National Association of Broadcasters

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

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The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is comprised of representatives of radio and television stations and networks. The NAB, which has a membership of 7,500, seeks to ensure the viability, strength, and success of free over-the-air broadcasters (companies that do not charge

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customers for service, as do cable and satellite television operators). It serves as an information resource to the industry, and it also lobbies the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (FCC) for regulations favorable to the radio and television industry. The NAB is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a staff of approximately 165 employees.

The organization was founded in 1922, when radio broadcasting was in its infancy. Founded as the National Association of Radio Broadcasters, it changed its name to the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters in 1951, when it absorbed the Television Broadcasters Association. In 1958 it changed its name to the National Association of Broadcasters. In 1985 it absorbed the Daytime Broadcasters Association, and in 1986 it absorbed the National Radio Broadcasters Association.

The NAB seeks to maintain a favorable legal, governmental, and technological climate for free over-the-air broadcasting. Its legal and regulatory department represents broadcasters before the FCC and other federal agencies, as well as before courts and other regulatory bodies. This department provides legal guidance to NAB members through "counsel memos," legal memoranda that identify and explain current legal issues for broadcasters.

The NAB opposes legislation that would require broadcasters to provide free air time to political candidates. In addition, it is opposed to discounting the commercial rates stations charge to candidates, contending that broadcasters now provide candidates with heavily discounted air time.

Because the NAB represents the interests of free over-the-air broadcasters, it has sought to protect the industry from the inroads made by cable and satellite television. For example, as TV viewers in rural areas began to buy home satellite equipment, Congress passed laws in 1988 and 1994, with the encouragement of the NAB, that restrict access to network programming sent by satellite only to those viewers who live outside the local market of over-the-air network affiliates. By 1997 satellite operators and the NAB were in court, because the NAB sought to end...