Our Legislative Outreach Focus
The NMBA seeks to educate New Mexico's local, state and federal officials along with other community leaders about important broadcast issues. During each state legislative session, the NMBA’s lobbyist, Art Melendres, works on issues such as labor concerns and taxes as well as trends in advertising and retail business.
Working with the National Association of Broadcasters we participate in filings before the FCC, as well as meet with federal, state officials and other decision-makers in matters of concern to New Mexico's broadcast industry. Each February the NMBA Board makes a trip to Washington, DC to visit with the New Mexico Congressional Delegation to raise concerns about issues important to all New Mexico broadcasters.
Some of our current concerns include...
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The Performance Rights Act
Puts Local Jobs at Risk |
The Performance Rights Act was introduced in the past two Congresses in both the House and Senate, and would have imposed a devastating performance fee on local radio stations. NAB strongly opposed this legislation, and was successful in preventing its passage.
On February 28, the House and the Senate introduced the "Local Radio Freedom Act," the pro-broadcaster, anti-performance fee resolutions. H. Con. Res. 21 was introduced by Reps. Mike Conaway (TX-11) and Gene Green (TX-29), and now stands at over 140 cosponsors. S. Con. Res. 7 was introduced by Sens. Ben Nelson (NE) and John Barrasso (WY) and now has 18 bipartisan cosponsors.
The proponents of the performance fee have yet to introduce the Performance Rights Act in either the House or the Senate in the current Congress.
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Promoting Spectrum
Policies
that Serve the Public |
Since the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) release of the National Broadband Plan last year, NAB has been meeting with congressional, FCC and Administration officials to ensure that any plan going forward is compatible with the interests of broadcast television and its viewers. The NMBA, along with the National Association of Broadcasters, is continuing to promote spectrum policies that facilitate consumer access to the full potential of digital television (DTV), including high definition, multicast programming and mobile DTV.
In late 2010, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that represented the first major step in efforts to implement recommendations made in the National Broadband Plan to reallocate some of the spectrum currently licensed to TV broadcasters for wireless broadband use.
We will continue to support spectrum policies that are truly voluntary and oppose legislative and regulatory proposals that include coercive measures, such as spectrum fees.
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| Providing Viewers with High-Quality Content Through Retransmission
Consent Negotiations |
As expected, on March 3, the FCC adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking on retransmission consent. In the notice, the FCC asks for comment on ways to improve the current good faith negotiation and consumer notice requirements, and also asks for comment on the non-duplication and program exclusivity rules. Significantly, the notice concludes that the FCC lacks the authority to impose proposals such as mandatory arbitration and forced carriage of broadcast signals during retransmission disputes.
Over the course of the past year, various pay-TV providers, as well as Sen. John Kerry (MA), have pushed the FCC to impose binding arbitration and forced carriage of stations' signals during retransmission consent negotiations. NAB and other broadcasters have and will continue to push back hard on Capitol Hill and at the FCC against these proposals. NAB also will actively participate in the FCC's retransmission consent proceeding and will particularly focus on the agency's request for comment on the non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules, both of which are very important to stations in maintaining and preserving localism.
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| Equipping Mobile Phones with Broadcast Radio Capability for
Emergency Preparedness |
The National Association of Broadcasters has drafted a letter for members of Congress to sign, encouraging both the Department of Homeland Security and the FCC to consider extending Americans' access to radio enabled mobile phones. We are reaching out to Republican and Democrat offices to secure a lead from both parties. The letter will be circulated to congressional offices this month.
To help stations further engage in our efforts to promote radio-enabled cell phones, the NAB is also developing resources that will be made available through our website, www.RadioRocksMyPhone.com, in the near future.
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