NAB Keeps Lobbying Pedal Pressed Amid Dashboard Radio Fight.

Recent developments in the fight to keep broadcast radio in dashboards help explain why the National Association of Broadcasters spent millions of dollars lobbying in Washington during the third quarter. The trade group spent $2.54 million during the quarter, bringing NAB’s lobbying spending to $8.48 million through Sept. 30. Based on the current pace of spending, NAB will come close the nearly $12 million it spent lobbying Washington last year.

There remains no shortage of issues on which NAB lobbyists are allocating resources, according to quarterly disclosure filings. They include not only the proposed AM Radio For Every Vehicle Act (H.R.979/S. 315), but also radio royalties, provisions related to broadcasting in legislation about college broadcast sports rights, tax law changes, and AI. NAB is also spending resources to lobbying the Federal Communications Commission on issues including broadcast ownership changes, emergency communications, and the ATSC 3.0 next generation television standard.

Lobbying spending has paid off, at least in helping to win supporters. The number of lawmakers onboard a proposal to require AM remain in dashboards has continued to grow. The latest count sits at 312 supporters in the House — with five more joining the list last week — with another 61 Senators backing the idea. But amid news that Tesla plans to remove not only AM from its low-end models, but also FM, the fight continues. And opponents are also still spending.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation spent $1.4 million during Q3, bringing its total lobbying efforts to $6.6 million this year. That money included dollars spent to push back on the AM requirement. The Consumer Technology Association, which has also come out against the proposal, also spent an additional $800,000 on the effort during the quarter. A review of the disclosure filings by the major automakers, including Toyota and Tesla, shows they also continue to spend money to lobby Congress on the AM bill.

NAB has its member companies as allies. Among individual radio groups, the industry again got the most support from iHeartMedia. Disclosure filings show iHeart spent $993,000 during Q3, bringing its investment to about $3.2 million so far this year. Other broadcasters that invested in lobbying in the third quarter include Hubbard Broadcasting, which spent $30,000. On the noncommercial side, disclosure filings reveal NPR spent $330,000 during Q3 on issues including efforts to maintain public media’s federal funding.

Among newer media companies, Spotify spent $410,000 during the quarter. The audio streamer continued to lobby on issues related to content moderation, music copyrights, and artificial intelligence.

Royalty Battle Continues

Radio’s biggest focus may now be on the dashboard, but music royalties remain an issue that is also impacting lobbying. The proposed American Music Fairness Act (S. 326/HR 861) is once again trying to change federal copyright law to mandate AM/FM pays rights fees when it uses music on-air.

Helping that along has been lobbying from groups like the Recording Industry Association of America, which disclosure filing show spent $1.9 million during third quarter to make its case in Washington. That brings RIAA’s total spending for the year to nearly $6 million — which is pacing ahead of what it spent last year. In addition to radio royalties, RIAA was also active on issues such as intellectual property theft and counterfeit laws.

Among the big music companies, Universal Music Group spent $610,000 in Q3, while Sony Music Entertainment spent $360,000. Other music industry groups also continued to be active, including the National Music Publishers Association, which spent $50,000 during the quarter.

The three big performance rights groups were also spending in Washington. ASCAP invested $110,000 as BMI spent $60,000, and SESAC spent $30,000 during Q3. And SoundExchange, the collections agent for digital music use, spent $280,00 on lobbying Washington policymakers, up $30,000 from a year earlier.