# NAB Keynote (Personal NAB Show Report)



## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

I went to the NAB show in Las Vegas yesterday. One of the exhibitors invited me. Okay, maybe it was more like an open invitation to anyone who found the exhibitor's online ad, but I like the sound of that better than saying that I snuck in.

This post is on the keynote address. I might add a general show report, or one on E* VP Michael Kelly's panel, a bit later.

The keynote opened with a Marine color guard and chaplain's prayer. Then came Bruce Reese, NAB Joint Board Chairman, celebrating his 25th NAB show. Reese had a little problem with the apparent teleprompter, stumbling a bit at times while selling the audience of the importance of coming to the show. "Nowhere will you find a better classroom," he read. Hey, we're already here!

Next was Dave Brown from Accenture. "It's really hard to believe how much has changed since last year's conference," he said. "Over the past 12 months, there's been a renewed confidence in content as the driving force." But because of the flourishing of user-generated sites, "There's no such thing as 'must-see' content any more. We have to go where the consumer takes us."

In what was partly a public service promo for visiting Louisiana, US Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) praised the group for publicizing the post-Katrina floods and said she was introducing the Broadcasters as First Responders Act. According to the bill, in the event of a similar emergency, broadcasters would be put on the same list as firefighters and police officers to get fuel, food and water to do their jobs. As also reported here (http://panasonic.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=128481), she later drew applause when she said that the XM/Sirius merger should not go through.

I was more surprised by an expression that she used early in her speech, "I feel like I'm in a room of fellow travelers." Perhaps she doesn't remember when that was a code phrase for Communist sympathizers? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_traveller)

Then came the NAB's CEO and president, David Rehr. When I saw him, my first thought was that the lights must be hitting him differently somehow because he was squinting at the crowd. I later learned that he just always looks like that. (See http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5136 and http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/2006.04.03-1-n_in_rehr_form.shtml). My second thought was that he reminded me a lot of Mr. Incredible's old boss Gilbert Huph (http://us.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0317705/TI-016.jpg.html?seq=2), except taller and without glasses. I'm still undecided on that one, although I'm sure that Huph wouldn't be as good at addressing crowds.

Anyway, Rehr's speech, prefaced by clips of the Hindenburg and Challenger disasters, was focused on the consequences of using the right words. Like a general addressing his troops, he told of his changing the NAB's approach to advocacy, a word which is "more active than lobbying." He urged the members to be proactive in telling government officials what ought to be done. "We are set to do battle, but we all know we can't do it alone."

Rehr said that the NAB and its members need to actively frame the issues and define the words of the debate, moving away from 20th century vocabulary. He said that "multicasting" and "must-carry" are bad words, and that the debate should be retitled "anti-stripping" to prevent cable companies from stripping out the extra channels. He said that "down conversion" was a bad way of characterizing cable companies' converting HD OTA signals to SD for their customers. Better terms would be "broadcast discrimination" or "HD discrimination."

On the radio side, Rehr blasted the term "performance rights," which record companies would like radio stations to pay for airing songs. "Performance tax" is what it ought to be called, he said. "We will fight it with everything we have." He also poked fun at the XM-Sirius merger, calling it simply a monopoly that will not be approved. The one old word that Rehr said he wanted to keep was "local."

The NAB now has a team working on identifying the best words for the issues that it advocates. Rehr asked the crowd for suggestions, and warned, "We need your self-discipline so we all speak the same language."

After the speech, Rehr moved to the moderator's podium and proved only a little better than Reese at reading the teleprompter as he presented the NAB Distinguished Service Award to David L. Wolper, the producer who's won two Oscars, 50(!) Emmys, and now this. As Wolper's son came up to accept the award, I bolted from the audience and safely got away before the scheduled appearance of American Idol finalist Katharine McPhee. Whew!


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## Newshawk (Sep 3, 2004)

That is so scary... So Rher wants to not pay anyone for content but force cable and DBS to pay for every little scrap of fluff the broadcasters throw at them? They probably also want the government to force all this down our throats... oh, and don;t forget they'll try to take away our options. i'll bet they are against the XM/Sirius merger becaust they are secretly hoping that, pitted against each other, the two DAR services will both die.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

FTA Michael said:


> This post is on the keynote address.


Excellent account! I especially appreciate the added context of the links.


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## FTA Michael (Jul 21, 2002)

Update: The entire keynote, plus several other presentations from the NAB show, are now available for viewing here. Free with registration.


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