NAB last week created a task force to keep watch over the transition to digital, which the association fears may derail before all TV stations meet their FCC-mandated deadlines. Belo Corp. Executive Vice President Mike McCarthy will head that task force, members of NAB's Television board determined at the annual summer board meeting in Washington last week.
NAB also plans to send the FCC a letter detailing why the association feels the agency is hindering the transition by not adopting more proactive rules such as digital must-carry requirements.
Disney Executive Vice President Preston Padden got the board to agree that NAB will work with the Motion Picture Association of America to urge revisions in a Canadian law that allows all Canadian content distributors-including cable, Internet and satellite-to retransmit local broadcast signals without getting permission from TV stations or content providers.
It's that law that Internet streaming company iCraveTV.com first cited in trying to keep its Web site online earlier this year.
As predicted, the board elected David Kennedy, president of Susquehanna Radio Corp. in York, Pa., chairman of the NAB Radio Board, while John Dille, president of Federated Media, was elected vice chairman. Both ran unopposed.
