NAB's annual State Leadership Conference took place last week in Washington, D.C. More than 600 broadcasters marched on Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress and advocate on behalf of broadcasters across the nation. The issues of main focus at this year's conference included: the digital television (DTV) transition, performance tax, retransmission consent, internet streaming, unlicensed white space devices and localism.

The conference began with an opening reception on Monday night with broadcasters from across the country eager to get involved on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday broadcasters heard from speakers including Sen. Mark Pryor (AR), Rep. Mike Pence (IN-6) and Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC-6), as well as politico Peter Beinart who gave an update on the state of the Democratic and Republican parties. Rep. Gene Green (TX-29) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin spoke at the annual conference dinner on Wednesday.

Please note the date change for next year: March 30 - April 2, 2009, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.