1,200 Exhibitors Expected at NAB Show Saturday

Broadcasters are expecting to talk ATSC 3.0, the future of AM radio in cars, and FCC regulatory fees at 2023’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, which kicks off Saturday. It's the second in-person show since the 2020 and 2021 iterations were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Broadcasters, attorneys and industry officials told us they expect the show to be the best attended since 2019. “I don't think there's any question that will be a lot more people than last year's show,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford.

NAB declined to release the 2023 show’s projected attendance, but it said it's expecting just over 1,200 exhibitors at the Las Vegas Convention Center. That’s up from last year’s 940 exhibitors but down from the 1,600-plus exhibitors at the last pre-pandemic show in 2019. Exhibiting companies at this year's show include Adobe Systems, Canon, AT&T, Microsoft and Sony. Exhibitors, more so than individual attendees, are a major source of NAB funding, a broadcast industry official said. Following the 2020 NAB Show cancelation, the NAB voted to require additional payments from members due to “extreme loss of revenue” (see 2010290064).

The 2022 show drew 53,458 registered attendees versus 91,460 at the 2019 Show. State broadcaster association gatherings have started to return to their pre-pandemic attendance rate, said Oxenford, who represents numerous state broadcast groups: “I'm not sure it'll be completely back to normal 2019 levels. But I think probably a lot more people than last year.” Attendance “is going to be great,” said Georgia Association of Broadcasters President Bob Houghton. Many broadcasters were still tentative about large gatherings last year, but those concerns have largely faded, he said.

Several broadcasters cited ATSC 3.0 developments as a major focus for attendees in 2023. “We hope things get accelerated,” said Joel Davis, general manager of Capitol Broadcasting’s WRAL-TV Raleigh, North Carolina, of the ATSC 3.0 transition. His company is particularly interested in the increased options for ad insertion and ad targeting that 3.0 is expected to provide. The show will include working examples of low-cost set-top and converter devices for consumers, Mark Aitken, Sinclair Broadcast senior vice president-advanced technology, told us. The availability of such devices has been a focus of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and the Media Bureau.

NAB announced Wednesday the event will include a Q&A with Rosenworcel. “This will provide a unique opportunity for broadcasters across the country to hear directly from the Chairwoman on her thoughts on the state of the industry and her vision for the future,” NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in the release. A draft order on extending the sunsets of the ATSC 3.0 substantially similar and physical layer requirements is on circulation at the agency (see 2304070045).

Broadcasters are also interested in streaming options for distributing their content, said Davis. Viewers watching WRAL’s content on services like YouTube aren’t usually the same as those watching the station’s linear TV feed, Davis said. It’s not clear if that’s the case for other options such as free ad-supported streaming TV channels, and Davis said his company is looking to the event to get a better sense of what’s available. “There’s all these different ways that people can get our products and I think everybody's trying to figure out -- do we need to be on some of them, all of them? What do we need to put out there?” Concerns about the current compensation broadcasters receive from streaming services using their content are also likely to be a topic at the show, broadcasters said. In a recent letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Rosenworcel indicated FCC intervention in that matter was unlikely without congressional action (see 2303310061).

AM's future is also expected to be a major topic (see 2302280073). “Keeping AM in electric vehicles is very fresh in our minds right now,” said Houghton: “They thought we would just lay down.” The outlook for AM is “definitely a concern,” said Bayard Walters, CEO of the Cromwell Group. Walters said he's looking to Congress to address the matter. NAB earlier this month launched a publicity campaign, “Depend on AM Radio,” with materials for broadcasters and a dedicated website advocating for AM.

FCC regulatory fees are also on broadcasters’ minds, said Houghton. NAB Chief Legal Officer Rick Kaplan said at the 2022 show that regulatory fees were “at the top of the list” of the trade group’s priorities, but for years battles over the fees have played out the same way, with NAB seeking systemic changes but in the end securing small, temporary concessions. “We’d like to see them go away, or at least have some sort of constant,” he said. NAB has repeatedly urged the FCC to expand the payor base and refrain from charging broadcasters for FCC activities connected to broadband, but Houghton said it isn’t clear what the FCC will do this time.

Numerous broadcasters told us they aren’t expecting anything to come soon from the FCC’s 2022 and 2018 quadrennial reviews, so those aren’t a major concern. NAB set a Wednesday deadline for the FCC to pause the 2022 QR and resolve the 2018 iteration, but as of Wednesday afternoon the FCC hadn’t done so and was not expected to (see 2303290065). NAB is expected to seek a writ of mandamus from a U.S. Court of Appeals this week or next, possibly during the NAB Show.

The Standard/Tegna court proceeding is also likely to get attention during the show, industry officials said. The deal's broadcasters are set to respond to the FCC’s opposition to their own request for mandamus Friday and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to issue a ruling by April 21. Although the transaction's success or failure is unlikely to have a direct effect on most broadcasters, LeGeyt and others expressed concern about the limits of the agency’s authority to block deals by sending them to hearing and urged Congress to act (see 2302280057).