GLBC 2008 is Your Sure Bet! Plan to Attend Today!
Looking for a way to stay on top of your game and advance your career? Then the 2008 Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference & Expo (GLBC) is your Sure Bet!

GLBC features national caliber speakers such as Peter King, CBS News; Karen Vigurs-Stack, 602 Communications; Art Joseph, Vocal Awareness; Michael Guld, The Guld Resource Group; Charles Mefford, Lighthouse Communications; Gary Sgrignoli, Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wallace; and many more engineering, programming, management, careers, news and sales sessions to help you secure a winning future in broadcasting.

The speaker and exhibitor lineup for the GLBC is being finalized and more exciting sessions are being added daily. Be sure to check out the latest information here, and register before February 21 to take advantage of special early bird discounted rates.

GLBC is the Midwest’s premier broadcasting conference and offers busy broadcasters a condensed two-day format featuring an exhibit hall showcasing the latest technology and multiple educational sessions, all at a reasonable rate. Make plans to join us today! Register online here.

MAB DTV Transition Plan Goes Extra Mile to Serve At-Risk Viewers
With the transition to digital television broadcasting a little more than a year away, broadcasters are working to make sure that all viewers are aware of the change and ready for the switch.

But while most attention has been paid to making sure that everyone knows about the transition, the MAB, its member stations and several stakeholder partners have developed a plan that goes beyond awareness and delivers real help to at-risk viewers.

In Michigan, we estimate that as many as 600,000 household rely exclusively on over-the-air television and do not have cable or television service. Research indicates that these households are disproportionately poor, elderly or rural.

In addition to the thousands of television and radio messages that will hit the airwaves for the next 14 months, the MAB is partnering with a select group of agencies and organizations that will help broadcasters spread the word and assist on a personal level those who need extra help to complete a successful transition.

Television viewers will be urged to visit www.michigandtv.com or call their local offices of the Michigan Community Action Agency Association.

MCAAA will help coordinate assistance efforts in their communities across the state, and will enlist help from other partners, including Boy Scouts and their adult volunteers.

“We are grateful for the support of our members and very excited about our partners who have agreed to help us with this enormous project,” said MAB President Karole White. “This is an unprecedented technological change that affects everyone in the country, and we are taking very seriously our responsibility to make sure no one is left behind.”

Fighting Fraud and Supporting Recycling

Assisting viewers with the transition is our primary goal, but we’ve looked at two other major issues that are likely to spring from the big switch: consumer fraud and responsible recycling of old televisions.

The Michigan Office of the Attorney General is working with MAB to combat abuse by those who typically target the poor and elderly and try to defraud them by selling bogus equipment or overcharging for in-home services.

And while millions of old televisions will get a new converter and a second life, many others could be headed toward recycling centers and landfills.

Old televisions, typically CRT sets, have several pounds of lead and varying amounts of other metals and materials that are undesirable in a landfill.

To address that problem, we are working with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality with two goals in mind – to encourage consumers to extend the life of old sets by adding converters or designating them for video games or DVD players; and make sure that any non-working televisions are sent to recycling centers for appropriate dismantling, recovery and disposal.

Michigan’s Broadcasters are serious about their commitment to their communities and the individual citizens they serve. Our plan represents our concern and our support for every citizen of the state.It also reflects the cooperative and service-oriented nature of our partners, who make the entire plan possible. Without their commitment, our efforts would be far less effective in assuring a smooth transition for television viewers.

Lawmakers Greeted by Surplus Revenues, but Not for Long
Legislators returned to Lansing in January 2008 with both a pleasant surprise and an ominous task before them.

State budget officials announced a surprising $350 million bump in state tax revenues, although analysis quickly explained away the excess. And as in past years, lawmakers will grapple with another multi-million-dollar budget deficit for the coming year.

The wild card in the deck will be the new Michigan Business Tax, which took over for the old, expired Single Business Tax on January 1, 2008. Observers said business taxpayers should expect a number of questions and problems as the new tax is implemented.

Lawmakers also will witness Michigan’s presidential primary, which they moved (with limited success) to January 15, 2008. The earlier primary was designed to increase Michigan’s relevance in the primary process, but it also resulted in sanctions from both national political parties and decisions by several Democratic candidates to remove their name from the primary ballot.

Congressional and Regulatory Report: FCC Wants Transition Info; Eases Some Requirements

The FCC ended the year by issuing final rules for the DTV transition, including new reporting requirements for broadcasters and provisions for a less abrupt switch to digital.

Broadcasters will need to file and update status reports on their transition efforts, but will also see some rules that will allow them to end analog broadcasting before the deadline, or broadcast at less than full digital power after the deadline if such operations aid the local logistics of the switch.

Broadcasters will still need permission to implement changes, but the rules do acknowledge that the switch is a complicated engineering feat.