Victories in DC Are Too Rare for Rehr

[Commentary] National Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr has been having a hard time getting its way in Washington, especially at the Federal Communications Commission where most of the action has been. And it's been forced to play defense by an FCC bent on making life for broadcasters as unpleasant as possible. The NAB's difficulties culminated (and became apparent to all) when the FCC approved the merger of the two satellite radio players, XM and Sirius, despite NAB's all-out, multimillion-dollar campaign to block it. Radio broadcasters are deathly afraid of satellite radio and the combination of XM and Sirius multiples the threat many times. Sirius XM will be a better service and is more likely to survive its current financial woes than the two companies on their own. Rehr went toe to toe with Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and lost — first at the Justice Department and then at the FCC. There is no other way you can spin it. Rehr will ultimately be judged by his performance on Capitol Hill and at the FCC and that's too bad because the fate of radio and TV stations really doesn't reside in Washington. It lies in how successful the stations are in reinventing themselves over the next five years. And in that regard, Rehr has been a help. He has championed efforts to expand broadcasting's reach in the real world, embracing and supporting TV's mobile broadcasting initiative and radio's campaign to install AM and FM tuners in cell phones and in every other kind of portable device known to 16-year-olds. But, as I said, Rehr will ultimately be judged by his impact on the rules and regulations. And there the record is not so good. He badly needs to post some Ws. Quality starts don't count in this league.