WASHINGTON, DC – The NAB Board of Directors met in Washington this week. Below is a summary of their actions.
JOINT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CALL
TO ORDER
NAB Joint Board Chairman Jack Sander, senior advisor to Belo Corp., called the meeting to order. After a call of the roll, the minutes of the January Board meeting were approved.
CHAIRMAN'S
REPORT
Mr. Sander briefed the Joint Board on the many issues facing the broadcasting business. Mr. Sander recognized new members on the NAB Joint Board of Directors and saluted former NAB Television Board member Bob Lee for his service to NAB and the broadcast industry.
PRESIDENT'S
REPORT
NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr highlighted the many issues on Capitol Hill and the FCC impacting the broadcasting industry, and he noted the numerous efforts being coordinated through NAB's government relations department.
ELECTIONS
NAB Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mike Williams was re-elected to the position of secretary-treasurer. Mr. Rehr was re-elected as president and CEO. Mr. Sander was re-elected as chairman of the NAB Joint Board of Directors.
ISSUES
UPDATE
NAB Executive Vice President of Government Relations Laurie Knight and NAB Senior Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Jane Mago briefed the board on issues related to the FCC's proposed localism ruling.
Ms. Knight and Executive Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Marsha MacBride brief the board on issues related to media ownership.
Ms. Knight briefed the board on issues surrounding the recording industry-backed effort to impose a performance tax on local broadcasters for radio airplay of music.
Ms. MacBride updated the board on issues related to the p roposed monopoly-merger of XM and Sirius.
Jonathan Collegio, vice president of NAB's digital TV transition team, updated the board on NAB's educational campaign to inform all Americans of the transition to digital TV. Mr. Collegio highlighted NAB's efforts related to the early transition scheduled in Wilmington, NC.
NABPAC
UPDATE
NABPAC Chairman Larry Patrick of Patrick Communications updated the Board on the NAB Political Action Committee and urged members to contribute.
NAB
SHOW
NAB Executive Vice President of Conventions and Operations Chris Brown provided highlights of the 2008 NAB Show in Las Vegas and outlined efforts related to the 2009 NAB Show.
NAB
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
NAB Education Foundation President Marcellus Alexander updated the board on NABEF initiatives and provided highlights from this week's Service to America Celebration.
FINANCIAL
REPORT
NAB Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mike Williams provided a financial update to the board.
TELEVISION BOARD OF DIRECTORSJune 10, 2008
CALL
TO ORDER
Television Board Chairman Alan Frank, president and CEO, Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. called the Television Board to order. After a call of the roll, minutes of the January Board meeting were approved.
ELECTIONS
NAB Television Board member James Yager, CEO of Barrington Broadcasting Company, was
elected chairman of the NAB Television Board. NAB First Vice Chair Lynn
Beall, executive vice president of Gannett Broadcasting, was re-elected
first vice chair. NAB Television Board member Paul Karpowicz, president
of Meredith Corporation Broadcasting, was elected second vice chair
of the NAB Television Board.
TELEVISION
MEMBERSHIP AND ACTIVITIES
NAB Executive Vice President of Television Marcellus Alexander updated the Board on NAB TV membership, which now stands at 1192 stations.
LPFM
/ CHANNELS 5 AND 6
NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr and NAB Executive Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Marsha MacBride briefed the board on issues related low power FM. The NAB Television Board adopted a resolution opposing the use of television channels 5 and/or 6 for radio broadcasting as proposed by Ace Radio and Mullaney Engineering before the FCC.
FCC
UPDATE
Mr. Rehr, Ms. MacBride and NAB Senior Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Jane Mago updated the board on FCC-related issues, including the proposed localism mandates, the enhanced disclosure ruling, issues surrounding interference-causing 'white space' devices, and media ownership.
DTV
TRANSITION STATUS
Jonathan Collegio, vice president of NAB's DTV transition team, updated the Television Board on NAB's campaign to educate Americans on the pending transition to digital TV. Specifically, Mr. Collegio highlighted NAB's efforts related to Wilmington's early analog cut-off.
NAB Executive Vice President of Government Relations Laurie Knight briefed the board on legislation that would impact television stations near the Mexican border.
Seth Geiger of Smith and Geiger briefed the Television Board on polling data related to the transition to digital TV.
RETRANSMISSION
CONSENT
Mr. Rehr updated the Television Board on the efforts of cable operators to change the current process for retransmission consent negotiations.
NIELSEN
RATINGS POST
NAB Vice President of Research Sharon Warden updated the Television Board on issues related to Nielsen ratings and May 2009 Sweeps. Following discussion, the NAB Television Board adopted a resolution supporting a COLTAM effort to urge Nielsen to change the May 2009 Sweeps period -- currently set for April 30 - May 27 -- to substitute dates of April 23 - May 20.
OPEN
MOBILE VIDEO COALITION
ION Media Networks Chairman and CEO Brandon Burgess, who serves on the NAB Executive Committee and as president of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, updated the board on continued efforts by OMVC to launch mobile DTV services. NAB Senior Vice President of Science and Technology Lynn Claudy updated the Television Board on efforts of the OMVC Technical Activities Group and standardization activities of the Advanced Television Systems Committee on mobile DTV.
RADIO
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
June 11, 2008
CALL TO ORDER
NAB Radio Board Chairman Russ Withers, owner of Withers Broadcasting Companies, called the meeting to order. After roll call the minutes of the January Board meeting were accepted.
ELECTIONS
NAB First Vice Chair Steve Newberry, president and CEO of Commonwealth Broadcasting, was elected chairman. Charles Warfield, president and COO of ICBC Broadcast Holdings, was elected first vice chair. Caroline Beasley, executive vice president and CFO of Beasley Broadcast Group, was elected second vice chair.
PERFORMANCE
TAX
NAB Executive Vice President of Government Relations Laurie Knight updated the Radio Board on a record industry-backed effort to levy a performance tax on broadcasters for free radio airplay. Ms. Knight outlined NAB's advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and noted the growing momentum of opposition to a performance tax.
FCC
UPDATE
NAB Executive Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Marsha MacBride updated the board on proposed localism mandates that would place increased regulatory burdens on local broadcasters. Ms. MacBride also updated the Radio Board on the proposed monopoly-merger of XM and Sirius.
Ms. MacBride, NAB Senior Vice President of Government Relations Mike Hershey and NAB Senior Vice President of Science & Technology Lynn Claudy briefed the Radio Board on issues related to low-power FM. The NAB Radio Board adopted a resolution opposing the use of television channels 5 and/or 6 for radio broadcasting as proposed by Ace Radio and Mullaney Engineering before the FCC.
Mr. Claudy and NAB Senior Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Jane Mago briefed the Radio Board on the status of a request to the FCC that would allow FM radio stations broadcasting in HD to increase their power level.
Mr. Claudy and Joseph Kraemer with the Law & Economics Consulting Group detailed a study that shows the benefits of implementing FM receiver chips in cell phones.
RADIO
MEMBERSHIP AND ACTIVITIES
NAB Executive Vice President of Radio John David briefed the board on upcoming events and activities. Mr. David noted that Bonneville President and CEO Bruce Reese will be honored at the upcoming NAB Radio Show with the National Radio Award.
RADIO
2020
Brand consultant Kelly O'Keefe updated the Board on the status of the Radio 2020 initiative designed to remind listeners, advertisers and the electronics industry of the important role Radio plays in daily life.
HD
RADIO TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE
Caroline Beasley, chair of the HD Radio Technology Advancement Task Force, briefed the Board on technology and advertising efforts promoting HD Radio. Specifically, Ms. Beasley addressed future marketing efforts to promote the recently completed Embedded Exporter project, which will significantly reduce the upgrade costs for stations converting to HD Radio.
EMBEDDED
EXPORTER
Mr. Claudy described a completed project by NAB to lower a station's HD Radio upgrade costs through the development and commercial availability of a new low-cost technology known as an embedded exporter.
About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association that advocates on behalf of more than 8,300 free, local radio and television stations and also broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts. Information about NAB can be found at www.nab.org.
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