ACTIONS OF THE NAB BOARD OF DIRECTORS
October 27-28, 2005
Washington, DC
NAB JOINT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PROCEDURAL MATTERS
Joint Radio and Television Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Reese, president and CEO, Bonneville International, called the NAB Joint Board to order. The Board approved the minutes of the June Board meeting and Executive Committee actions since June.
ASSOCIATION STATUS REPORT
Mr. Reese welcomed Board members and reviewed a number of accomplishments since the previous Board meeting in June. Reese praised the actions of broadcasters in areas affected by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and complimented the role broadcasters have played in raising more than $200 million through NAB's BroadcastUnity Day initiative. He also listed numerous challenges facing both radio and television broadcasters, and reminded the Board that NAB has been most successful when the industry has been united.
Mr. Reese expressed admiration for retiring NAB President and CEO Eddie Fritts, thanked him for his years of service, and introduced the Board to incoming NAB President and CEO David Rehr. Mr. Reese also announced that a special event will be held in Washington on March 1, 2006 honoring Mr. Fritts for his 23 years of service to NAB.
Mr. Fritts reported on progress made on a number of legislative issues since the June Board meeting, and reported that NAB is on sound financial footing. He committed to making sure the transition in the association's leadership goes smoothly.
Later in the meeting, Mr. Rehr gave brief remarks thanking the Board for their vote of confidence in selecting him the new NAB president and CEO. He pledged to work tirelessly for the association and to "increase the value proposition" of NAB member stations.
FINANCIAL REPORT
NAB Executive Vice President and CFO Ken Almgren reviewed the financial results for the first six months and reported the status of NAB fund balances and finances.
Board member Michael Fiorile, president and CEO, Dispatch Broadcasting Group, briefed the Board on the meetings of the audit committee.
Mr. Reese reported on the activities of the Investment Committee.
DIGITAL OVER-THE-AIR PROJECT
Jim Conschafter, senior vice president of broadcast stations, Media General Broadcast Group and Frank Magid of Frank Magid & Associates briefed the Board on recent research on consumer awareness of the DTV transition.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS/PUBLIC AFFAIRS
John Orlando, executive vice president, government relations, provided the Board with an update on digital television legislation and a satellite radio bill that would bar XM and Sirius from further violation of FCC licenses that limit local satellite radio program initiatives. Mr. Orlando also discussed prospects for passage of Telecom Act re-write bill that would spur telephone company entry into the video business.
Mr. Orlando also stressed to the Board the importance of involvement in the NAB's Television & Radio Political Action Committee.
Kathy Ramsey, executive vice president, public affairs, briefed the Board on several grassroots initiatives in recent months, including "DTV Fly-Ins" related to NAB's campaign on behalf of cable multicast DTV carriage.
Ms. Ramsey notified the Board that NAB will again be conducting its "Bringing Community Service Home" survey that documents the aggregate public service activities of all local radio and television stations. She urged members to fill out the surveys, the results of which will be released at the 2006 NAB Service to America Summit.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY UPDATE
Marsha MacBride, executive vice president, legal and regulatory affairs, briefed the Board on issues related to radio streaming copyright fees and the current status of vacancies at the FCC.
NAB EDUCATION FOUNDATION REPORT
Marcellus Alexander, president of the NAB Education Foundation, and Director Ann Orr updated the Board on activities of NABEF. They noted the recent success of National Freedom of Speech Week, an event co-sponsored by The Media Institute, and seven new initiatives that have earned the support of the foundation board.
NAB RADIO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CALL TO ORDER
David Field, president and CEO, Entercom Communications Corp., called the Radio Board to order. After a call of the roll, minutes of the June Board meeting were approved.
ESTABLISHING TOP PRIORITIES FOR RADIO
Mr. Field entertained a discussion on establishing top priorities for NAB staff to pursue in defending Radio's interests in Washington.
HD RADIO
Robert Struble, president and CEO, iBiquity Digital, provided the Board an update on the status of HD Radio. Mr. Struble said HD Radio adoption is accelerating rapidly, with commitments from all of the large radio companies to the new technology. He said 40 stations are currently multicasting HD radio signals. In addition, a number of manufacturers - the latest being Pioneer - are beginning to build radio receivers. Mr. Struble also noted that HD radios are now being installed in the newest BMW 700 series vehicles, with more announcements expected from automakers in the future.
Lynn Claudy, NAB senior vice president, science & technology, briefed the Board on two proposed methods for identifying multicast programs on HD Radios, noting that no consensus had been reached as to the preferred approach. Board member Bill Hendrich announced that Cox Radio would be conducting consumer focus group testing in November on how to best identify multicast signals from the consumer point of view.
NAB RADIO SHOW 2006
John David, NAB executive vice president, radio, updated the Board on plans to co-locate the 2006 Radio Show in Dallas with R&R's annual convention. Dates for the event are Sept. 20-22.
RADIO MEMBERSHIP
Mr. David reported that NAB Radio station membership now stands at a new all-time high.
LEGISLATIVE
John Orlando, NAB executive vice president, government affairs, gave a status report on H.R 998, the bill sponsored by Reps. Chip Pickering (R-Miss) and Gene Green (D-Texas) designed to curb satellite radio's local programming ventures. The bill currently has 85 co-sponsors, he said.
Mr. Orlando notified the Board that legislation has been offered by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) that would repeal 3rd adjacent channel protections and accelerate FCC licensing of low power FM stations. He noted that there are already 600 LPFM stations on the air, and warned that passage of the Slaughter bill would subject listeners to an increase in interference.
LEGAL/REGULATORY ISSUES
Marsha MacBride, executive vice president, NAB legal and regulatory affairs, held a discussion on a pending FCC action on streamlining allocations in the FM radio band.
NAB TELEVISION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CALL TO ORDER
Jim Conschafter, senior vice president of broadcast stations, Media General Broadcast Stations, called the Television Board to order. After a call of the roll, minutes of the June 2005 Board Meeting were approved. Alan Frank was elected TV Board Chair, succeeding Ben Tucker. He welcomed new members Lynne Beall and Preston Padden.
DIGITAL CONVERTER BOX UPDATE
NAB Senior Vice President, Science and Technology Lynn Claudy updated the Board on the NAB/MSTV project to develop a prototype for a high performance, easy to use, low cost digital converter box. He reported that the Thomson and Zenith/LG proposals had been selected for contract awards from among the twelve proposals submitted.
TELEVISION OVERVIEW
Marcellus Alexander updated the TV Board on NAB television station membership, which now stands at 1,133 stations, up from 1,107 members a year ago. He also reviewed the progress of several activities of the TV department.
Madelyn Bonnot-Griffin, vice president, operations, national communications, reported on the very successful Small Market Executive Roundtable and Exchange held in Dallas, Texas last month. Next year's location is San Diego from Sept. 14-16.
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
John Orlando, executive vice president, government relations, updated the TV Board on the status of legislation implementing the DTV transition. He noted that the legislation is being driven in part by "budget politics," with lawmakers expressing a strong desire for revenue that will be derived from auctioning analog TV spectrum.
Mr. Orlando noted that NAB has made significant progress in convincing lawmakers to move the "hard date" for turning off analog television from 2006 to 2009. He said the converter box subsidy program will likely be in the range of between $800 million and $3 billion. Mr. Orlando also expressed optimism that a multicast cable DTV carriage mandate could become law, possibly as part of a second piece of legislation separate from the budget reconciliation process.
LEGAL & REGULATORY ISSUES
Marsha MacBride, executive vice president, legal and regulatory affairs, reported on issues pending at the FCC including children?s educational television programming in the digital era and closed captioning.
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