NAB Focused on 'Big Tech' in 118th Congress Policy Agenda
Competition from digital advertising and tech companies, broadcast ownership rules and FCC regulatory fees lead a list of policy priorities for the 118th U.S. Congress released by NAB Thursday. “Local broadcast stations must be available on all platforms and every…
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device to remain relevant to audiences and advertisers,” said the NAB policy agenda. “But Big Tech platforms have a stranglehold on digital advertising.” The FCC should respond to rising competition from tech companies by relaxing ownership rules and increasing the payor base for regulatory fees, NAB said. The FCC should also refresh the record on applying retransmission consent to streaming services and “maintain a reasonable, flexible framework for NEXTGEN TV deployment,” NAB said. The policy agenda also calls for Congress to avoid imposing a performance tax on radio stations, to revive the minority tax certificate, and to oppose legislation that would change the way tax laws handle advertising expenses. Changes that would make advertising expenses nondeductible for businesses “raise significant First Amendment concerns and ignore the important consumer benefits that advertising provides,” NAB said. The policy agenda didn't specifically mention the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., unsuccessfully tried to pass via the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2212070056). The measure would create a limited antitrust exemption to allow news publishers to collectively bargain with tech platforms for the use of their content.