NAB Has Issues With Sohn Nomination

• Last month President Biden formally nominated Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting Chairwoman of the FCC to the post permanently. At the same time he also nominated Gigi Sohn, a longtime public interest advocate who served as counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler during President Obama‘s second term, to fill the seat on the five-member commission that Ms. Rosenworcel vacated when she became the acting Chairwoman.

Yesterday, in response to Sohn’s nomination, outgoing NAB President & CEO Gordon Smith issued this decidedly mixed-signal statement that reads: “NAB strongly supports Congress’s desire to have a fully seated Federal Communications Commission as soon as possible. Although NAB does not currently oppose the nomination of Gigi Sohn, we have serious concerns about her involvement as one of three directors of the illegal streaming service Locast.”

Cue VO: “Locast was an unauthorized streaming service that transmitted local broadcast signals over the internet in more than 30 television markets. Earlier this fall, a federal judge ruled that Locast did not qualify for a copyright exemption because it was a commercial operation, thereby rendering the service an unlawful attempt to circumvent Congress’s retransmission consent framework. The court ordered the service to stop operating immediately.”

We now return to Smith, who continued, “NAB is confident that these concerns can be resolved. However, the ethics agreement that Ms. Sohn submitted to the Senate currently does not adequately address the inherent conflict presented by her recent leadership position at Locast and her potential role as an FCC commissioner. NAB is actively working with members of the Senate Commerce Committee and the White House to address this conflict and requests that Ms. Sohn submit an amended ethics agreement that meaningfully and effectively addresses this clear and troubling conflict.”