D.C. Memo: CTA CEO Blasts NAB, Says TV Stations Have 'Failing Business Model'
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NAB: This one got nasty real fast. A new digital TV plan floated by the National Association of Broadcasters yesterday got hammered by the leader of the Consumer Technology Association over a tech mandate long viewed as a central cog in keeping free TV available to 18 million antenna-only homes. “The [NAB] is at it again – first pushing to mandate FM chips in phones, then misleading policymakers about AM radio, and now forcing NEXTGEN TV onto every consumer and manufacturer,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro in a scathing statement that represented yet another round in a regulatory feud between the two heavyweights going back at least 25 years. NAB’s plan, submitted to the FCC, has several features designed to improve the TV viewing experience, including a federal requirement that TV set makers represented by CTA install what are know as ATSC 3.0 tuners. A tuner mandate, coupled with other FCC moves, would allow all full-power TV stations to wrap up the move to NEXTGEN TV no later than 2030. “These proposed mandates only add unnecessary costs at a time when affordability is top of mind for American families,” Shapiro added. “Rather than innovating, broadcasters are lobbying for regulations to prop up their failing business model.” An NAB spokesman declined to comment. When the FCC midwifed the transition from analog to digital TV that ended in 2009, the FCC under Republican Chairman Michael Powell adopted a digital tuner mandate, which CTA (then-called the Consumer Electronics Association) appealed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a losing cause. The opinion was written by then-U.S. Circuit Court Judge John G. Roberts, who is now Chief Justice of the United States.
According to NAB, more than 100 NextGen TV models currently have ATSC 3.0 tuners and are sold by Hisense, Samsung, Sony, TCL, and Panasonic. “Overall sales of NEXTGEN TV sets reached nearly 14 million units in December 2024 and 10% percent of all TV sets shipped to U.S. retailers in 2024 were ATSC 3.0 compatible,” NAB said.