Virus Effects in TMT Delay NAB Move; TPI Delayed, Changes Location
COVID-19 effects continue in telecom, media and technology (TMT). NAB won't move when planned, we were told Tuesday (see 2004140063). Earlier that day, we were told that the annual summer Technology Policy Institute conference in Aspen, Colorado, was postponed to the fall. TPI moved it cross-country. You can see that report in front of our pay wall here. Monday, we reported the FCC won't move on time.
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NAB had planned to decamp from its longtime building near Dupont Circle to its newly constructed headquarters April 6, its spokesperson said now. That wasn't possible, he noted. "NAB staff has been working remotely from home since March 16."
The broadcasters' association is "in a holding pattern on when we actually will be able to move in to 1M" St. SE (see here), emailed the spokesperson. "The building is ready whenever it's deemed safe to transition from our 'shelter in place' status." In an interview on C-SPAN taped last month at around the time much of Washington began to work from home, NAB CEO Gordon Smith said the HQ switch was "on track." He called the new facility a "beautiful new building" that will put the trade group closer to Congress. "It will enhance our efficiency," he told us then. A sign of the times, the interview was done while observing social distancing, with Smith in one studio, the Communicators' host in another and us in a third.
As with other things affected by the pandemic, details are sparse on when NAB will eventually make the crosstown move. Its spokesperson said there's no targeted date. It won't happen until "whenever there’s certainty that we won’t be putting our employees’ health at risk," he noted. But "we are officially and completely out of the NAB building at 1771 N St." NW.
TPI is the latest in TMT to reschedule an event due to COVID-19 (see 2004140019). The economics think tank moved its annual conference from Aug. 16-18 in Aspen, Colorado, to Boar's Head Resort in Charlottesville on Oct. 16-18, we were told this week. It's one of the furthest out on the calendar events to be rescheduled in the TMT sector due to coronavirus concerns.
The change is because of "ongoing uncertainty about the feasibility of travel" by August, emailed TPI President Scott Wallsten Tuesday. "The Democratic Convention is now scheduled for that weekend, and we don't want to compete with that." Wallsten says his group's gathering will partly focus on the virus. "The theme will be tech policy lessons learned from the pandemic," he said. See more remarks along these lines on a recent podcast and 2004080042.
The Democratic National Convention Committee said April 4 it rescheduled the 2020 Democratic National Convention to the week of Aug. 17 in Milwaukee. The DNCC cited "the unprecedented health crisis facing our country," saying this gives "convention planners more time to determine the most appropriate structure." It said "convention planners continue to monitor the unpredictable and unprecedented public health emergency." The DNCC and Democratic National Committee didn't answer our questions now.