Community Broadcasters Association Releases Fall Convention Schedule

The Community Broadcasters Association (CBA) has announced that its 2008 DTV national convention will take place Oct. 26-28 at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

The event will feature sessions on digital transition, programming ideas, revenue building and other topics involving community broadcasters.

Events get under way on Sunday, Oct. 26 with opening remarks and a members' reception, sposored by Larcan, Harris Corp., NTT Electronics Corp., LG and Zenith.

Hossein Hashemzadeh from the FCC's Media Bureau will appear later in the calendar of events to explain DTV transition rules, and antenna and other equipment vendors will be on hand to participate in a series of "town hall" meetings to provide information on the latest technologies available for going digital.

Other events include an analog vs. digital operations debate, along with meetings and workshops addressing areas of interest to low power broadcasters.

Low-power stations have also faced a gauntlet of tough policy issues, from initial shortages of converter boxes with the analog pass-through feature, to confusion over (most) low-power stations' status after Feb. 2009, and cable carriage.

The legislative, judicial and regulatory interests of more than 2,600 low power and Class A stations are represented by the CBA.