It appears that the National Association of Broadcasters have become an apology organization for large broadcasters like Sinclair, Scripps and Nexstar.
https://thedesk.net/news/nab-local-tv-c ... olicy-fcc/
People continue to cut the cord because of —among many reasons — rising cable costs due to retransmission disputes all while companies like Sinclair cut newscasts, Scripps goes toward automated newscasts to replace live news, etc. Stations run by Sinclair that are focusing on finning up fear as opposed to real reporting are driving away people in droves.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... dia-trump/
And Sinclair’s bad bet on Bally Sports only alienated local sports fans.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/enter ... 507153007/
The Detroit News reporting: “Sinclair was arguably losing before it even got started. The company failed to see that cord cutting, a trend that had been expanding well before 2019, was only increasing because of the rise of streaming platforms. The number of cable-TV subscribers in the US has fallen by an average of 5.8% annually since 2019, and total subscriptions are down by about 40 million since a peak in 2010. And Sinclair’s plan to obtain so-called direct-to-consumer rights-the key to developing a streaming service-from all the sports franchises in its purview failed when it came to winning over baseball teams.”
Now the NAB is (with a straight face) telling the FCC that it shouldn’t prioritize license renewals for broadcasters who actually provide localism. They say it’s too costly for some of these billion dollar broadcasters to put on local news… all while they hand out 8-figure salaries to their CEOs.
Let me propose an alternative…. the FCC should take away the licenses for broadcasters who no longer provide any local news broadcasts. If you have no intention of providing any local public service, you don’t deserve to keep the license that allows you to benefit from using the public airwaves.
Maybe that will get the attention of these CEOs. Maybe if there are public licenses available, new companies with new ideas on how to serve their communities will pop up. Only then will we see a change in the type/quality of local news being provided and a reason for the audience to come back.
The NAB should stop protecting and apologizing for a system that is clearly broke because of the greed of these big broadcasters.