NAB Cancels Las Vegas Show as WHO Declares COVID-19 a Global Pandemic

NAB will not "move forward" with the April 18-22 NAB Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center "in the interest of addressing the health and safety concerns of our stakeholders," said CEO Gordon Smith Wednesday afternoon. The decision to cancel came (see 2003110042) after the NAB executive committee voted unanimously by phone earlier Wednesday to scrub the event.

The show was the biggest domino to fall in a cascading day of COVID-19 induced event cancellations and postponements. CTA won't proceed with some events (see 2003110029), while the FCC made one virtual. An ongoing satellite event in Washington was scaled back to close a day early, after the city's government recommended against such gatherings.

Developments began snowballing after federal health authorities stepped up messaging that older adults at higher risk of serious COVID-19 infections should avoid crowds and large public gatherings. The World Health Organization ratcheted up the warnings Wednesday. WHO tweeted that it has now declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. "WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock,” said the agency. “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction." Some countries are “struggling with a lack of resources” to fight COVID-19, others are “struggling with a lack of resolve."

Canceling the conference "was not an easy decision," wrote Smith. "We are deferring to the developing consensus from public health authorities on the challenges posed by coronavirus." Organizers are "weighing the best potential path forward," including possibly rescheduling the event for later in the year, he said. "We are more excited than ever about the future of NAB Show."

The decision to postpone was precipitated by some marquee vendors canceling -- including Adobe and Ross Video -- and worsening coronavirus reports, plus WHO declaring a pandemic, an NAB spokesperson said. The association’s executive committee voted unanimously by phone Wednesday to postpone the show, the spokesperson said. NAB board member Emily Barr, CEO of Graham Media, said postponing was the responsible thing for the organization to do.

NAB will “take a hit financially” from postponing the show, the spokesperson conceded. The association’s financial filings show the convention is the organization’s biggest source of revenue. NAB’s most recent IRS Form 990 said the convention earned over $46 million, and total revenue that year was $73 million. Financial reserves won’t be depleted by the postponement, the spokesperson said. The association recently moved into new headquarters that were purchased in 2019 for $63 million (see 1909100045).

Discussions about alternatives to the convention or rescheduling it are going to take place, the spokesperson said. Expanding NAB New York or moving the Las Vegas show to the summer or fall could be possibilities, depending on the status of the virus, the spokesperson said.

Broadcasters, attorneys and media brokers told us they don’t expect the loss of the show to hamper the broadcast industry or cut down on dealmaking. “I think everybody saw this coming,” said Gray Television Vice President-Government Relations and Distribution Rob Folliard. Broadcasters will still be able to meet and negotiate, he said. “The telephone still works.”

CTA, E3

CTA canceled "all or part of several near-term 2020 events" through June, said the association earlier Wednesday.

The April 20 CES on the Hill event was canceled, as were the April 21 Digital Patriots dinner and the CEO Summit June 22-25. The May 11-14 Technology and Standards Spring Forum in San Francisco will now be a "virtual event." CTA also postponed indefinitely the June 10-12 CES Asia show in Shanghai, about 500 miles east of COVID-19's original epicenter.

With the expanding U.S. coronavirus outbreak, "companies are halting travel, avoiding group gatherings and figuring out the best way to protect employees and serve customers," said CTA. Canceling the events now will permit member companies to "focus on core operations, plan ahead and conserve resources," it said. "Canceling meetings at the last minute means frustration and lost expense and no gain."

“Increased and overwhelming concerns” about COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the E3 videogame expo June 9-11 in Los Angeles, said the Entertainment Software Association. “We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today.”

Also canceled was the remainder of Satellite 2020, with organizers saying the conference sessions and exhibit hall would conclude Wednesday and forego the fourth and final day. The move was in response to a Washington Health Department advisory Wednesday urging postponement or cancellation through month's end of nonessential mass gatherings such as conventions and conferences. The agency recommended "that any social, cultural, or entertainment events where large crowds are anticipated be reconsidered." Some participants had previously sat out the show (see 2003090017).

Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, wants the American public to "realize" during the COVID-19 outbreak, "that as a nation, we can’t be doing the kinds of things we were doing a few months ago," he told a White House briefing Tuesday. "It doesn’t matter if you’re in a state that has no cases or one case, you have to start taking seriously what you can do now."

Messaging of that sort sparked the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Wednesday to cancel its April 19 summit in Las Vegas, and equipment maker Imagine Products to withdraw from the NAB Show a day before the show was scrapped. Imagine will “truly miss the opportunity to share our new products and meet new customers and close friends” in Las Vegas, said the company Tuesday: “However, we can not in good faith attend the NAB Show this year.” The health and safety of “employees, product evangelists, customers and partners must be the number one priority for us,” it said.

The LPTV coalition canceled the summit on the “advice” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to avoid large public gatherings, said the group Wednesday. "Smart move NAB," said the coalition of the cancellation. "Today you are helping to create the solution, and not being part of the problem." It had chastised organizers hours earlier for not being “more responsible" by letting the days go by without a decision on the show's fate.

The coalition canvassed members Tuesday (see 2003100026) and found 65% who responded were planning to skip NAB, it said. About half the respondents said they are older than 60 and would heed CDC advisories for higher-risk older adults to avoid long plane rides and large crowds, it said. LPTV is “not a young industry,” Greg Herman, president of low-power licensee WatchTV, told us Wednesday.

“Conflicting messaging and misinformation” about the coronavirus will “significantly undermine ongoing public health efforts” to fight the disease, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., wrote Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday. He urged Pence, who chairs the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, to “publicly withdraw and correct” false statements about COVID-19, including those of President Donald Trump. “Information conveyed to the public must accurately reflect the latest guidance from public health experts and other authorities.” Warner's office cited reports of "widespread misinformation" on social media about the coronavirus.

More Changes

Other closings or restrictions were permeating throughout the communications sector. Faegre Drinker is keeping its Washington offices closed, but has reopened other locations that had been closed Tuesday, emailed a spokesperson.

• The FCC precision agriculture task force meeting March 25 will be “wholly electronic” due to COVID-10-induced “travel restrictions," said a public notice. Organizers canceled a March 21 Internet Engineering Task Force meeting in Vancouver. They're working to put together an “all-virtual” event, said an organizer's email.

• A hearing on 5G originally slated for Monday in Detroit will be postponed, with a new target of October, an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told us Wednesday. FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., are also expected to participate. "One of the great joys of my job as an FCC Commissioner is getting outside of Washington and hearing from the American people about their concerns," Starks said in a statement. "The events that have unfolded over the last few weeks are a reminder that the intersecting conversations about internet inequality, privacy, and artificial intelligence are more important than ever." Slaughter is committed to holding the civil rights event in the fall and "the fact that school and worksite closures will disproportionately harm vulnerable communities in the coming months will underscore the urgency of tackling" such civil rights issues.

• AT&T launched a webpage on the company’s response to the coronavirus, which stresses that the health and safety of customers and employees is its first concern. “We’re following CDC guidelines and local health authority guidelines,” Jim Cicconi, AT&T interim senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs, told us. “We’re barring foreign travel and we’re strongly discouraging any domestic commercial travel as well.” Cicconi said there have been other epidemics before, “but I don’t recall anything quite on this scale.”

• A March 19 discussion of a revamped National Broadband Plan was canceled over coronavirus concerns, emailed New Street’s Blair Levin, who helped write the 2010 FCC NBP. “We take some solace in knowing that as damaging as the virus will be, the damage is mitigated by at-home work, on-line classes and many other alternatives made possible by improvements in broadband service over the last decade," an announcement said, The event will be replaced by podcasts and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society publishing thoughts by several experts on the topic, Levin said.

• With the NAB Show’s cancellation, the Advanced Television Broadcast Alliance announced via email that it will hold a virtual LPTV event “at about the same time.” The event is still being planned, the group said.

• The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council shifted an event on Wi-Fi and 5G spectrum set for Thursday to teleconference only “out of an abundance of caution.”

• The NEDAS Boston Symposium originally scheduled for April was moved to July 14, the organization announced.