Broadcasters Will Talk Deregulation and ATSC 3.0 at NAB Show 2025

NAB is expecting more than 63,000 attendees for the 2025 show. The event drew 61,292 in 2024 and 65,000 in 2023. Last year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal listed the NAB Show as the fourth-largest trade show in the city, behind the Consumer Electronics Show, the Specialty Equipment Market Association’s automotive aftermarket show, and ConExpo, a construction equipment event. The 2019 NAB Show, the last before the pandemic, attracted more than 91,000 people.

For the second year in a row, attendees will not hear an in-person address from the FCC’s leader. Industry officials told us Chairman Brendan Carr won’t attend the event because of a conflict. The FCC didn’t comment. Former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also skipped NAB in 2024, the first time the show went without an address from the FCC chair in 15 years. Among FCC commissioners, Nathan Simington’s office told us he would attend, while Anna Gomez’s office said it's unclear if she will. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is not attending NAB, his office told us.

Industry and FCC officials told us that White House limits on agency travel and expenditures could make it difficult for FCC staff to attend trade events like the NAB Show. Rob Folliard, Gray Television senior vice president, said he doesn’t view the limited FCC showing as a slight to broadcasters or an indication that the show is losing importance. “Would I rather [Carr] eliminate a ton of useless and outdated regulations, or hop a plane ride to Vegas? The former!” he said.

While NAB regrets that “scheduling conflicts prevent chairman Carr from attending this year, he has maintained a strong, ongoing dialogue with NAB and local broadcasters across the country and understands the unique challenges our industry faces,” an NAB spokesperson said via email. The organization appreciates Carr’s “leadership, including his recent comments on the urgent need to modernize outdated broadcast rules.”

Ownership deregulation and the potential it could create for broadcast mergers and acquisitions will likely be among the biggest topics in Las Vegas, according to nearly every industry official we asked. A recent letter from lawmakers urging deregulation (see 2503310046) and Carr’s public comments about local broadcasting (see 2503070034) are seen as extremely positive signs for dealmaking, broadcasters told us. While uncertainty about the timing and degree of deregulation are likely to prevent deals from being made at the convention this week, broad strokes of potential agreements can be lined up, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. Tideline Partners' Guy told us that with little outside capital currently coming into broadcasting, the first wave of deals after ownership rules loosen is likely to consist of large broadcasters swapping stations to create duopolies. Adding a second station in a market offers a high margin of profit for an existing broadcaster there, Guy said. Meanwhile, broadcasting’s many rules and complicated relationship with networks make it tough for new entrants to buy stations, an industry official told us.

Broadcasters also see a great deal of potential for deregulation in the FCC’s “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding (see 2503120055), they told us. That proceeding could be one venue for ownership deregulation, Folliard said. Industry officials have told us they could take aim at broadcaster public file requirements, equal employment opportunity audits, and reform for FCC processes involving broadcasters. Comments in that docket, which spans the whole of the FCC’s purview, are due April 11.

Almost no one interviewed for this story mentioned the FCC’s recent spate of station investigations over news distortion and other matters as a major topic for the NAB Show (see 2503270068). Broadcasters have told us that Carr’s many public comments on the importance of local broadcasting signal that he doesn’t plan to take up news distortion or similar proceedings against non-network-owned stations, but that isn’t guaranteed. Broadcasters are potentially facing a serious First Amendment issue from the current and future administrations, one industry official told us.

Broadcasters at the show are likely also to discuss the rough state of their industry, several told us. “I can tell you what they’re going to be talking about: why there’s no money in their pocketbook,” said Gary Cocola, CEO of Cocola Broadcasting. “It’s not easy to make a buck in this business anymore.” Competition from streaming services, increasing friction with networks, a slow advertising market, and multichannel video programming distributors' subscriber attrition are hitting broadcasters in the wallet, they told us. Almost every major broadcaster has touted layoffs as a cost-cutting measure on recent earnings calls. “Go buy a brand-new LG TV, my friend. When you plug it into the wall and hook it up to the internet, you got a thousand [free ad-supported streaming TV] channels. A thousand!” Cocola said. “There’s so much product available to the consumer today” that it's increasingly difficult for broadcasters to find an audience.

Broadcasters at the show will also focus on the latest progress for ATSC 3.0 monetization, industry officials told us. Sinclair and its subsidiary One Media will hold events touting ATSC 3.0’s potential as a backup for GPS and EdgeBeam Wireless, the industry’s joint venture using ATSC 3.0 datacasting. NAB’s recent push for the FCC to require ATSC 3.0 tuners in TVs and provide certain dates for the transition is seen as a promising sign, though one industry official described it as a “Hail Mary.” Broadcasters need flexibility from the FCC to convert markets to 3.0, Folliard said. “It’s important not to sit back and declare victory because NAB filed a petition.”