, contested signal from space,” said Merkhet Solutions CEO Sam Matheny. “We built BPS at NAB because broadcast infrastructure is uniquely suited to deliver assured terrestrial timing at scale. We're launching Merkhet Solutions because the time to operationalize this technology is now."

Under Matheny’s leadership at NAB, BPS advanced rapidly from research concept to real-world deployment.

NAB demonstrated the first BPS prototype to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2022, followed by the first live broadcast demonstration in 2023. In 2024, NAB entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Nexstar Media Group.

In 2025, NIST concluded in a peer-reviewed paper presented at the Institute of Navigation International Technical Meeting that BPS was “comparable to or better than GNSS” for time transfer stability and a “viable complementary PNT solution.” Later that year, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded NAB a contract to deploy a BPS field trial with critical infrastructure partner Dominion Energy.

BPS is designed as a terrestrial complement to GPS, providing operators with an additional resilient source of timing and positioning that can be used alongside GPS or relied upon when satellite-based services are disrupted by jamming, spoofing, cyberattacks or natural events. The federal government recognized the need for terrestrial complements to GPS through the National Timing Resilience and Security Act and Executive Order 13905.

NAB said Merkhet Solutions intends to serve customers across all critical infrastructure sectors, with an emphasis on the lifeline sectors of energy, telecommunications, data centers and financial services, where timing precision is mission-critical and GPS vulnerability is an unacceptable risk.

Learn more at the Merkhet Solutions website.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has announced the results of tts 2026 NAB Radio and Television Board of Directors elections.

New board members will begin their two-year terms in June. New board members are listed below in italics; other members listed will retain their seats for the upcoming term.

NAB Television Board Members

• David Griffin, Griffin Communications
• Deb McDermott, Standard Media Group
• Amy Liz Pittenger, Bahakel Communications
• Nick Radziul, Hearst Television
• Pam Teague, Sarkes Tarzian
• Barry Fisher of Maranatha Broadcasting Co. was appointed to the seat previously held by Mike Steib.

NAB Radio Board Members

• Molly Draper Russell, Draper Radio, District 4 – Del., D.C., Md., Va.
• Chris Forgy, Saga Communications, District 6 – N.C., S.C.
• Ashley Tullos Fortenberry, TeleSouth Communications, Inc., District 8 – La., Miss.
• J Chapman, Woof Boom, District 10 – Ind.
• John Zimmer, Zimmer Communications, District 12 – Kan., Mo.
• Jeanna Berg, iHeart Media, District 14 – Iowa, Wis.
• Kelli Turner, Audacy, District 16 – Colo., Neb.
• Erik Hellum, Townsquare Media, District 18 – Southern Texas
• Ron Davis, Butte Broadcasting, Inc., District 20 – Idaho, Mont., Wyo.
• Tim Swift, Bonneville International Corp., District 22 – Ariz., Nev., N.M., Utah
• Jeff Warshaw, Connoisseur Media, District 24 – Southern Calif., Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands
• Mary Menna of Beasley Media Group was appointed to the District 2 (N.Y., N.J) seat.
• Heston Wright of Wright Media was appointed to the District 19 (Okla., Northern Texas) seat that was previously held by Will Payne of Payne Media Group.
• Erik Hellum of Townsquare Media was elected to the District 18 (Southern Texas) seat and previously held the District 12 (Kan., Mo.) seat.
• New board members were appointed to designated seats: Melody Spann Cooper of Midway Broadcasting, Bill Wilson of Townsquare Media and Javier Maynulet of Univision Radio.

Three major industry trade groups—the Motion Picture Association, the National Association of Broadcasters and NCTA–The Internet & Television Association—have defended the current system of TV ratings for children’s programming in a May 22 joint FCC filing.

In April, the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau issued a Public Notice that it would examine several issues related to TV content ratings and warning labels, including the current system’s handling of content related to LGBTQ+ and transgender people.

The joint response from the main trade groups representing the motion picture, broadcast TV and pay TV industries provides extensive detail on how the system works and how the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board actively seeks feedback from parents to refine its work. But it avoids the controversial question of LGBTQ+ content in addressing the FCC’s ask for public comments on how the ratings system might be improved.

“The TV Parental Guidelines continue to provide an effective tool to help parents and caregivers to make informed viewing choices about age-appropriate programming,” the joint filing said. “The Monitoring Board plays a vital role in fostering consistent TV ratings across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms. The Board is committed to continuing working diligently to further promote consistency and transparency in ratings and support public understanding.

“At the outset, we agree with the Media Bureau that parents must be empowered to make informed choices when it comes to the type of television programs that are appropriate for their children,“ it continued. “As discussed below, the Monitoring Board and the voluntary TV Parental Guidelines are doing just that. Indeed, the Guidelines are a widely recognized, well-understood and broadly used tool to help parents and caregivers make informed decisions about the television programs their children watch. The television industry carefully developed this decades-old TV ratings system and continues to seek feedback from stakeholders and refine ratings practices.”

The FCC’s Public Notice read: “Recently, parents have raised concerns that controversial gender identity issues are being included or promoted in children’s programs without providing any disclosure or transparency to parents.”

That prompted a number of filings by conservative politicians and groups, including U.S. Sen Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Center for American Rights President Daniel Suhr and the Concerned Women for America, calling for updates that would flag content with LGBTQ and transgender themes. Separately, 13 Republican state attorneys general filed comments urging the FCC to create a separate system where viewers could rate programs.

More than 40 organizations and industry associations, including Free Press, responded with comments opposing the idea. In its filing, public-interest group Free Press said the FCC lacks the authority to change the current system and that efforts to add the labels would silence LGBTQ+ voices.

The full filing from the MPA, NAB and NCTA can be found here.

The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) will hold its annual NextGen Broadcast Conference at National Association of Broadcasters headquarters in Washington, D.C., next week.

The two day conference, June 2-3, will explore advances in datacasting, emergency communications, Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) technologies, hybrid broadcast-broadband architectures, cloud-native workflows, AI-enabled operations, and converged ATSC 3.0/5G Broadcast services.

The conference will also recognize individuals whose leadership and technical excellence continue to shape the future of broadcasting, ATSC said. Following tradition, the organization will unveil the winner of the 2026 Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, which recognizes an individual representative of the membership whose technical and leadership contributions to ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary.

Mark Aitken, president of ONE Media Technologies, senior vice president of advanced technology for Sinclair and the recipient of the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal, will also be recognized.

“It will be a great honor to bestow the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal to Mark Aitken of ONE Media/Sinclair, recognizing the many achievements he has done to champion ATSC technologies throughout the world,” ATSC President Madeleine Noland said.

“The NextGen Broadcast Conference offers the opportunity to reconnect, exchange ideas, and continue building the future of broadcasting together,” Noland said. “The conversations taking place among engineers, broadcasters, policymakers, researchers, and innovators will help define how broadcasting serves viewers, communities, industries, and nations in the years ahead.”

Click here for more information.

WASHINGTON—Philanthropist and businesswoman Gayle Benson will receive the 2026 Celebration of Service to America Leadership Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation (NABLF).

Benson will be recognized for her civic and humanitarian contributions during the Celebration of Service to America Awards gala, presented by Bonneville International and Hearst Television, June 9, at The Anthem music venue in Washington, D.C.

One of the most powerful women in sports according to Forbes, Benson is a community investor, advocate and corporate citizen who is focused on growing and enriching the Gulf South region and improving lives through her initiatives in health and wellness, cancer care, education and the arts.

As the owner of the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, Benson has made giving back to the city a hallmark of her leadership. She annually gives millions of dollars annually in financial support, in-kind donations, charitable appearances and goods and services to those in need.

Benson is the steward of the Gayle and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation, carrying forward her husband’s vision and passion for helping others. She works closely alongside organizations like the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

She helped to establish The Gayle and Tom Benson Disaster Relief Fund to support first responders and vulnerable families, and she is particularly devoted to initiatives for young women, such as STEM programs in schools and leadership training. She is also currently building The Gayle and Tom Benson Ochsner Children’s Hospital on the Ochsner Medical Center campus in New Orleans featuring a dedicated pediatric emergency department, a Level IV Surgical NICU and AI technology.

“Gayle Benson truly embodies the values of philanthropy through her work to support, educate and care for others, especially in her hometown of New Orleans and surrounding areas,” said NABLF president Michelle Duke. “We are thrilled to be honoring Mrs. Benson and her legacy of long-term, positive and sustainable impact with the Foundation’s Leadership Award, our highest individual commendation for service.”

Beyond her community impact, Benson is an active and respected leader in professional sports. In 2025, she was appointed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as co-chair of the National Football League (NFL) Legislative Committee, where she helps guide the league’s government relations strategy. She also serves on the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Labor Relations Committee and has been a member of the NBA Foundation Board of Directors since 2020.

Benson also played a key role in launching the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network (GCSEN), a regional broadcast and digital platform designed to elevate local sports, culture and community storytelling.

More information is available on the NABLF website.

More information about the gala is available online.

WASHINGTON—Ben Arden, formerly a special counsel in the FCC’s Media Bureau, has joined the National Association of Broadcasters as senior vice president and deputy general counsel.

Arden will lead NAB’s policy and legal advocacy before the Federal Communications Commission, the group said, advocating broadcasters’ priorities on such issues as media ownership, competition policy and the evolving media marketplace. He’ll report to Rick Kaplan, NAB’s chief legal officer and executive VP of legal and regulatory affairs.

“Ben brings an exceptional depth of experience in communications law and policy, along with a proven ability to navigate complex regulatory challenges,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “His leadership and expertise will be invaluable as we continue advocating for policies that ensure local television and radio stations can compete and thrive.”

As FCC Media Bureau special counsel, Arden advised Carr’s office and FCC senior leaders on a wide range of issues, including media ownership, transaction reviews, foreign ownership, retransmission consent and emerging technologies, NAB said.

Arden was with the FCC for 15 years and held multiple leadership roles. Prior to the Media Bureau post, he served as chief of staff and legal adviser to then-commissioner Carr, playing a role in shaping communications policy and coordinating with congressional officers and industry stakeholders, NAB said.

Prior to the FCC, Arden was an associate attorney at law firm Williams Mullen, representing communications clients before Congress, the FCC and other federal agencies, NAB said. He earned his law degree from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from Arizona State University.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has joined a chorus of voices criticizing the Federal Communications Commission's decision to force The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC-owned TV stations to quickly apply by May 28 for an early renewal of their TV station licenses.

The “FCC’s broadcast license renewal process must be grounded in predictability, fairness and transparency, principles reflected in the license terms Congress established and later extended,“ NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a statement. “The Media Bureau’s nearly unprecedented request for one company to quickly reapply for all of its licenses—rather than utilize its traditional enforcement process—runs contrary to these principles and creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters.”

“Broadcast stations already face intense challenges as they work to deliver trusted journalism, lifesaving emergency services, community programming and election coverage,” LeGeyt said. “The FCC must be careful to avoid actions that create further instability for the local stations viewers and listeners depend on."

The NAB statement did not address the reasons for the FCC’s decision, which remain somewhat opaque. In an order requiring ABC to apply for license renewals by May 28, the FCC cited its ongoing investigation into DEI practices at the Walt Disney Company as the reason for the move.

Denying licenses on the basis of racial discrimination is rare and has not occurred since the Civil Rights period, when the FCC revoked the license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi.

The early renewal order for the ABC O&Os also followed months of criticism of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” by President Donald Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr, both of whom have threatened Disney’s broadcast TV licenses.

The ABC and the stations also face a complaint from the NRB, which filed a April 28 complaint about a Kimmel monologue given two days before a gunman attempted to attack Trump and other officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has announced that the group has elevated SBE member Fred Willard of Dunkirk, Md, to the membership rank of Fellow.

The Fellow honor is the highest membership level in the SBE. Members must have made significant contributions to the broadcast engineering field or the SBE. Candidates are nominated by their peers. Since the Society‘s founding 62 years ago, 95 members have been honored with the Fellow rank.

The SBE Board of Directors elected him at a meeting held in April 2026.

Fred Willard, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNT, senior RF engineer for Televisa Univision in Washington, DC, joined the SBE in 1985. He is serving his third term on the SBE Board of Directors, first elected in 2020.

He has served SBE Chapter 37 as secretary from 2016 to 2019, and treasurer since 2019. His work with bringing new people into broadcast and media technology includes working on the Media Forward student outreach with his local chapter, mentoring students at Montgomery Community College and Kent County High School, and working with the Maryland Board of Education to include the SBE Certification Handbook for Radio Operators and SBE Television Operator's Certification Handbook into the official state curriculum.

Willard has been a co-organizer of the SBE Ennes Workshop at the NAB Show for the past three years. He has also been the program chair for the annual Bits by the Bay two-day symposium in the Washington, DC, area. He has also helped with arranging technical presentations for the AES Convention.

Willard's career spans 50 years, starting with operating an ENG camera in college. He has worked in radio production and engineering, transitioned to Maryland Public TV (PBS) as an editor, audio specialist, ENG truck operator and trainer, and finally high-power RF specialist as transmission supervisor. He has worked as a facility integrator in many countries, and he has worked on special projects for NASA. He has B.S. in Communications from Towson University.

Willard was recognized during the SBE Membership Meeting held on April 20 during the 2026 NAB Show. He will also be recognized at the SBE National Meeting, which will be held in September in Madison, WI. A list of all those who have been named SBE Fellows is posted on the SBE website at sbe.org/fellows.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has nearly 4,000 members in 117 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe. There are also members in more than 25 other countries.

For more information about the SBE, visit the SBE website, sbe.org.

WASHINGTON—In a new filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the NAB again urged the agency to adopt policies that would reduce the cost of viewing major sporting events by having them air on broadcast TV. It also blasted the Consumer Technology Association’s defense of streaming platforms that have in recent years acquired many major sports rights.

The NAB made the comments in response to an FCC probe into Sports Broadcasting Practices and Marketplace Developments (MB Docket No. 26-45) that is seeking public comments on a wide variety of issues relating to sports rights and the rising cost of accessing games by consumers.

The inquiry has generated more than 8,600 comments. Those comments are available here.

In its April 13 reply comments, the NAB noted that “the public overwhelmingly agrees with NAB’s views. Commenters of all stripes venerated broadcast media’s consistent, affordable environment for airing live sports programming to all consumers. They also lamented the migration of live sports programming behind paywalled pureplay streaming services. The main contrarian who seems to think higher prices and hard-to-find content are actually good for consumers is the ironically named Consumer Technology Association (CTA). While CTA professes to promote a “consumer-first” mindset, in reality, it only cares about pushing more devices on consumers – even if consumers end up paying thousands of dollars for multiple paywalled pureplay streaming services that make their live sports content harder to find.”

The CTA’s reply comments weren’t immediately available on the FCC website but its original comments stressed the importance of letting the market determine the distribution of sports rights and the FCC’s lack of authority to regulate who airs major sports. The group, which is backed by major consumer electronics companies, also stressed that the rise in popularity of streaming services has also greatly expanded the amount and diversity of sports now available on TV.

“The free market delivers more choices for consumers to view a greater diversity of sports on a wider variety of devices,” the CTA’s March 27 filing argued. “As CTA often states, consumers should choose their own video choices, not a select group of broadcasters and not the Federal Communications Commission (Commission or FCC). The marketplace for sports media shows how a consumer-first mindset that maximizes choice and minimizes the need for government regulatory intervention supports new video services and features that benefit consumers. Americans now view many sports contests that have never been available on traditional broadcast television (or any traditional media platform) on their new smart TV, phone, tablet, or other device. The private marketplace functions to deliver sports fans the content they desire wherever and however they want to view it, and regulatory intervention will not benefit consumers. The Commission also lacks legal authority to regulate the content delivered over online services or their contractual arrangements. There is neither a need nor a legal basis for the FCC to regulate sports programming provided over streaming services.”

In its reply comments, the NAB continued to highlight the benefits of live sports on broadcast TV for fans and leagues alike by arguing that global streaming platforms lock games behind paywalls and create an expensive and confusing viewing experience.

In addition the NAB stressed that live sports support broadcast stations’ ability to provide local content, including news, weather and emergency coverage, by generating crucial revenues and expanding viewership.

In contrast, the shift toward exclusive streaming is driving up costs and confusion for fans, the NAB argued, citing data that a single league or team can now require fans to purchase multiple subscriptions, creating a system that is both expensive and difficult to navigate.

Referring to thousands of comments by sports fans complaining about the cost of streaming sports, the NAB concluded that “the record overwhelmingly supports what NAB explained in our comments: Broadcast TV is the best medium for airing live sports programming. Broadcast TV delivers affordable, accessible, and reliable live sports programming to communities across the country. And live sports programming, in turn, supports the local news and other local programming. By contrast, streaming services impose high costs, create consumer confusion, and diminish access to live sports, and the migration of live sports programming behind paywalled streaming services deprives the public of broadcast TV’s public interest-oriented programming…The Commission should support broadcasters by modernizing the national and local ownership rules and the rules required to complete the ATSC 3.0 transition and take a fresh look at whether the Sports Broadcasting Act is still required.”

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics is seeking comments on the state of competition in the communications market to assess the competitive landscape for voice, video, audio, and data services.

The agency seeks the comments on even numbered years as part of its statutory requirement to publish a “Communications Market Place Report” that will help the agency determine what laws, regulations and policies might be hindering competition and how those laws, regulations and policies might be improved.

In the past, broadcasters have filed papers with the regulator urging it to eliminate caps on broadcast stations and to eliminate regulations that have made it difficult for broadcasters to compete with tech giants and streaming platforms.

While the FCC has not altered ownership rules in decades, court decisions since the last report in 2024 have eliminated the prohibition on owning two top four stations in one market and the FCC recently waived ownership caps in the Nexstar/Tegna merger, though that approval is now being challenged in two different federal courts.

The FCC created the GN Docket No. 26-78 for filings. Comments are due May 21, 2026 and Reply Comments are due June 22, 2026.

The full Public Notice is available here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has named Carrie Healey vice president of communications. Healey will report to Michelle Lehman, chief of staff and executive vice president of Public Affairs at the NAB.

Healey will serve as NAB’s primary spokesperson and media relations strategist to advance broadcasters’ policy priorities before Congress and the Federal Communications Commission.

Healey leads a press team that includes Grace Whaley, director of communications and social media, and Judianne Meredith, communications coordinator.

“Carrie brings a wealth of expertise in strategic communications and public affairs, along with a deep understanding of the policymaking process that will strengthen our advocacy on behalf of local broadcasters,” said Lehman. “We are thrilled to welcome her to the NAB team.”

Healey most recently served as a client engagement lead at Purple Strategies, where she developed communications strategies for advocacy and public affairs campaigns on behalf of clients across a range of issues.

Prior to that, Healey was senior director of external communications and media relations at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She previously led communications for Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ) and served as national press secretary and deputy communications director for John Delaney’s presidential campaign. Healey brings media industry expertise to NAB from her roles at AOL, The Grio and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC).

WASHINGTON—In a sign that momentum for setting a firm transition date for NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 may be building, a large group of 91 members of Congress sent a March 27 letter to the Federal Communications Commission highlighting the importance of NextGen TV and the need to set a firm date for the transition.

NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt immediately praised the move in a statement that said the NAB “applauds the 91 members of the U.S. House of Representatives , led by the bipartisan co-chairs of the Congressional Broadcasters Caucus — Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO-04), Brendan Boyle (D-PA-02), Mike Flood (R-NE-01) and Darren Soto (D-FL-09) — for urging the Federal Communications Commission to take the next steps toward advancing the transition to ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV). Their leadership reflects a clear understanding of the immense consumer benefits that a modernized broadcast infrastructure will deliver to communities across the country.”

The FCC has acknowledged the importance of the rollout of the next generation broadcast standard by seeking comment from various players on how it can streamline rules to speed along the transition. While FCC Chair has repeatedly highlighted the importance of NextGen TV but he has not committed publicly to setting a firm date when current ATSC 1.0 signals would sunset.

The NAB and a wide variety of broadcast groups and larger station owners have urged the FCC to set a cutoff date of 2028 for many markets and 2030 for all markets. But some smaller and mid-sized station groups, many LPTV station owners and the Consumer Technology Association have opposed a government mandated sunset and ATSC 3.0 tuner mandates.

In their March 27 letter, lawmakers highlighted the benefits of ATSC 3.0 in terms of better image quality, advanced emergency alerts, interactivity, hyperlocalized content and the development of a terrestrial alternative to GPS.

“We now urge the Commission to take the next steps to bring this transition to completion and unlock the full range of benefits enabled by the Next Gen TV platform,” the letter noted. “It is of utmost importance that local broadcast stations throughout the country are able to serve our constituents not only with the improved pictures, sounds, and interactive features that Next Gen TV provides, but also with expanded local news capabilities, advanced emergency alerting, and the ability to deliver hyper-localized content that is the fabric of our local communities.”

“Yet while local markets continue to launch, the lack of a firm transition timeline threatens the broad availability of these benefits to rural and urban markets alike and slows market momentum,” the letter warned. “Broadcasters and device manufacturers alike need regulatory certainty to make long-term investments and fully realize the potential of this technology. Manufacturers may hesitate to scale device production while consumer demand for Next Gen remains limited, yet broadcasters cannot spark that demand until they regain access to their full channel capacity and can showcase the full capabilities of ATSC 3.0.”

“By establishing a clear path forward, the Commission can help overcome these natural market hesitations and ensure that free, over-the-air television continues to thrive and evolve to meet viewers’ needs, rather than risk gradual erosion through inaction,” the letter concluded. “A clear signal from the FCC that the transition is moving forward will unlock greater manufacturer investment in the consumer device marketplace – a win-win that fosters competition and ensures that viewers benefit from a vibrant marketplace of affordable, Next Gen TV-ready products. A firm transition date would catalyze the entire ecosystem, focusing technical development, accelerating deployment, and creating a predictable path forward.”

The full letter and a list of signatories can be found here.

NAB criticized Netflix’s exclusive coverage of the marquee game of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, and used the criticism to continue its campaign against the fragmentation of sports TV.

In a blog on nab.org, the association said that instituting a paywall to watch the New York Yankees take on the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on March 25 contradicted the idea that viewers should be able to view “American’s pastime” for free.

“On Opening Day, baseball should feel like a national holiday. Friends and families gather around TVs and radios in living rooms, bars and break rooms across America,” the NAB wrote. “But this year, many fans were met with something else: a paywall. Major League Baseball’s high-profile streaming debut on Netflix sparked confusion, frustration and backlash from fans who simply wanted to watch their teams play.”

NAB’s comments are part of the association’s “Keep the Game On” campaign launched in late 2025 to promote the concept that live sports should remain free on broadcast TV. The association has also tied the idea to its continued push for relaxing ownership rules that would allow broadcasters to better compete with the likes of Amazon, Apple TV—and yes, Netflix—which are increasingly outbidding broadcasters for sports rights.

It also comes as Netflix announced another price hike this week. The company’s ad-supported plan has gone from $7.99 to $8.99 a month; the standard plan is now $19.99 a month, up from $17.99; and its premium plan has increased from $24.99 to $26.99

Pricing for extra members also went up, with ad-supported plans now costing $6.99 per additional non-household user, up from $5.99, and ad-free add-ons now costing $9.99, up from $8.99 each.

“We're updating our prices to keep improving what you already love. Expect fresh, can’t-miss shows and movies every week (including 100 new releases next month),” the streaming service said in its note to subscribers.

If there's one thing baseball fans treasure, it's tradition. And NAB thinks that Netflix’s coverage was frivolous and distracting.

“USA Today noted the uneven viewing experience and questioned whether the streaming-first approach delivered for fans,” NAB wrote. “Awful Announcing criticized the broadcast itself as feeling more like marketing than meaningful coverage.”

Besides the mediocre coverage, the association said the trend of more sports moving behind paywalls will be a loss for American sports fans.

“This moment is part of a trend making it harder and more expensive for Americans to follow the teams they love,” the NAB wrote. “A recent breakdown shows just how fragmented and costly sports access has become, with fans juggling multiple subscriptions just to keep up across leagues and platforms. What used to be available in one place, often for free over the air, is now scattered across apps, exclusive deals and premium tiers.

“Live sports are one of the last truly shared cultural experiences in America, bringing communities together regardless of background or belief,” NAB added. “Local television and radio stations are at the center of that connection, delivering games freely to millions. As more games move behind paywalls controlled by global streaming platforms, that shared experience begins to erode. We risk turning a unifying national pastime into a fragmented, premium product available only to those who can afford it.

The NAB pointed out that the FCC is currently seeking public notice on sports broadcasting. Deadline for first public comment period is today, March 27.

“Consumer outcry has not gone unnoticed. The Federal Communications Commission is currently asking for public comment on how the shift from sports on broadcasting to behind streaming paywalls is impacting consumers. You can make your voice heard here. Tell Washington: Keep sports on local TV.”

WASHINGTON—A new NAB blog post highlights a recent TVB survey that documented a widespread preference by sports enthusiasts for games on free broadcast TV versus streaming.

The study found that for sports enthusiasts, linear television is the preferred way to view sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, auto racing and tennis. About 90% of sports enthusiasts told researchers that it is important for local sports to be shown on local broadcast TV and three out of four sports enthusiasts reported that they watch sports on local broadcast TV at least twice a week.

“Recently released data from the 2026 TVB Sports Survey confirms that fans want [sports]...to remain free and accessible on local television,” the NAB blog noted. “More sports enthusiasts chose broadcast television as their way to view sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, auto racing or tennis.

The findings come at a time when the Federal Communications Commission has opened an inquiry into broadcast sports rights that seeks, in part, to address the impact of the shift of sports rights from free broadcasting outlets to streaming. A number of studies have found that the shift is making it harder for fans to follow their favorite teams and that it has increased the cost of viewing sports programming.

“With games increasingly scattered across subscription platforms, fans are being asked to navigate a fragmented and costly viewing experience. Viewers are looking for simple and reliable access to their favorite sports, including hometown games and marquee nationwide events,” the NAB said. “As policymakers and leagues consider the future of sports distribution, this data offers a clear directive: ensure that live sports remain widely available on local broadcast television. Because when the biggest moments happen, Americans should not have to search for them. They should be able to turn on their local station and be part of something bigger.”

More information about the survey is available here; viewers can learn more about this issue at nab.org/GameOn.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters announced today that Makan Delrahim, chief legal officer at Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, and Maria Martinez-Guzman, president of Entravision Media, have been appointed to the NAB Television Board of Directors. The appointments are effective immediately.

Delrahim oversees all legal, regulatory, compliance and public policy matters for Paramount, which includes CBS. In this role, he guides legal strategy to support the company’s commitment to delivering high-quality media content to audiences nationwide. Prior to joining Paramount in October 2025, Delrahim was a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on complex mergers and transactions and other matters.

Before that, Delrahim served as the 35th Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Delrahim brings extensive expertise on media and regulatory issues to his role on the NAB Television Board of Directors, offering valuable perspectives as broadcasters navigate a rapidly evolving media marketplace. He assumes the seat previously held by Keith Murphy.

Martinez-Guzman was appointed president of Entravision in 2026, where she oversees television and digital video programming, local sales for television-only markets and national sales. She previously spent more than 24 years at Univision, most recently as executive vice president of news, where she led programming for all daily Univision news properties.

Martinez-Guzman is a skilled broadcast industry leader who brings decades of experience in television programming and audience engagement to her role on the NAB Television Board of Directors. She assumes the seat previously held by Jeff Liberman.

The National Association of Broadcasters is praising the FCC and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for opening an investigation into how professional sports rights are currently negotiated with an eye towards leveling the playing field for broadcasters.

In February, FCC Chairman Brandon Carr announced that the FCC’s Media Bureau had issued a Public Notice seeking public comment about the current state of sports TV and in particular, how the increasingly fragmented viewing landscape is impacting how viewers watch sports on TV. Deadline for public comments is March 27.

"Given the nexus between sports programming and the local media marketplace—as well as the FCC’s ongoing work to support local news and reporting—we believe it is important for us to evaluate the sports media landscape and understand how changes have impacted consumers and broadcasters," the bureau stated in its notice.

In December, NAB launched a campaign “Keep the Game On” to advocate for keeping live professional sports available on free TV and to increase public awareness of how outdated ownership rules impact broadcasters' competitiveness in negotiating with Big Tech over sports rights.

"Games that once aired on local broadcast stations are increasingly gobbled up by Big Tech platforms, hidden behind paywalls that come with steep monthly bills,” said NAB President Curtis LeGeyt. “That is not progress, it is a problem. Broadcasters need the ability to compete and keep sports accessible to everyone."

This week, the association highlighted this recent tweet from Sen. Lee:

“We’re grateful for Chairman Carr and Sen. Lee providing leadership on this important topic as consumers are increasingly frustrated by the scattering of live sports across multiple streaming platforms,” the NAB wrote in a blog. “Fans want to easily watch their hometown teams and marquee national events on broadcast television, free and accessible to all. As the biggest games in football and basketball have shown, broadcast television continues to bring communities together around the moments that matter most.”

“But outdated government ownership rules make it harder for broadcasters to compete for sports rights and the advertising revenue that supports them,” they added. “In today’s fragmented media marketplace, broadcasters must compete against global streaming companies and Big Tech platforms that face none of the same regulatory restrictions.”

The NAB’s web page for ownership rules is here and its "Keep the Game On" web page is here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that broadcast engineers and executives Bert Goldman and Harvey Arnold are the 2026 recipients of NAB’s Engineering Achievement Awards. They will be honored at the We Are Broadcasters Awards Ceremony, held on the Main Stage of the 2026 NAB Show on Tuesday, April 21 in Las Vegas. 

Each year since 1959, NAB has presented the Engineering Achievement Awards to individuals for their outstanding accomplishments in the broadcast industry, with separate honors for radio and television established in 1991.

Bert Goldman, owner and president of Goldman Engineering Management, will receive the 2026 Radio Engineering Achievement Award in recognition of more than 50 years of leadership and innovation in broadcast engineering.

A nationally respected expert in AM and FM spectrum analysis, Goldman has helped broadcasters improve performance, expand coverage and enhance asset value. His work spans station construction, technical operations and regulatory compliance, and he is widely regarded for his deep expertise in FCC rules, FM booster and translator engineering and directional AM antenna system design.

He previously served as corporate vice president of Engineering for ABC/Disney Radio Division, Nationwide Communications, Patterson Broadcasting and Shamrock Broadcasting. Over his career, he has overseen upgrades in most of the top 25 U.S. markets and managed the design and construction of more than 50 radio stations.

A member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), Goldman has also been active with the NAB National Radio Systems Committee and the NAB Radio Technical Committee.

Harvey Arnold, senior vice president of engineering for Sinclair Broadcast Group, will receive the 2026 Television Engineering Achievement Award for his leadership and long-standing contributions to advancing broadcast technology.

Since joining Sinclair in 1998, Arnold has led transmission engineering operations across the company’s television stations, with a strong focus in recent years on accelerating the industry’s transition to ATSC 3.0. He is also working with NAB and industry partners to develop and implement the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS), coordinating field testing at Sinclair ATSC 3.0 stations and promoting awareness of the technology’s potential.

Prior to Sinclair, Arnold spent 17 years with North Carolina Public Television, managing and expanding engineering and transmission operations for one of the nation’s largest statewide public television networks. He also participated in activities of the FCC Advisory Committee for Advanced Television Service (ACATS), helping test the ATSC DTV standard in the field and guide the rollout of digital television in the United States

Arnold is a SMPTE Fellow and member of the SMPTE Board of Editors. A former chairman of the NAB TV Technology Committee, he remains active in ATSC, SMPTE, SBE and AFCCE. He is also a recipient of the Broadcasting & Cable Technical Leadership Award.

Learn more about the 2026 NAB Show at NABShow.com.

WASHINGTON—Broadcasters from across the country have gathered in Washington, D.C., for the National Association of Broadcasters’ (NAB) annual State Leadership Conference (SLC), an advocacy event where local radio and television leaders champion policies that strengthen stations’ ability to serve their communities.

Steve Patterson, host of Hubbard Radio’s myTalk 107.1 and the nationally syndicated “Donna & Steve Show,” emceed the program, which focused on broadcasters’ indispensable role in delivering trusted news, emergency information and local connection to communities nationwide.

On March 4, attendees will head to Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress to discuss policy priorities critical to local stations.

NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt delivered remarks on March 3 to 570 attendees, outlining the urgent need to modernize outdated regulations that prevent local stations from competing on a level playing field with global technology platforms. He underscored broadcasters’ unique and essential role in public safety, civic engagement and strengthening local democracy.

Broadcasters also heard from key policymakers shaping broadcast policy, including Sen. Ed Markey (MA), who spoke about the enduring value of broadcast radio and his leadership on the bipartisan effort to pass the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. Sen. John Barrasso (WY) addressed the threat a performance tax poses to local radio stations and the importance of broadcasters in their communities. Rep. Richard Hudson (NC-09), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, spoke about the need for broadcast ownership rules to reflect today’s landscape and the importance of keeping AM radio in cars.

NAB’s advocacy team provided a comprehensive policy briefing led by executive vide president of government relations Shawn Donilon, equipping attendees with the latest updates on ownership reform, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act and other legislative priorities.

NAB executive vice president, public affairs and chief of staff Michelle Lehman also highlighted NAB’s America 250 campaign, outlining opportunities for stations to engage audiences in the commemoration of the nation’s milestone anniversary.

The conference also celebrated excellence and leadership within broadcasting. NAB presented the prestigious Crystal Radio Awards, honoring stations for outstanding community service, and Ralph Oakley received the Chuck Sherman Television Leadership Award in recognition of his exceptional contributions to local television.

NAB senior Vice president, State, International and Board Relations Sue Keenom recognized outgoing state association leaders for their dedicated service to broadcasters and their communities, including:

• Jim Timm, president, Nebraska Broadcasters Association and outgoing president, National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA)
• Pat Roberts, Florida Association of Broadcasters
• Neal Gladner, Arkansas Broadcasters Association
• Vance Harrison, Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters
• Cathy Hiebert, Alaska Broadcasters Association
• Chris Kline, Arizona Media Association
• Keith Shipman, Washington State Broadcasters Association

As broadcasters prepare for meetings with lawmakers tomorrow, this year’s State Leadership Conference reinforced a singular message: Local radio and television stations remain the most trusted and resilient source of news and information in communities across America.

WASHINGTON—NAB is launching a yearlong, nationwide effort to celebrate the role radio and TV stations play in recording the history and connecting their communities as the nation commemorates the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

NAB will make new public service announcements and a comprehensive toolkit available to local stations highlighting how broadcasters have captured defining moments in the life of the nation and presented them to the American people.

“From world-changing speeches and moon landings to hometown triumphs and moments of heartbreak, local broadcasters have been there, informing our communities and preserving the stories that define us,” said NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, we are proud to spotlight the unique role broadcasters play as trusted recorders of history.”

The association has released new “We Are Broadcasters” TV and radio spots highlighting the role of broadcasters in carrying the nation’s most consequential moments to viewers via the airwaves and continue serving their communities and the nation at large delivering news, emergency information and community stories.

NAB is providing “Our American Story, Local Edition: A Guide for TV and Radio Stations” to support stations’ voluntary efforts as they plan coverage and community engagement efforts tied to America 250. In addition to the TV and radio spots, the customizable toolkit includes suggested station activities as well as digital and creative assets designed to support year-long participation.

More information is available online.

WASHINGTON—The 2026 NAB Show will expand its Sports Summit to four days, convening leaders from across leagues, teams, broadcast networks, streaming platforms and technology companies to examine the rapidly evolving business of sports media.

“The economics of sports media are being rewritten in real time,” said Karen Chupka, executive vice president and managing director, NAB Global Connections and Events. “With Jon Miller and leaders from across leagues, teams, venues and investment groups, we’re bringing together the executives who are actively shaping the future of rights, partnerships and fan engagement.”

The 2026 NAB Show takes place April 18-22 (exhibits April 19-22) at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Presented in the Sports Theater on the West Hall show floor, the four-day Summit will explore how production, distribution, investment and policy are reshaping live sports experiences and driving new revenue opportunities. The Summit is open for the first time to all attendees with a Show Floor Pass.

Headlining the Sports Summit, Jon Miller, president of Acquisitions and Partnerships at NBC Sports, will have a fireside conversation on the Main Stage with John Ourand from Puck's "The Varsity" on "NBC Sports Playbook: Rights, Partnerships and What's Next," examining the strategy behind NBC's major rights acquisitions and distribution partnerships at a pivotal moment for the industry. The session comes on the heels of NBC Sports's "Legendary February," which packed the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LX and the NBA All-Star Game into the shortest month of the year.

"The media world continues to evolve, but broadcast television remains stronger and more important than ever before," Miller said. "Our long-term sports deals always have broadcast as a key component for our partners."

The Sports Summit will dive into other sports business drivers like:

• "The State of Sports Media: Rights, Reach & Revenue" — a global snapshot of where leagues stand on media rights, platform distribution and revenue models amid fragmented viewership.
• "Privacy Equity, Sovereign Wealth and the Future of Sports Ownership" —examining how new capital is entering leagues and teams and what that means for governance and long-term growth.
• "Athletes as Enterprises: Power, Platforms and Ownership" — exploring athlete-driven brands, production companies and equity stakes.
• “Sports Betting and the New Fan Economy” — analyzing how wagering, data rights and evolving regulation are reshaping fan engagement and media partnerships.
• “Women’s Sports at an Inflection Point” — a discussion of how rights strategy, brand investment and distribution models are converting momentum into long-term enterprise value.
• “Globalization of Sports: Building Fans Beyond Borders” — an exploration of strategies for expanding leagues and fandom across international markets through localized content and global partnerships.
• “The Fan Experience Reimagined” and “Stadiums of the Future: Tech-Driven Venue Experiences” — sessions examining how personalization, immersive production and venue innovation are converging to create connected, technology-driven fan experiences across physical and digital environments.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Laura "LJ" Johnson, executive producer and senior director of game presentation and live events for the San Francisco 49ers
• Allen T. Lamb, co-founder and CEO of EuroStep Ventures and controlling owner of Levallois Metropolitans Basketball Club
• Rebecca Kacaba, co-founder and CEO of DealMaker, an AI-driven capital raising platform that has facilitated more than $2.5 billion in investment volume, reflecting the Summit’s mix of team, ownership and investment perspectives
• Ameeth Sankaran, CEO of Religion of Sports, which was co-founded by filmmaker Gotham Chopra, NFL legend Tom Brady and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan
• Jeff Roth, partner at Bruin Capital
• Shelby Williams, head of Integrated Sports Marketing at AWS

The organizers also reported that sports-focused exhibitors include: Canon, DJI, Dolby, EVS, Google, Imagine Communications, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Ross, Shure, Sony and Verizon.

Major sports leagues with registered attendees include: MLB, NBA, NASCAR, NFL, NHL, PGA Tour, U.S. Soccer Federation and UFC.

Major teams with registered attendees include: Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Liverpool F.C., Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns and San Francisco 49ers.

Attendees in the West Hall Lobby can partake in an interactive demonstration. AWS and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) will present an AI-enabled digital basketball shooting experience that will analyze participants’ shots in real time and generate personalized performance insights. This hands-on experience is one example of how AI and cloud technologies are influencing both athlete performance and fan interaction.

Attendees, exhibitors and accredited press can learn more and register at nabshow.com/las-vegas.

WASHINGTON—DirecTV has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that include a new study rebutting longstanding arguments that lifting ownership caps on station groups will lead to better local news.

In comments filed with the FCC over the years, the NAB and broadcast groups have argued that the total hours of local broadcast news coverage has increased in the last decade.

In response to the study, the NAB issued the following statement: “Over the past decade, as broadcasters gained modest additional scale, local news output rose sharply. From 2011 to 2023, local news telecasts increased by more than 40%, and total hours grew nearly 50%. Scale strengthens local journalism. The record is clear. The truth is local news will not survive if broadcasters are forced to compete at a disadvantage. It is no surprise that a pay TV competitor that is not limited in how many homes it can reach nationwide would prefer that outcome. DirecTV is not raising these arguments to protect local journalism. It is protecting its bottom line. Modernizing outdated ownership rules will ensure local stations can continue delivering the trusted news and lifesaving emergency information our communities depend on.”

The DirecTV study looks at the diversity of local news content by examining the impact on local news in markets co-owned stations where a station group owns more than one TV station.

“Recent history shows that when broadcasters acquire a second, third, or fourth station in a local market, they consolidate news operations, leaving one newsroom where there had been two, three, or four, thus decreasing the quality of local news,” DirecTV said in a letter to the FCC that included the study. “This is not a speculative claim. In fact, in the context of the proposed Nexstar-Tegna transaction, we’ve filed evidence demonstrating that Nexstar, for example, has done this with every duopoly or triopoly it possesses.”

“We now show that these results also apply to broadcasters other than Nexstar,” the letter noted. “By our calculations, in the vast majority of markets in which any broadcaster holds a duopoly, triopoly, or quadropoly today, they have consolidated news operations. We also attach a presentation that describes the methodology behind these assertions. Specifically, we studied every existing Big Four broadcast duopoly, triopoly, and quadropoly that we could identify and found that when a broadcaster owns at least two Big Four stations in a market, they generally combine the news operations–station websites, news directors, and on-air talent–of those two, three, or four stations. In the majority of duopolies, triopolies, and quadropolies, the co-owned stations offered essentially the same local news.”

“The evidence conclusively demonstrates that broadcaster consolidation reduces competition, output, and quality in local news,” DirecTV concluded. “Accordingly, we urge the Commission to reject broadcasters’ proposals that would create more duopolies, triopolies, and quadropolies and decrease local news content.”

For the study, the researchers looked at any Nielsen DMA with a Big Four duopoly, triopoly, or quadropoly owned by one of America’s top ten broadcasters, excluding the ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox O&Os and found 98 duopolies, 15 triopolies, and 3 quadropolies included, totaling 253 Big Four affiliations.

The researchers then measured how often these stations groups consolidated their local online news to a single site, regardless of how many stations are involved; how they used one news director to determine what’s news across the two or three, or even four Big Four stations involved in any single DMA; and how they shared journalists and on-air news talent from one station to another, rather than operating distinctly.

That analysis found that

• For all broadcasters, 90.5% of news sites are shared in DMAs with joint ownership of multiple Big Four affiliations.
• For all broadcasters, 98.2% of News Directors are shared in DMAs with joint ownership of multiple Big Four affiliations.
• For all broadcasters, 97.3% of news talent are shared in DMAs with joint ownership of multiple Big Four affiliations.
• Among the top 10 station groups, 87.3% of news sites are shared in DMAs owned by Top 10 Broadcasters with joint ownership of multiple Big Four affiliations.
• 97.4% of News Directors are shared in DMAs owned by Top 10 Broadcasters with joint ownership of multiple Big Four affiliations.
• 96.1% of news talent are shared in DMAs owned by Top 10 Broadcasters with joint ownership of multiple Big Four affiliations.

DirecTV filed the study and comments as part of the FCC Quadrennial Review of Ownership Rules.

In response to the study, the NAB issued the following statement: “Over the past decade, as broadcasters gained modest additional scale, local news output rose sharply. From 2011 to 2023, local news telecasts increased by more than 40%, and total hours grew nearly 50%. Scale strengthens local journalism. The record is clear.

The truth is local news will not survive if broadcasters are forced to compete at a disadvantage. It is no surprise that a pay TV competitor that is not limited in how many homes it can reach nationwide would prefer that outcome.

DirecTV is not raising these arguments to protect local journalism. It is protecting its bottom line. Modernizing outdated ownership rules will ensure local stations can continue delivering the trusted news and lifesaving emergency information our communities depend on.”

Major U.S. wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are aggressively lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to repurpose the entire upper C-band (3.98–4.2 GHz) for flexible-use wireless services, aiming to secure up to 180 MHz of additional spectrum for expanded capacity.

Observers say those companies want it all, top to bottom. Wireless industry association CTIA, for one, met with the FCC this month and put on the record that it wants the “maximum amount of spectrum” in the upper C-Band for full-power, licensed wireless deployments.

While carriers and other wireless service providers are anxious to grab the maximum amount of capacity, they face stiff pushback from broadcasters urging a limit of 100 MHz.

The FCC has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to repurpose the 3.98–4.2 GHz band for flexible-use terrestrial services, with an auction targeted for 2027. The commission is mandated by Congress to take at least another 100 MHz for wireless services.

The National Association of Broadcasters said taking that much spectrum for terrestrial cellular services could disrupt vital content distribution services.

(This story from our sister publication Radio World focuses on filing by wireless entities. Read their coverage of the NAB’s latest reply comments here.)

Data usage needs

Driven by the need for more mid-band spectrum to support 5G, and eventually 6G services, major wireless carriers are continuing their push for the maximum possible amount, aiming for the full 180 MHz.

The wireless carriers emphasized the importance of “maximizing” the amount of C-band spectrum to be repurposed. AT&T cited the historic growth in data usage by Americans that underscores the importance of the commission’s efforts in the proceeding to free up additional mid-band spectrum.

AT&T, in its comments, said that for the third year in a row, U.S. mobile network data usage demand grew approximately 35%, a historic surge and a pace that would nearly double the amount of data used every two years.

“Stakeholders broadly agree that the upper C-band will play a key role in 5G and beyond,” AT&T wrote.

Moving incumbents

Verizon focused part of its recent reply comments on the feasibility of moving incumbent users, including satellite audio and video services used by broadcasters, out of the upper C-band.

The broadband giant said comments filed in the proceeding confirm there is a feasible path for transitioning incumbents out of the spectrum, while ensuring they can receive “substantially” the same service that exists today.

Some existing space station operators, Verizon said, have detailed opportunities to reorganize and compress customers into a smaller segment of upper C-band spectrum, while others could be moved to Ku-band spectrum.

It also pointed to commenters who said fiber and internet protocol distribution technologies present effective alternatives for services provided today.

Transition plan

Verizon and others said that Fixed Service Satellite providers like SES – the largest upper C-band satellite operator, responsible for over 95% of all video content in the band – have already outlined a plan to clear 180 megahertz of the band (160 Megahertz for terrestrial wireless service and 20 Megahertz for a guard band), but that full transition could take years to plan.

Therefore, several commenters suggested a plan that would take several stages to complete, with the 100 MHz mandated in the Big Beautiful Bill being the first implemented in 2027.

Once the FCC makes a final determination on how much spectrum to repurpose, wireless carriers urged the commission to follow a similar regulatory framework of the lower C-band repurposing and auction in 2020, a transition that booted broadcast services to the upper section of C-band.

T-Mobile said in its comments: “The record in the proceeding reflects near-unanimous support for such a reallocation and a regulatory framework for terrestrial mobile use that is harmonized across the C-band, including, among other things, applying the licensing and technical rules adopted for the lower C-band (3.7–3.98 GHz) to the upper C-band.”

CTIA meets with the commission

In the latest round of comments collected by the FCC this week, CTIA shared what it wished for in a meeting with FCC officials in February: making available the “maximum amount of upper C-band spectrum” for licensed, or exclusive, full-power terrestrial wireless deployments.

CTIA also requested a “clear, unwavering schedule” for wireless licensees to begin their deployments in the near term following the auction and harmonizing the lower and upper C-band technical rules, as appropriate.

CTIA said the spectrum is also needed to support AI innovation.

“The fact remains that data demand continues to grow year after year and additional spectrum will be needed to support this continued growth, particularly as AI begins to scale, with AI applications projected to drive uplink traffic 20 percent higher than it would be with existing applications,” CTIA said.

Ericsson, the multinational networking and telecommunications company, said maximizing the upper C-band for wireless helps promote national security of the United States.

“Repurposing the upper C-band,” Ericsson said, “will promote national security through the advancement of secure and trusted communications networks and equipment.

“As the commission is well aware, the dry spectrum well of the past several years created a leadership vacuum that allowed China to advance its own economic interests and security prerogatives at home and abroad through exports of its equipment to other countries,” it commented.

Meanwhile, the Competitive Carriers Association said it is very much in favor of utilizing the upper C-band for 5G and future 6G endeavors, but emphasized the need to make it fair for small and rural carriers when auctioning off the spectrum for wireless services. It questioned whether previously designated bid credits for small and rural carriers are still adequate.

“CCA agrees that mid-band auctions present unique challenges for rural providers. Mid-band spectrum offers the optimal balance of coverage and capacity for rural deployment,” the group said. “However, rural providers frequently face substantial capital constraints when competing against nationwide carriers with exponentially greater financial resources.”

Next-generation satellite

Some commenters, including Space X, suggested reserving portions of the upper C-band spectrum for next-generation satellite services (Direct-to-Device) rather than solely for terrestrial cellular services.

T-Mobile and the other wireless carriers told the commission to decline those proposals seeking to introduce mobile satellite services or shared-use mechanisms in the repurposed upper C-band.

There are also some technical challenges to overcome once spectrum for FSS earth stations is shifted elsewhere, according to multiple filers. The upper C-band is adjacent to the 4.2–4.4 GHz band used by radio altimeters in aviation, requiring careful management of interference risks, according to Boeing and several aeronautical entities.

In addition, several commenters pointed to the Federal Aviation Administration’s recent notice of proposed rulemaking concerning upgrading radio altimeters to withstand interference from adjacent wireless operations. The timeframe for implementing those upgrades is uncertain, according to observers.

CTIA in its comments hinted at a need for collaboration between government agencies to accomplish the goal of repurposing the spectrum for flexible-use wireless services.

“The coordinated FCC and FAA proceedings, buttressed by congressional action, standards development and cross-industry collaboration, have positioned all stakeholders for timely execution,” it said.

[This article appeared first in our sister publication Radio World. Their extensive business and regulatory coverage of the broadcast industry can be found here.]

[Do you receive the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter each weekday morning? We invite you to sign up here.]

The following is an opinion piece from Michael Petricone, SVP, Government & Regulatory Affairs with the Consumer Technology Association:

Broadcasters benefit from one of the largest government giveaways in American history: free, exclusive access to the public airwaves. As Americans increasingly consume content in new ways, it’s time to rethink that approach and consider reallocating the spectrum to serve consumers and the broader economy.

During the first half of the 20th century, radio and television were breakthrough technologies. Spectrum allocated for broadcasting helped connect the country with local news, information, and entertainment in a way that had never been possible before. That access was always a temporary license to serve the public interest, subject to renewal by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Today, fewer than 9% of Americans access broadcast TV programming solely using an antenna, with many instead using streaming, mobile, and on-demand platforms to get the same local content. Despite this declining viewership of over-the-air TV, broadcasters still control vast swaths of prime spectrum that could be put to more efficient use.

Now, broadcasters want even more, including looser ownership rules so they can merge, consolidate, and entrench their position. Before Congress hands out new favors, it should look at reclaiming underused broadcast spectrum. We can’t afford to reward inefficient use of public airwaves and shut the door on more efficient uses of spectrum – especially when unlicensed spectrum is so valuable. The limited amount of unlicensed spectrum available today generates $95.8 billion per year in sales to our economy.

Spectrum powers many of the technologies we rely on today, and next-generation advances in AI, advanced manufacturing, precision health, 6G, autonomous mobility, and defense systems will require expanded access to it.

It’s long past time to reset the system. At CES 2026, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested that “if you want to continue broadcasting without the public interest obligation, then let everyone have a fair and free shot at purchasing that spectrum.” He’s right.

An “Incentive Auction 2.0” would allow the federal government to reclaim this spectrum, auction it openly, and let the market allocate it to its highest and best uses, while generating needed government revenue. Policymakers should start asking broadcasters some tough questions and looking for opportunities to put spectrum to its highest value use.

Everyone should compete on equal terms. No more freebies. No more special favors that distort the market and advantage legacy broadcasters over their competitors. If a business model works, it will survive without government protection.

We know this approach works. When the FCC began auctioning spectrum in the 1990s, it sparked one of the greatest waves of investment and innovation in modern history. Wireless networks expanded, smartphones emerged, and the mobile economy took off.

The same holds true for convening another auction of broadcast spectrum, which would boost economic growth, improve connectivity, and help American companies compete against global rivals. As China reallocates spectrum aggressively to strengthen its technological edge, the United States cannot afford to let ours sit idle.

The airwaves belong to the American people. It is time for the FCC to take the spectrum back and allow the market to determine its most efficient use.

What do you think? Drop us a line at tvtechnology@futurenet.com

The National Association of Broadcasters knows the Federal Communications Commission is going to reallocate 100 MHz of the upper C-band, which it is legally mandated to do.

But the association warns that any clearing beyond that minimum threshold poses a significant risk to the nation’s critical broadcast infrastructure.

In its newly-filed reply comments, NAB contended that the upper C-band (3.98 to 4.2 GHz) is currently optimized and lacks the “headroom” for extensive clearing.

[This article was originally published in our sister publication, Radio World. They've also covered NAB’s previous filings during the comment filing period tied to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the commission opened in November. Read one of those stories here.]

The deadline to file reply comments with the commission in Docket 25-59 was on Wednesday.

“Upper C-band is mission-critical to broadcasting and is already operating at its practical limit,” NAB told the commission.

“Insatiable” wireless carriers

The upper C-band is used by earth station operators, including broadcasters, whose operations have already been curtailed by prior auctions of the lower C-band to wireless operators.

The commission is required by statute to auction a minimum of 100 MHz of the upper C-band (2.98 – 4.08 GHz) spectrum no later than July 2027, but the FCC has proposed auctioning up to 180 MHz through competitive bidding.

The spectrum auction is expected to generate billions of dollars.

But NAB contended that outside of the “insatiable nationwide wireless carriers and a small subset of proponents focused on speculative future uses,” commenters in the docket overwhelmingly caution that additional clearing would jeopardize broadcast distribution, increase systemic risk and undermine public-interest services.

Even with the loss of 100 MHz of spectrum, NAB said a repack will inevitably cause some disruption to incumbent users in part because compressing services into less spectrum creates a “Tetris-like” problem.

Keep it in the C-band

SES, the major provider of C-band services to broadcasters in the U.S., previously stated that most incumbent users can be repacked quickly into a reduced C-band if reallocation is limited to 100 MHz.

In addition, repacking all or most users within C-band will be far less disruptive than forcing incumbents out of the upper C-band into other satellite spectrum or alternative platforms, NAB told the commission.

NAB rejected claims from wireless companies that other technologies are suitable “one-for-one” replacements for C-band spectrum. Those alternative platforms include IP, fiber and Ku-band, which broadcasters and satellite operators say “are neither universally available nor functionally equivalent, particularly for point-to-multipoint distribution, rural service, and live event coverage.”

“Relocation out of C-band presents far greater uncertainty. The costs to transition may be many multiples higher,” it said.

NAB said two other major stakeholders in this proceeding – the satellite operators and the aviation industry – agree that clearing any portion of the upper C-band will require significantly longer timelines than the lower C-band transition.

The FCC proposed to clear incumbent earth station operators from the band over a five and a half-year period and, as with the prior migration to the Upper C-Band, the commission will reimburse incumbent earth station operators for their transition costs via money raised from an auction of the spectrum.

The FCC previously stated there are approximately 20,000 registered earth stations used by radio and TV broadcasters to receive satellite transmissions.

Substantially the same

NAB emphasized the FCC should follow precedent set in the order that forced incumbents to relocate from the lower C-band in 2020.

“The Lower C-band Order repeatedly stated that incumbents would be provided substantially the same service, which must again be assured,” NAB wrote in its comments.

“The commission previously rejected an all-fiber (or nearly all-fiber) deployment as carrying a bevy of challenges,” the association continued. “Ku-band, while a valuable improvement over terrestrial fiber, remains more susceptible than C-band to weather-related degradation and would require years of satellite launches and costly retrofits to approach current C-band reliability.

In fact, NAB pointed to the Communications Act, which it says does not permit the commission to substitute “theoretical alternatives for actual continuity of service,” according to NAB.

Merely accessing a different technology that performs adequately under ideal conditions is not acceptable, NAB asserted. It said the commission has long recognized that the act does not permit license modifications that affect a “fundamental change” in a licensee’s authorization.

Section 316 permits license modification, but not fundamental alteration of the essential rights conveyed by an FCC authorization, according to the recent filing.

NAB also asked the commission to implement a direct-pay or upfront reimbursement mechanism to replace the previous framework of the lower C-band transition where operators had to front costs and wait years for repayment.

“Commenters consistently warn that further upper C-band clearing beyond 100 MHz would jeopardize the reliability of the nation’s video distribution infrastructure, impose disproportionate harm on small entities, and undermine services the public relies upon for news, emergency information, and live events,” NAB concluded.

Comments in Docket 25-59 can be read at www.fcc.gov.

[This article was originally posted in our sister publication, Radio World. Their extensive Business and Law coverage is available here]

WASHINGTON—The NextGen TV transition could be “stranded indefinitely in a regime of regulatory uncertainty and half-measures” without 3.0 tuner mandates, must carry provisions and a sunset date for 1.0 broadcasts, the NAB has told the Federal Communications Commission.

The reply comments by the NAB were made in an ongoing proceeding by the FCC to assess and develop a regulatory framework for the rollout of NextGen TV. That proceeding has produced wide ranging arguments about tuner mandates, must carry provisions, digital rights management and sunset dates for the current ATSC 1.0 broadcasts.

“The record developed here confirms that the Commission’s central task is no longer to debate whether NextGen TV is worth pursuing – stakeholders across the ecosystem recognize that it is – but to decide whether the transition will be allowed to succeed through an orderly, coordinated framework, or instead be stranded indefinitely in a regime of regulatory uncertainty and half-measures, all to the detriment of the viewing public,” the NAB said.

The creation of an “orderly, coordinated framework,” the group added, will require four “core actions” that the FCC needs to adopt if the transition is going to be successful and provide consumers with continued access to free, over-the-air broadcasting.

The four areas are: “(1) establish clear, date-certain sunsets for ATSC 1.0 that provide the focal point necessary for marketplace coordination; (2) modernize the receiver standard so consumers can continue to access broadcast service reliably and consistently as the transition proceeds; (3) ensure continued MVPD carriage of ATSC 3.0 signals and associated advanced features so viewers are not deprived of NextGen TV capabilities through distribution bottlenecks; and (4) protect broadcasters’ ability to deliver high-value programming in a video marketplace where content protection and modern technical capabilities are increasingly prerequisites to obtaining and sustaining premium content.”

The NAB also stressed that “the record also makes plain that the Commission has broad support for taking these steps now. Broadcasters, technology providers, and public-interest stakeholders converge on a simple reality: a voluntary framework has reached the limits of what it can accomplish, and further progress depends on regulatory certainty and coordinated action.”

“Against that record of support, opponents’ submissions are notable for what they do not provide: a workable alternative path to completing the transition,” the NAB added. “Instead, the principal opponents offer a familiar mix of classic delay advocacy: resisting receiver modernization, resisting regulatory certainty, resisting any step that would move the transition from pilot to scale, all while recasting the Further Notice as a forum for collateral disputes and speculative anxieties. In short, these opponents reject any modernization that would impose even minimal effort or adjustment on their part. That is not a serious transition plan. In reality, it is an effort to keep free, over-the-air broadcasting tethered to legacy constraints while other segments of the video marketplace move forward unencumbered and without having to worry about broadcasting as a viable competitor.”

“[T]he Commission should establish a firm sunset for ATSC 1.0, eliminate the regulatory constraints that indefinitely prolong simulcasting and “substantially similar” operation, and modernize the receiver framework so that consumers can continue to access free, over-the-air broadcasting reliably as the transition proceeds,” the NAB concluded. “The Commission should also reject efforts to derail this proceeding with collateral disputes and overstated legal theories that offer no workable alternative transition plan.”

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters said it will honor Ralph M. Oakley, former president and CEO of Quincy Media, with the Chuck Sherman Television Leadership Award.

Oakley, now owner of Sullivan’s Landing LLC, which owns WJMN-TV Marquette, Mich., will receive the award, which recognizes his distinguished career and enduring commitment to local television, at the NAB State Leadership Conference in Washington on March 3.

“Ralph Oakley exemplifies the spirit of local broadcasting through his steadfast leadership, deep community commitment and lifelong service to others,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “His work inside and outside of our industry has strengthened local journalism, expanded access to educational opportunities and advanced the values that define our industry. Ralph has long been a trusted voice and guiding force for broadcasters nationwide, and we are proud to honor him with this well-deserved recognition at the NAB State Leadership Conference.”

Oakley started in broadcasting in 1977 with Quincy Newspapers, later known as Quincy Media, at WGEM AM-FM-TV in Quincy, Ill., moving on to roles at WSJV-TV South Bend, Elkhart, Ind., and WVWA-TV Bluefield-Beckley, W.Va., before joining the Quincy corporate office.

He was named president and CEO of Quincy Media, a sixth-generation, family-owned firm operating TV stations in 16 states, as well as two newspapers and two radio stations, in 2009. Quincy sold its TV stations to Gray Media and its newspapers to Phillips Media in 2021.

He currently owns Sullivan’s Landing and WJMN, which serves the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with local programming under a shared sales and services agreement with Morgan Murphy Media.

Oakley is a former member of the NAB board and served on its executive committee; was a trustee and co-chair of NAB’s Political Action Committee and served on the NAB Leadership Foundation board, as well as on the TVB Board of Directors and the ABC Affiliate Board of Governors. He is also a former chair of the NBC Affiliates Association and the Illinois Broadcasters Association. He has been honored as the IBA’s broadcaster of the year.

His civic leadership roles include serving as a member and former chair of the Quincy University board of trustees; founding chair of the Community Foundation of West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri; chair of the United Way of Adams County annual campaign and as a board member of the Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce and the Quincy Public Schools Foundation.

For more on NAB and the State Leadership Conference, visit NAB’s website.

WASHINGTON—During a major Senate hearing on broadcast ownership caps, witnesses and U.S. Senators generally agreed that local journalism faces serious challenges that threaten local communities and the larger democratic system but had widely divergent views on whether the elimination of broadcast ownership rules would address the problem.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, convened a full committee hearing on Feb. 10 that examined the Federal Communications Commission’s current broadcast media ownership rules for over two hours with four major expert witnesses, including NAB president and CEO, Curtis LeGeyt.

In opening remarks at the hearing, which was titled “We Interrupt This Program: Media Ownership in the Digital Age,” Senator Cruz highlighted the fact that a rapidly changing media landscape has raised many questions about the ongoing relevance of the ownership rules

“It is understandable why Congress placed limits on broadcast media ownership intended to prevent a monopoly on programming and viewpoints,” Cruz said. “Indeed, for much of the last century, holding a broadcast license was often called a license to print money with limited competition, station owners commanded massive audiences and steady profits, but that era has passed. Cable and satellite ushered in 24/7 news, while the internet and mobile technologies unleashed a wave of streaming services, news and entertainment sites and social media flooding American screens with endless content and fragmenting what were previously universal audiences. Today, broadcasters are fighting to stay competitive against media and tech companies with national and often global reach,” raising important questions about whether those rules are “still relevant” or need to be rolled back, eliminated or reformed.

Ranking Member Sen. Maria Cantwell, (D-Washington) highlighted the importance of local news and the ongoing crisis in local journalism but appeared less sympathetic to the idea that eliminating ownership caps would address the problem.

After noting the rise of AI could also accelerate the ongoing decline in local journalism, she pointed to the recent layoffs at the Washington Post and noted that the number of local journalists has declined from 40 per 100,000 people in the U.S. in 2002 to only 8 today.

“I'm here to fight for local journalism,” she said, adding, however, that broadcast industry consolidation could actually reduce the diversity in local news. “If the Nexstar Tegna deal goes through, a single company will control 265 stations capable of reaching 80% of all the television households, more than double the current cap…To me that is not more local voices, that is fewer," she said.

“Changes to the cap do not address the real structural problem, and they risk reducing the diversity of local voices without solving the underlying problems of economics,” she concluded.

In his prepared testimony to the hearing, NAB's LeGeyt highlighted the importance of local broadcast news in providing live-saving information during severe weather events.

“During recent crippling winter storms across vast swaths of the country, and during devastating floods in both Texas and Washington State, it was local broadcasters – not global streamers or national pay-TV channels – that remained on the ground and on the air in those communities, providing life-saving information to their viewers,” LeGeyt said. “And beyond times of emergency, broadcasters are delivering the fact-based, most-trusted journalism that keeps your constituents and communities informed and connected.”

“Unfortunately, this local journalism is facing growing financial pressure,” LeGeyt added, arguing that ownership rules have severely restricted broadcasters’ ability to compete against big tech companies who do not face national ownership caps and have siphoned off billions in ad revenue from local media.

“Fewer than half of TV stations now report that their local news operations are profitable. Facing ever-rising news production costs and declining ad revenues, some broadcasters are simply unable to continue maintaining their own separate news operations,” he said. “Without modernizing these ownership rules, local television news – the last bastion of truly local journalism in many communities – will suffer the same fate as thousands of local newspapers.”

In testimony to the Committee Chris Ruddy, CEO of the cable news network Newsmax argued that ownership rules need to be retained ensure the diversity of local news and to prevent local broadcasters from abusing their power in retransmission consent negotiations with pay TV operators. The market power of larger station groups like Nexstar have already hurt consumers by forcing operators to raise pay TV video process and made it harder for independent media companies to compete with larger media conglomerates, he said.

To bolster his point, Ruddy noted that “last year, Newsmax delivered five times the rating of NewsNation,” yet Nexstar’s market power forced operators in retrans negotiations “not only to carry NewsNation, but to pay license fees higher than that paid to Newsmax.”

Ruddy also dismissed LeGeyt’s argument that ownership caps have produced an "existential crisis” that threatens the future of broadcasting. He stressed that larger station groups remain very profitable, with Nexstar reporting $1.8 billion in earnings before interest depreciation and amortization of $1.8 billion in 2024, Tegna producing $813 million in EBITDA and Sinclair seeing $800 million in EBITDA.

“The broadcast industry has not [offered] the Senate…any data that proves that they're in crisis,” Ruddy said. “If you look at…the top seven TV station groups all made pretty much in excess of $500 million in EBITDA in 2024. They're inventing this because they know they can make billions of dollars by waiving the rule, and it doesn't serve the public interest, competition or the diversity of voices that the public would like, especially with local news.”

Nor will eliminating the ownership rules necessarily produce more investment in local journalism, Ruddy argued. “We know that after Nexstar merged with Tribune, profits surged while employment dropped from 16,193 employees to 12,142 – a 25% decrease – in just one year,” he said. “In 14 markets, Nexstar now operates two highly rated stations but has combined their local newsrooms to cut costs. In its proposed merger with Tegna, Nexstar projects more than $300 million in immediate cost savings, including $135 million from increased retrans fees and $165 million from local station savings—typically that’s achieved through newsroom consolidation.”

“Newsmax is not alone,” in opposing changes in ownership caps. said Ruddy.

“CPAC and the National Religious Broadcasters have both filed objections with the FCC, warning that lifting the cap would harm consumers and suppress diversity of viewpoints," he said.

In contrast Thomas Johnson, former General Council at the FCC and currently Partner and Co-Chair of Issues and Appeals, at Wiley Rein LLP, argued that the FCC should eliminate the rules.

“In my view, all of these prescriptive rules are outdated and ought to be repealed, and chief among these is the national television broadcast ownership cap,” Johnson said.

Johnson also provided extensive legal arguments supporting the idea that the FCC has the power to raise or eliminate the cap.

“As General Counsel, I defended the agency's bipartisan consensus that the agency has legal authority to eliminate that rule, and I continue to believe so today,” he said. “The Court of Appeals here in D.C. looked at the language in the 1996 act and concluded that it was, `only the starting point from which the commission was to assess the need for further change.’ If Congress intended to eliminate that discretion, the court reasoned, “it need only have enshrined the cap in the statute itself,’” which it didn’t.

Johnson said that his firm represents Nexstar but said he was not speaking on the broadcaster’s behalf.

In his testimony Steve Waldman, president, Rebuild Local News, which works to strengthen local journalism highlighted a crisis in local journalism.

“On average, two newspapers close every week in the United States,” he said. “3,500 have shut down in the last 20 years, and perhaps most importantly, in the last 20 years, there's been a 75% drop in the number of local journalists. That's in print, TV, digital, and the consequences for communities are really alarming. Studies show that areas with less local news have more corruption, more government waste, less civic involvement, less volunteering.”

Waldman said his group had not taken a position on whether local ownership caps should be repealed but stressed that eliminating the caps wouldn’t necessarily necessarily increase investment in local news.

“I actually have some sympathy for both of these arguments,” over the ownership rules, he noted. “Local TV news is incredibly important in some places, it's the only thing left. We really agree that this ought to be looked at through the prism of whether or not it helps local news. On the other hand, there really is a lot of evidence that consolidation has gone in the other direction and actually hollowed out some newsrooms. So my advice would be to look at that question through the prism of whether it's good or bad for local news, and specifically look at whether it maintains or increases or reduces the number of local reporters and editors, not the number of hours, because if you have less local reporters and more hours, what you actually have is more superficial local news or more copying” of news.

The full hearing can be viewed below:

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has announced that he will convene a full committee hearing titled “We Interrupt This Program: Media Ownership in the Digital Age” on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at 10:00 am EST that will examine the Federal Communications Commission’s current broadcast media ownership rules.

The hearing comes at a time when the FCC is considering whether to modify current ownership rules as part of its Quadrennial 2022 Review. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has indicated his willingness to modify the rules as a way of strengthening local broadcasters but the regulator has made no final decision.

Several broadcasters, most notably Nexstar have also announced major deals that would require changes in the ownership rules.

Cruz announced that witnesses will include Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, who has filed comments with the FCC arguing that current ownership caps should be retained and Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of the NAB, which has long argued that the rules need to be eliminated.

Cruz said that the hearing would pay particular attention to one rule limiting a single broadcaster from reaching beyond 39 percent of U.S. television households nationwide in light of today’s evolving media landscape.

“The media market is changing rapidly, leading many to wonder if broadcast media ownership rules should reflect this new reality,” Cruz said in a statement. “This hearing is an important opportunity to discuss whether existing rules are legally sound, antiquated, or need to be updated to promote competition and protect against corporate censorship against conservatives.”

In announcing the hearing, the Committee noted that “as more Americans consume video content through streaming services and social media, the original intent of media ownership rules—to promote competition and diversity by limiting the number of media outlets a single entity may own—warrants review. Some telecommunications experts contend, however, that the current 39 percent cap is statutory, meaning it can only be changed by an act of Congress and not through regulation. Other critics worry possible changes to media ownership rules will result in fewer conservative voices on broadcast television.”

Opponents of changing the rules have argued that the FCC lacks the authority to eliminate the caps while the NAB and other larger broadcast groups have argued the agency has the power to eliminate them.

WASHINGTON—As the NRB 2026 Convention for religious broadcasters gets set to open on Feb. 17, the National Association of Broadcasters has issued a new blog post arguing that eliminating ownership caps will help religious broadcasters better carry out their mission.

“Americans are looking for a media landscape that reflects the full diversity of our communities,” Michelle Lehman, chief of staff and executive vice president, Public Affairs at the NAB wrote in the post. “That includes varied political viewpoints, local journalism, cultural programming and faith-based voices that serve audiences often overlooked by national media. Yet one of the most significant barriers to that goal remains an outdated federal policy: the national television ownership cap.”

In filings with the Federal Communications Commission, religious broadcasters have expressed mixed views regarding the elimination of the current rule that station groups can reach no more than 39% of the population.

The NRB, for example, has filed comments with the FCC opposing changes in ownership rules while one of the largest religious broadcasters, Trinity Broadcasting Network has come out in favor of eliminating ownership caps.

“They [the ownership caps] remain an important tool for preserving localism, protecting viewpoint diversity, and ensuring there is room in the marketplace for mission-driven television stations whose ultimate purpose is not simply distribution, but also ministry, reaching viewers, serving communities, and sharing the Gospel,” the NRB said in a separate blog post explaining its FCC filing.

In the NAB post, Lehman reiterated arguments made by Trinity Broadcasting Network. She said that the Trinity filing “made a compelling case for why this arbitrary limit no longer serves the public interest, stifling the voices of religious broadcasters like themselves.”

“For more than 50 years, Trinity has owned and operated stations that deliver faith-based programming free of charge to viewers in each of its licensed local communities,” wrote Trinity Broadcasting president Michael W. Crouch in a letter to the FCC. “Trinity competes directly with streaming services, digital platform, and multinational technology companies—many of which control access to audiences through opaque algorithms, subscription fees or content moderation policies.”

Like other proponents of ownership deregulation, Trinity argued that these rules no longer reflect the current media landscape where broadcasters compete against national cable networks, global streaming platforms, social media companies and multinational technology firms that face no limits on national reach. Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and TikTok can serve 100% of American households, shape audience behavior through algorithms and monetize attention at unprecedented scale. Local broadcasters, by contrast, remain constrained by a rule that limits their reach to just 39% of U.S. television households.

“For Christian broadcasters, free, over-the-air television remains one of the few distribution platforms where religious expression can reach audiences without gatekeepers, paywalls, or platform bias,” Crouch continues. “Policies that weaken broadcast television therefore weaken religious expression itself.”

“The national ownership cap does exactly that,” Lehman added. “By limiting broadcasters’ ability to achieve scale, it restricts access to capital, reduces investment in content and makes it harder for mission-driven networks to sustain free service in a hyper-competitive marketplace. The FCC has both the authority and the responsibility to modernize its ownership rules. As Trinity Broadcasting Network’s filing makes clear, the national cap no longer reflects marketplace realities and actively undermines core public interest goals.”

“If policymakers truly want to preserve varied voices in American media, including religious broadcasters, they must stop treating scale as the enemy of diversity,” she concluded. “In today’s media environment, scale is often the very thing that makes diversity possible.”

WASHINGTON—The NAB has released a new nationwide survey of registered voters that finds broad public support for eliminating the national broadcast ownership cap, a restriction that limits how many households a local TV station owner can reach across the country.

In announcing the survey, which was commissioned by the NAB and conducted by Fabrizio Ward, the NAB said the findings show that voters think the cap is unfair and they want government to give local stations a fair chance to compete for advertising and audience against Big Tech platforms, which face no such restrictions.

The survey comes at a time when the Federal Communications Commission is reviewing the ownership caps and broadcasters have announced a number of deals for stations that would require the current rules to be relaxed or eliminated.

“Voters are sending a clear message: the government should not impose arbitrary limits on trusted local broadcasters while Big Tech platforms face no such restrictions,” said NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “Ending the arbitrary national ownership cap - which applies to no other form of media - is about fairness and competition, but it’s also about ensuring local stations have the scale they need to invest in strong local journalism, emergency information and service to their communities.”

Bob Ward of Fabrizio Ward added: “These results show broad agreement that local stations should be allowed to compete nationally for advertising. Voters see this as a fairness issue, and they respond to where elected officials stand.”

The NAB described the key findings include:

• Voters see the national ownership cap as unfair by a 38-point margin: 58% of voters say the 39% ownership restriction is unfair, including 33% who say it is very unfair, while just 20% say it is unfair.
• Voters want local broadcasters to compete nationally for advertising by a 42-point margin: 57% say local TV station owners should be able to compete nationally against cable networks and internet streamers rather than the 15% that say they should remain restricted.
• There are clear political consequences for lawmakers: by a margin of 23-points, voters say they are more likely (36%) rather than less likely (13%) to vote for a member of Congress who supports allowing local station owners to compete nationally for advertising. Conversely, by a 24-point margin voters say they are less likely (36%) rather than more likely (12%) to vote for a member of Congress who opposes reform.
• Voters favor a level playing field with Big Tech by a 43-point margin: 52% say government policies should make it easier for local TV stations to compete for advertisers against Big Tech while just 9% think government should make it harder.
• Local TV remains a trusted source of news: 55% of voters express trust in local TV newscasts.

The survey results are available here.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters in December realigned its technology-focused leadership to advance development and deployment of the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS), which can complement and backup the Global Positioning System that is increasingly recognized as a potential single point of failure for delivery of precise timing and positioning data critical to national security.

NAB shifted Sam Matheny, former executive vice president for technology and chief technology officer, to his new role as executive vice president for BPS. At the same time, it transitioned Tariq Mondal from his role as vice president of advanced technology to vice president of BPS. Clearly, BPS is a major thrust for NAB and the industry alike.

In this Q&A, Matheny discusses the strategic personnel realignment, U.S. Transportation Department-funded BPS testing, whether BPS may turn out to be the killer app for ATSC 3.0 and other BPS-related issues.

(An edited transcript.)

TV Tech: Last month, NAB announced a strategic realignment of senior technology leadership focused on BPS. Why has NAB made this move?

Sam Matheny: NAB made this move to accelerate development of the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) and to put dedicated senior leadership behind an initiative that has clear public safety, critical infrastructure and national security implications. BPS has progressed from concept and early demonstrations into a phase where sustained focus, coordination and execution matter. This realignment allows NAB to concentrate technical leadership on advancing BPS while continuing to support broadcasters as they deploy and invest in NextGen TV infrastructure.

TVT: Last year, the Department of Transportation awarded a $744,000 contract to NAB to move forward with BPS field testing. How has that factored in?

SM: The DOT award in August was another validation that BPS is aligned with broader federal efforts to strengthen resilience for position, navigation and timing services. It signaled the continued shift from discussion to real-world evaluation, but importantly, it was part of a larger series of events. In January of 2025, BPS’s time transfer stability was declared “comparable to or better than GNSS [Global Navigation Satellite System]” and a “viable complementary PNT [Positioning, Navigation and Timing] solution” by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in a peer-reviewed paper presented at the Institute of Navigation (ION) International Technical Meeting. These events, coupled with other indicators, helped drive NAB’s decision to align leadership around BPS so the organization can support field testing, data collection and engagement with government and industry partners in a more focused and sustained way.

TVT: For readers who aren’t familiar with BPS, briefly bring them up to speed.

SM: BPS, a technology invented and developed by NAB, uses NextGen TV broadcast signals to deliver resilient, terrestrial-based timing and location services. One can think of BPS as the terrestrial equivalent of GPS. It is designed to complement GPS. It can provide a backup when satellite signals are disrupted, jammed or spoofed, but it can also be integrated to work with GPS as a hybrid solution. Because BPS leverages high-power broadcast infrastructure that already exists across the country, it has the potential to scale nationally and provide a reliable layer of resilience for public safety, critical infrastructure and other essential services. Other nations that are deploying ATSC 3.0 have also expressed interest in BPS.

TVT: Tell us about the new testing funded by the DOT contract. What will you be looking at?

SM: The field trial supported by the DOT contract is focused on evaluating BPS performance in real-world environments rather than controlled demonstrations. The work is intended to assess how BPS can support critical infrastructure operations when GPS is unavailable or degraded, as well as how the system performs in terms of reliability, coverage and operational integration. NAB has partnered with Dominion Energy with a focus on energy grid resiliency. This testing is a key step in understanding how BPS could function at scale.

TVT: Can you tell us a little more about partnering with Dominion Energy and the broader role of BPS for U.S. industry?

SM: Electric utilities rely heavily on precise timing to operate safely, manage load and maintain grid stability. Power enters the grid from multiple sources and has to be time-aligned for effective distribution. Precision time also plays a huge role in fault detection and helps grid operators identify and fix problems quickly should they occur. Partnering with Dominion Energy allows NAB to evaluate how BPS could help sustain timing and synchronization for electric grid operations during GPS disruptions. More broadly, BPS is being evaluated as a terrestrial complement to GPS that could support a wide range of industries that depend on precise timing, including energy, cellular communications, data centers, financial systems and transportation, where even short disruptions can have significant consequences.

TVT: Is BPS the killer app for ATSC 3.0 that could accelerate deployment by giving the federal government a national security incentive?

SM: BPS is a strong example of how NextGen TV infrastructure can enable services that go well beyond video and entertainment. While ATSC 3.0 supports many new consumer and business applications, the ability to deliver GPS-level resilient timing and positioning highlights its potential role in public safety and national resilience. That broader value proposition reinforces the importance of completing the transition to NextGen TV and ensuring the underlying broadcast infrastructure is fully deployed nationwide.

TVT: Is precise timing or precise positioning the initial priority for BPS? Why?

SM: The near-term priority is accurate, traceable time delivery. Many critical infrastructure systems depend on accurate timing to function properly, and timing disruptions can cascade quickly across networks and services. A 2019 study by NIST estimated the economic impact of a loss of GPS at $1 billion per day. BPS is designed to provide resilient timing as a foundational capability, while positioning and additional services will continue to be developed and refined over time.

TVT: Some in the industry have expressed concerns about the geographic distance between towers affecting positioning. What are your views?

SM: A minimum of three geographically diverse transmissions is needed to perform the multilateration required to determine location, with more towers being better and providing greater accuracy. Our analysis estimates that a typical (median) location in the contiguous U.S., BPS signals from 17 NextGen TV stations might be received at 1.5-meter antenna height. This analysis excluded stations within a kilometer of one another and used only the highest power station from each cluster of stations. So we believe that BPS can provide a useful service for position and navigation. We’re also excited that professors and graduate students at the University of Alabama have begun studying the position and navigation possibilities of BPS and will present early findings at the Workshop on Synchronization and Timing in May.

TVT: At the 2025 NAB Show, there were presentations on the leader-follower architecture and clock configurations for BPS. Can you tell us a bit about what’s being considered?

SM: BPS is designed to be an independent self-synchronizing network that doesn’t rely on the Internet, cellular networks or other connectivity. We’ve designed it as a mesh network where stations listen to one another in a leader-follower configuration. This design is similar to how EAS works. A leader station has a direct connection to UTC traceable time and is equipped with a cesium clock for long holdover, so system integrity can be maintained for months even if there is a total loss of connectivity to traceable time. Follower stations receive time from leader stations and have less expensive rubidium clocks that offer some holdover protection. The result is a network where each station is listening to multiple other stations, and we can monitor individual station health at our network operations center (NOC). A “health bit” is part of the system and can be transmitted if a station is known or suspected to be impaired for maintenance or other reasons, so that it will be ignored until it is healthy again.

TVT: Transmitting BPS addresses the vulnerability of relying solely on GPS, but what is happening on the receiver side?

SM: Reliance on a single timing solution, GPS, is why our nation is at so much risk. GPS has become an invisible utility that has evolved into a single point of failure for critical infrastructure and day-to-day consumer applications. BPS is the terrestrial equivalent of GPS and has been declared to be a “viable complementary PNT solution” by scientists at NIST. We are working with timing solution vendors that want to integrate BPS into their products to offer multiple sources of reliable time in a single product. This lays the foundation for hybrid solutions where BPS and GPS can be used together, not just BPS as a backup. A hybrid approach also offers the ability to use BPS to monitor the health of GPS and detect if there is jamming or spoofing taking place.

TVT: Is there anything else you would like to add?

SM: BPS demonstrates how broadcasters are using their existing infrastructure to support national resilience in new and meaningful ways. This work reflects a broader shift toward viewing broadcast networks as critical infrastructure. NAB is focused on validating that role through real-world testing, partnerships and collaboration with government and industry.

WASHINGTON—Associations backed by the pay TV industry have voiced significant opposition to the NAB’s proposals for speeding up the transition to NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0.

In filing with the Federal Communications Commission, which has launched an inquiry into rules impacting the rollout of ATSC 3.0 broadcasts [FCC GN Docket No. 16-142 Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard], the NCTA, the American Television Alliance (ATVA) and others have criticized NAB proposals that the FCC should set a firm cutoff date for ATSC 1.0 broadcasts and eliminate requirements to simulcast 1.0 content on the newer 3.0 broadcasts.

In its Jan. 20 filing, the NCTA. which represents major cable providers told the FCC that the transition “to ATSC 3.0 should remain market based, and the Commission should reject broadcasters’ requests for government intervention. Instead, the government should continue to prioritize protecting consumers from any harmful impacts.”

More specifically, the NCTA comments argued that “the simulcasting requirements in the Commission’s rules remain essential at this point in the transition given the broadcast industry’s decision to use a non-backwards compatible technology. The Commission should not foist the substantial costs of a premature conversion to ATSC 3.0 on consumers and MVPDs by abandoning the simulcasting and substantially similar protections at this time.”

Filings by the NAB, Pearl TV and other broadcasters have pushed for the end of simulcasting rules because it would free-up spectrum and allow them to better showcase the benefits of the new 3.0 broadcast standard.

The NCTA also argued that the FCC “should also reject any calls to grant must-carry rights to 3.0 signals. In today’s video marketplace, must carry requirements are no longer supportable under the First and Fifth Amendments. Extending must carry requirements to 3.0 signals would only exacerbate these constitutional infirmities.”

The filing argued that “MVPD distribution of ATSC 3.0 signals also presents numerous technical challenges, including issues that implicate the Commission’s existing rules regarding broadcast must carry and retransmission consent. The Commission should remain mindful of these challenges as the transition progresses.”

In terms of must-carry for 3.0 broadcasts, the NCTA argued that “requiring cable operators to incur additional substantial costs to upgrade their equipment to meet new carriage obligations would have significant economic impacts on regulated cable operators and interfere with their investment-backed expectations. In today’s highly competitive marketplace for video, these burdens are more severe and represent a far greater economic impact on cable providers than was the case when courts have considered these issues in the past.”

The NCTA also contended that “The Commission should also ensure that broadcasters’ use of spectrum serves the public interest and meets statutory requirements concerning ancillary and supplementary services, and it should take steps to contain any anti-competitive effects stemming from broadcast stations’ transition to ATSC 3.0.”

The NCTA warned that implementation of the broadcast standard posed a number of anti-competitive threats to the video market and argued that the FCC should adopt policies that would avoid those problems.

“If the Commission decides to permit stations to flash cut to ATSC 3.0 despite the early state of the transition and lack of demand from consumers, it should take additional steps to limit and contain the inevitable anti-competitive effects and harm to MVPDs and consumers,” the NCTA argued.

“The Commission should affirmatively require that patents relevant to the ATSC 3.0 standard be licensed on a reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) basis,” the NCTA urged. “Of significant concern, there has already been patent infringement litigation involving alleged ATSC 3.0 functionality where the jury awarded the patentee an ongoing royalty of $6.75 per television for four patents, exorbitantly higher than the rates for the two existing patent pools for ATSC 3.0 patents.

"Specifically, a pool comprising over 11,000 patents operated by Avanci charges $2-$3 per unit, and a pool of 50+ patents administered by Via Licensing Alliance similarly charges under $3 per unit. Constellation’s excessive royalty award prompted LG to suspend inclusion of ATSC 3.0-compatibility in its TVs for the U.S. market. This type of `patent ambush’ is particularly worrying given that many patents in the field claim patent-ineligible subject matter (as LG is arguing in the pending litigation), but it can take years of litigation to invalidate such patents.”

In its filings, the American Television Alliance also argued that the transition posed significant technical issues for pay TV operators and that they should not be required to invest significant amounts of money to comply with Must carry rules.

The ATVA said it “continues to be open to `voluntary and market-driven’ adoption of ATSC 3.0” and said the FCC should continue its “voluntary and market-driven” approach.

“From the MVPD perspective, the most significant concern about ATSC 3.0 is that the format is not backwards compatible with MVPDs’ existing distribution architecture, and many current set-top-boxes and consumer devices cannot support ATSC 3.0 streams and related features,” it stressed. “Developing ATSC 3.0 compatibility would require MVPDs to incur substantial costs for new equipment and system changes to receive and process ATSC 3.0 signals. Even then, most MVPDs could not deliver ATSC 3.0 signals to consumers. In other words, whatever improvements broadcasters might make to their signals using ATSC 3.0 are highly unlikely ever to accrue to MVPD subscribers and thus MVPD expenditures to accommodate ATSC 3.0 would be a dead weight loss.”

“We, therefore, urge the Commission to maintain the simulcasting requirement (and the substantially similar requirement),” the group concluded. “If the Commission were to decide otherwise, however, it should at a minimum require broadcasters—whether electing retransmission consent or must-carry—to deliver signals to MVPDs in a 1.0-compatible format at their cost. Otherwise, the Commission would be asking MVPDs (and their subscribers) to incur substantial costs to downconvert broadcast signals without any benefit to those subscribers. This would be arbitrary and capricious.”

The group also contended that “the primary benefits of the ATSC 3.0 transition appear not to be improvements to broadcast television, but rather the ability of broadcasters to use ATSC 3.0 signals for unrelated services like datacasting. This real possibility that broadcasters could use the vast majority of their spectrum for services other than free, over-the-air television raises significant legal questions, including under the Communications Act, FCC rules, and the Administrative Procedure Act—especially if MVPDs and their subscribers are expected to pick up the tab for such services.”

The full filing by the NCTA is available here.

The full filing by the ATVA is available here.

[This article is part TV Tech’s ongoing coverage of the FCC and NextGen TV; articles about the comments and filings from other companies and associations with different perspectives on these issues can be found here and here.]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation (NABLF) is now accepting entries for the 2026 Celebration of Service to America Awards. These prestigious awards honor the critical role local television and radio stations play in serving communities across the country.

All stations and broadcast groups are encouraged to submit their most impactful community service campaigns that took place in 2025. The entry window will close on March 23, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. PT.

This year, the Foundation is introducing an Original Content Podcast category to recognize local stations that are leveraging their digital expertise to deliver accessible, creative and trusted content to their communities and beyond via podcast app or station website.

Additionally, the First Informers Award will recognize one radio and one television station as exemplary sources of immediate information during emergencies, crises or natural disasters.

“No other media platform matches the power of local television and radio to reach people in real time where they live and work,” said NAB Leadership Foundation President Michelle Duke. “Audiences trust their local stations because broadcasters are deeply rooted in their communities — championing local causes, investigating consumer issues, and delivering timely, trusted reporting. We are proud to honor their extraordinary public service.”

Winners will be notified in early April 2026, and awards will be presented at the Celebration of Service to America Awards Gala in Washington, D.C., on June 9, 2026. The event will gather the broadcasting community with members of Congress and other policymakers to salute the exemplary work of local stations.

The Celebration of Service to America Awards is presented by Bonneville International and Hearst Television and honors the exceptional community service provided by local radio and television stations. Additional information about the awards, including eligibility and rules, is available at servicetoamericaawards.org.

WASHINGTON—The NAB has filed additional comments with the Federal Communications Commission stressing the urgency of quickly implementing policies that will speed the transition from ATSC 1.0, the current broadcast standard, to ATSC 3.0 aka NextGen TV.

“ATSC 3.0 is the future of free, local broadcasting, and the Commission has a timely opportunity to move the transition from its current, limited implementation phase to a full, nationwide deployment that serves the public interest,” the group noted in a Jan. 20 filing with the agency, which is in the process evaluating policies and rules that might speed up the transition.

“NAB urges the Commission to adopt a date-certain ATSC 1.0 sunset, modernize its receiver standards so consumers can reliably receive authorized broadcast services, ensure continued MVPD carriage of stations’ primary ATSC 3.0 signals and associated program-related features, and reaffirm a stable approach to content protection that supports broadcasters’ ability to secure and deliver the high-value programming viewers expect while preserving longstanding consumer viewing expectations," the NAB argued.

While the agency has signaled that it wants to liberalize some rules in ways that will speed up the transition, it has not taken a position on two of the key issues raised by the NAB filing, namely a cutoff date for ATSC 1.0 broadcast signals and a requirement that all new TV sets be able to receive 3.0 signals.

The most recent comments by the NAB do not mention a specific cutoff date but in the past, the NAB has argued for a 1.0 sunset in 2028 in larger markets and 2030 for the rest of the country in filings with the FCC.

The NAB also argued that setting a clear, date-certain sunset for ATSC 1.0, would enable industry-wide planning that drives down costs, promotes innovation and avoids confusion for viewers. These tuner mandates are, however, opposed by the Consumer Technology Association.

The NAB also pressed the FCC to ensure continued access to free, over-the-air broadcast signals by updating receiver standards and maintaining MVPD carriage of ATSC 3.0 signals and advanced features.

In addition, It weighed in on content security issues that have provoked opposition from some smaller device manufacturers and broadcasters. TV Tech's recent survey of those issues can be found here.

In the filing the NAB said that special broadcast-only privacy rules are unnecessary and counterproductive: “ATSC 3.0 does not create new privacy concerns for viewers who watch broadcast television over the air without an internet connection,” the group argued. “A one-way broadcast signal, with no return path, cannot collect or transmit viewer information. For these viewers, watching ATSC 3.0 is no different from watching ATSC 1.0 from a privacy standpoint.”

It also argued that the transition to 3.0 would not harm EAS systems and that the transition would open up new ways to better utilize spectrum.

“By strengthening broadcasters’ technical capabilities and economic viability, a successful transition to ATSC 3.0 will help ensure the continued availability of these vital services,” the filing said. “More broadly, ATSC 3.0 provides a more efficient use of spectrum, delivering greater value to the American public from this spectrum resource while also enabling the deployment of complementary positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services via the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS).”

More on BPS can be found here. Our full NextGen TV coverage is available here.

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—A new study highlights the ongoing importance of free local TV and radio broadcasting in the U.S. with data showing that local broadcasting fuels $1.19 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supports 2.46 million jobs nationwide.

The study, which was conducted by Woods & Poole Economics, Inc. with support from BIA Advisory Services and commissioned by the NAB, also found that local broadcasters employ nearly 311,000 Americans directly, generating $54 billion in GDP through journalism, programming, engineering and advertising services.

“No other industry gives more to Americans for free,” said Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters. “Local stations provide trusted journalism, life-saving emergency alerts and the sports and entertainment that bring our communities together. This report reinforces that broadcasters are not only essential to our democracy and daily lives, but to the strength of our economy, as well.”

In addition to the important role broadcasters play in providing local news, the study focused on these key points:

• Emergency Information and Public Safety: Broadcasters are the backbone of the nation’s Emergency Alert System, ensuring every American can be reached during wildfires, hurricane, and other disasters, even when power or internet fails.
• Community Connection through Sports and Culture: Whether it is Friday night football, local election results or cultural programming, broadcasting unites communities through shared experiences, available without a subscription.
• An Economic Multiplier: Local broadcasting’s economic ripple effect extends deep into other sectors — from construction to retail — adding another $134 billion in GDP and supporting nearly 776,000 additional jobs.
• A Powerful Advertising Platform for Main Street: With unmatched reach into every home and demographic, advertising on local broadcast television and radio generates more than $997 billion in GDP and sustains over 1.37 million jobs. Local businesses rely on this trusted platform to reach customers, grow their operations and fuel local economies.

“Broadcasting is more than a business model; it is a civic model,” added LeGeyt. “This industry stands alone in its mission to inform, protect and uplift every community in America, regardless of zip code or income level.”

As policymakers debate the future of media, this report offers a compelling reminder: Free, local broadcasting is not just surviving. It is delivering extraordinary value to our democracy, safety and economy.

The full study is available here.

Alex Siciliano is moving on from the National Association of Broadcasters.

As NAB’s senior vice president of communications since early 2023, he has been one of its public faces in explaining policy and has been the main point of contact for media who cover NAB activities.

He emailed journalists that he will leave NAB at the end of the coming week to pursue another opportunity.

Grace Whaley recently was promoted to NAB’s director of communications and social media. Judianne Meredith joined NAB last summer as a communications coordinator.

“It has been an honor to work on behalf of America’s broadcasters and to collaborate with so many of you covering this industry,” Siciliano wrote.

Siciliano joined NAB in 2022 as senior communications strategist and was promoted the next year, succeeding Ann Marie Cumming.

Prior to NAB he was VP of communications at The Petrizzo Group. He also was a deputy chief of staff for then-Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado. He previously served as communications director for Gardner and ran communications on his Senate campaign in 2014.

Siciliano also worked on the presidential campaign for the late Sen. John McCain in 2008.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, Radio World.

WASHINGTON–The Federal Communications Commission has agreed to extend the deadline for comments on proposals to further expand the ecosystem for next generation wireless services in the Upper C-band (3.98–4.2 GHz).

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress earlier this year directs the agency to complete a system of competitive bidding in the Upper C-band by July 2027.

The new Order extends the time to file comments and reply comments on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to January 20, 2026, and February 18, 2026. Prior to that extension, comments had been due on January 5, 2026, and reply comments are due February 3, 2026.

The agency noted that it does not normally extend deadlines. “In this case, however, we believe that a brief extension will help commenters to develop more comprehensive responses to the complex technical, legal, and policy issues presented in the NPRM without jeopardizing the Commission’s ability to satisfy its legislative remit to complete a system of competitive bidding in the Upper C-band by July 2027,” the Order said.

The NAB, Aerospace Industries Association and others had all requested an extension earlier this month.

In a May filing, the NAB said it has serious concerns about auctioning Upper C-band spectrum.

“NAB again emphasizes that use of the Upper C-band for satellite program contribution and distribution is critical to the broadcast industry and that use has become more intense since the “Lower C-band” auction less than five years ago," the NAB said. "While the Lower C-band transition occurred largely without disrupting incumbent C-band services, that success was possible only because the Commission preserved a substantial portion of C-band for satellite use. NAB believes that further expansion of new services into Upper C-band will be dramatically more complex and expensive than Lower C-band and will result in material degradation and interruption of broadcast services.”

In a Dec. 11 letter requesting the extension the NAB said “the Upper C-band proceeding encompasses complex technical, operational, and safety-related considerations across a uniquely broad set of stakeholders — including the aviation industry and broadcasters. Developing the comprehensive, cross industry input needed to support a robust rulemaking record requires the exchange of significant technical data, operational analyses, and confidential information.”

“These efforts were unavoidably disrupted by the recent federal government shutdown and associated nationwide impacts, as FAA and aviation industry work on the forthcoming NPRM stalled during that time," the letter continued. “Significantly, we are expecting the FAA to issue an NPRM that will substantially inform industry responses in this proceeding. In addition, because of the December holiday period, subject-matter experts who are focused on maintaining safe and reliable air operations and maintaining reliable broadcast infrastructure will have limited availability. Finally, the Commission’s comment period for the Fifth FNPRM of the Next Gen TV Proceeding largely coincides with that of the Upper C-band NPRM and involves many of the same organizations and subject matter experts.”

Given those issues, the “NAB respectfully urges the Commission to grant the requested extension… This brief extension would not materially affect the Commission’s overall timeline or compromise the statutory requirement to conduct the auction by July 2027. Finally, granting such extension will better equip all parties — including the Commission — to achieve an efficient rulemaking process that supports safe aviation operations, protects incumbent users, and facilitates a successful Upper C-band auction.”

The full letter can be found here.

Additional filings in this proceeding are available here.

WASHINGTON—As more sports and live event programming move to streaming, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is launching an effort to ensure the continued availability of live sports on free, local television.

In launching the effort, the NAB pointed out that on Thanksgiving Day, more than 100 million Americans tuned into their local stations to cheer on their favorite teams. But as more events are locked behind paywalls, NFL Christmas games will be streamed nationally on Netflix.

"Fans are fed up. What used to be simple, turning on the TV to watch the game with family, is now a maze of expensive streaming subscriptions and login screens," said NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. "Games that once aired on local broadcast stations are increasingly gobbled up by Big Tech platforms, hidden behind paywalls that come with steep monthly bills. That is not progress, it is a problem. Broadcasters need the ability to compete and keep sports accessible to everyone."

To promote the importance of sports on broadcast TV, the NAB has created Game On. The new site for fans documents how local stations deliver live sports coverage that is universally accessible without a subscription, internet connection or login.

The NAB also highlighted a national survey of likely voters shows strong bipartisan support: 83% of respondents prefer games on broadcast TV compared to just 17% who favor streaming. It also stressed that fans from around the country appreciate the ability to access games on local TV, with sports accounted for 182 of the top 200 shows of 2024, or a whopping 91% of the total.

“Broadcasters bring the games fans love to the masses,” said LeGeyt. “But if we are going to be able to deliver this public service in the future, we must be able to compete on a level playing field with Big Tech behemoths.”

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr appeared before a Senate oversight committee on Wednesday and faced harsh criticism by Democrats on various topics, including threats against TV broadcasters for carrying ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel. One senator said Carr should resign.

[This article originally appeared in our sister publication, Radio World; their extensive coverage of regulatory and business issues can be found here.]

Republican Olivia Trusty and Democrat Anna Gomez also appeared and faced direct questioning from committee members, but the controversial chairman was the main focus.

Issues raised during the meeting included Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative to do away with outdated regulations, spectrum reallocation and current broadcast ownership rules.

But it was Carr’s use of public interest and “news distortion” policies that sparked the most debate.

Carr had met in advance with several Senate Republicans to prepare for the onslaught of questions. He touted his accomplishments in an opening statement, saying the pipeline has reopened to freeing more spectrum to advance next-generation technologies now that Congress has restored the commission’s auction authority.

However, following statements by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the committee quickly focused its questions on Carr and his actions in his first year as chairman.

At the center of much of the hearing was Carr’s actions following the Kimmel monologue controversy. Carr was critical of Kimmel’s comments on his late-night TV show and faced backlash after pressuring broadcasters to take the ABC program off the air in late September. Carr warned then that local broadcasters that aired Kimmel could face fines or loss of licenses.

At the time, Cruz was sharply critical of Carr. He took a more conciliatory tone during the hearing.

Cruz did say that the government cannot “force private entities to take actions that the government cannot take directly. Government officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech.”

Carr defended his actions, saying he was enforcing the public-interest standard as charged by Congress. “We should be enforcing those rules and policies,” he said.

Republicans on the committee were generally complimentary of Carr’s policies. Carr clashed often with Democrats, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

“After Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue, you went on a podcast and suggested that ABC should take Kimmel off the air, saying, ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’ Those were your words. Do you think it is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire?” she asked.

Carr responded: “I think any licensee that operates on the public airwaves has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard, and that’s been the case for decades.”

Klobuchar asked Carr for his thoughts on comments made by President Donald Trump on social media this week following the stabbing deaths of actor Rob Reiner and his wife.

“Senator, look, Democrats on this dais are accusing me of engaging in censorship, and now you’re trying to encourage me to police speech on the internet. I’m simply not going to do it,” Carr replied.

He continued: “Let’s step back. Broadcast TV is fundamentally different than any other forms of media, whether it’s cable or podcast or soapbox on the main street. There’s a public trustee model that Congress has set up.”

Carr deflected some of the Democrats’ criticism of his attempts to chill free speech. He said that Democrats in Congress previously wrote letters to cable companies pressuring them to drop Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax because they disagree with the political perspectives of those cable channels.

“We have jurisdiction with respect to the broadcast airwaves uniquely to ensure that their operations are in the public interest, and there’s very specific rules in broadcast hoaxes and news distortion,” he said.

Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) charged the chairman with turning the FCC into the “Federal Censorship Commission.” Markey said Carr should resign.

“Chairman Carr, you are not reinvigorating the public interest standard; you are weaponizing the public interest standard. That is what the Carr FCC is doing every single day.”

Markey also discussed the FCC’s investigation of a San Francisco radio station that reported on an ICE raid in real time on air. KCBS (AM) San Francisco aired an immigration enforcement report; Carr had accused KCBS of failing to operate in the public interest and opened an inquiry.

A recent report in the Los Angeles Times said station staffers later claimed Carr’s complaints eventually sparked changes to the station’s newsroom operations due to political pressure.

Carr testified: “Broadcasters understand perhaps for the first time in years that they’re going to be held accountable to the public interest, to broadcast hoaxes rules, to the news distortion policy. I think that’s a good thing.”

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) debated Carr on whether the chairman considers the FCC an independent agency. “Senator, thanks for that question. I think there’s a test for this in the law, and the key portion of that test…” Carr said before being interrupted by the senator.

“Yes or no is all we need, sir. Yes or no, is it independent?” he asked.

Carr: “The FCC’s not an independent agency formally speaking.”

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich) asked Carr about free speech for broadcasters.

“So this should be a pretty easy question. Do you think the FCC should protect free speech?” Peters asked.

Carr: “Yes.”

“Okay. So if you will not revoke licenses…you won’t revoke licenses or retaliate if they’re simply engaging in free speech?”

“Senator, first of all, the Supreme Court has expressly said there is no First Amendment right to an FCC license. And the Supreme Court has said that the FCC enforcing the public interest standard on licensees is not a violation of the First Amendment or censorship,” Carr replied.

Other topics were brought up during the meeting, including broadcast-ownership rules that are the subject of the next scheduled quadrennial review. Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas urged the commission to change the ownership rules to enable local broadcasters to compete with today’s media giants.

“Local broadcasters are hugely important and provide the news, the weather, the sports; and we need to make certain that their viability is enhanced by ownership rules that the commission has talked about and considering,” Moran said.

Carr has repeatedly indicated strong support for broadcast ownership reform but didn’t offer an opinion during the oversight committee hearing.

Committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked about Carr’s efforts to stem a new form of payola, what she called “show-ola” in which broadcast stations allegedly pressure artists to play their station events in exchange for airplay.

“They particularly like to couple this with threats of reduced airplay if the band or the artist cannot give them these free events,” Blackburn said.

Carr replied: “Historically, there’s been a law on the books that prevents radio stations from accepting or seeking unreported payment of money or any other compensation to influence airplay, the time that music is played on the station.

“One concern that you brought to my attention early on, including through a letter earlier this year, is that a lot of radio stations are holding music festivals, and the concern that’s been raised is that they are effectively pressuring musicians, that could be ones that are well off or ones that are just getting started, to perform for free under threat that they may suffer airplay on radio stations if they don’t do that. I think that’s a concern. We issued an enforcement advisory right after being aware of this from you, and we are going to be and are investigating some issues around this.”

This was the first Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing with all seated FCC commissioners present in more than five years, though the FCC normally has five, not three, members.

[This article originally appeared in our sister publication, Radio World; More of their coverage of regulatory and business issues can be found here.]

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has once again filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to abolish ownership rules governing TV and radio station.

The NAB made the comments in a filing for the FCC’s 2022 Quadrennial Review of ownership rules. Congress requires the agency to review those rules every four years, a process that has been delayed in recent years by court rulings.

In a detailed 128-page brief filed on Dec. 17 the NAB stressed that “when the Commission first adopted rules prohibiting common ownership of AM, FM, or television stations serving substantially the same area, Franklin D. Roosevelt occupied the White House. Now in the third decade of the 21st century, FCC rules still restrict local common ownership of AM and FM stations separately by service and in total and prevent ownership of more than two TV stations in all local markets. Even beyond the vast changes this century in the media marketplace – both audio and video and the two combined – the FCC has no justification to keep ex ante local ownership rules when its license transfer review process is far better suited to evaluating the public interest benefits of proposed transactions. In this 2022 quadrennial review, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) accordingly urges the FCC to expeditiously eliminate all of its ex ante local broadcast ownership rules.”

FCC Chair Brendan Carr has repeatedly indicated that he would like to liberalize those rules as part of a larger policy of helping local broadcasters. Some of those rules, notably the prohibition of owning more than one top four TV station in a market, have already been struck down by Federal court rulings.

On the same day that the NAB filed its brief in the 2022 Quadrennial Review process, president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt also praised comments by FCC Chair Brendan Carr during a Dec. 17 Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing.

“Today’s hearing underscored what local broadcasters have been saying for years: the rules governing television and radio ownership are badly outdated and no longer reflect the competitive realities of today’s media marketplace,” LeGeyt said. "Local stations are competing every day against unregulated global tech and streaming giants that face none of the constraints imposed on broadcasters. That imbalance makes it harder for stations to invest in local journalism, weather coverage, emergency information and the live sports programming that communities rely on.

"We appreciate Chairman Carr’s willingness to confront these issues head-on and his recognition that policymakers have the power to modernize the rules before more local voices are lost,” he added. “NAB looks forward to working with Chairman Carr to strengthen local broadcasting, preserve competition and ensure communities continue to have access to trusted, local news and information.”

The full NAB filing can be found here.

WASHINGTON—The organizers of the 2026 NAB Show have announced that registration is officially open for the event, set for April 18–22 (exhibits April 19–22) at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

NAB Show also unveiled some of the programming that will spotlight transformative trends shaping the media and entertainment industry, including AI and media asset protection, streaming, sports innovation, the creator economy and cloud-based workflows.

“NAB Show is where the global media community comes together to shape what’s next,” said Karen Chupka, executive vice president, NAB Global Connections and Events. “The breakthroughs we’re seeing in AI, cloud and new content models are redefining how our industry works, and 2026 will reflect that shift. From the expanded Creator Lab and Sports Summit to the AI pavilion and start-up pavilion, we're giving attendees a front-row view of the technologies and ideas that will move the business forward.”

Sports Summit Grows to a Four-Day Program
New for 2026, NAB Show will feature an expanded, four-day Sports Summit, “The Future of Sports Rights and Fan Engagement,” presented in the Sports Theater on the show floor in West Hall. Open to all attendees for the first time, the summit will feature tools and technologies that engage fans and provide discussions on such topics as sports rights and athletes who are creating their own media companies.

Programming will explore production, rights, distribution, investment and policy while highlighting how teams, broadcasters and technology partners are reshaping fan engagement and reinventing live sports experiences.

Business of Media and Entertainment Expands Access to Decision-Makers
In partnership with The Ankler, this three-day program convenes the industry’s top dealmakers, executives and creative leaders for candid conversations on the forces reshaping the business of media and entertainment. Programming will examine the economic, strategic and structural shifts redefining how content is financed, produced, distributed and monetized across platforms.

New for 2026, the program is open to all attendees and will take place on the exhibit floor in West Hall, creating unprecedented access to high-level discussions on investment, consolidation, rights, talent, technology and the evolving economics of the global media marketplace.

Expanded Creator Lab Anchors Focus on Next-Gen Storytelling
Returning with a dramatically expanded footprint in the newly completed Central Hall, the Creator Lab will serve as the premier destination for creators, studios, broadcasters and brands seeking hands-on learning and next-generation storytelling tools.

This year’s Creator Lab features:

• A larger theater and classroom for sessions on AI, creator techniques, business strategy and audience development
• A new Networking Lounge designed for one-on-one meetings between creators and brands
• A full slate of brand experiences showcasing the technologies and partnerships propelling the creator economy toward its projected $500 billion valuation by 2027

Completion of LVCC Renovation Offers a Modern Campus Experience
With major renovations now complete, the Las Vegas Convention Center will offer attendees a more modern, connected and intuitive campus experience in 2026.

Across the campus, upgrades include improved lighting, contemporary finishes and clearer sightlines, creating a brighter and more welcoming environment throughout the Show.

Exhibitors and Technology Showcases
Noteworthy exhibitors are a who’s-who of leading technology innovators, including AWS, Blackmagic, Google, Microsoft and Sony. Their presence adds to a dynamic lineup of global brands, showcasing solutions that are advancing the future of media and entertainment.

Attendees, exhibitors and sponsors can learn more at nabshow.com/las-vegas/. The deadline for booking in NAB Show’s hotel reservation block is March 16, 2026. Media resources and registration for accredited press are also available on the NAB Show website.

New Mobile App Powers a Smarter, More Connected Show Experience
New for 2026, the NAB Show mobile app, launching in March, is designed to help attendees plan ahead, navigate the show and make meaningful on-site connections. The app enables users to build and manage a personalized schedule, bookmark must-see exhibitors and receive tailored recommendations for sessions, exhibitors and connections based on individual interests.

The app also introduces enhanced networking tools that allow attendees to securely exchange contact information via QR code while onsite, as well as connect one-to-one with other attendees. Together, these features streamline discovery, improve navigation across the campus and make it easier for attendees to connect with the right people and opportunities before and during the Show.

Learn more at NABShow.com.