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August 18, 2008 / TORONTO, Canada - The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is pleased to announce the appointment of John A. Harding as Executive Director effective August 26th, 2008. NABA’s Board of Directors is confident that Mr. Harding’s unique set of skills, depth of knowledge and organizational leadership will serve the Association well at this time of great change in the industry.

In the new appointment, David Baylor, NABA’s Secretary General, to whom Mr. Harding will report, said: “John brings extensive experience in serving the needs of broadcasters. He’s a creative leader who will assist NABA in addressing the changing broadcast environment.”

Recently, Mr. Harding served as the President of the Strategic Marketing Group. Prior to that he was President with the Radio Marketing Bureau where he was recognized for driving revenue and membership growth during a period of tremendous industry consolidation. Mr. Harding has over 20 years experience in highly visible leadership roles with a consistent record of dramatically exceeding goals. Mr. Harding takes over the role from Carol Darling who served as NABA’s Executive Director since 2004.

Mr. Harding lives in Toronto with his family and attended Ryerson University for Business & Commerce. Mr. Harding is also a former Committee Member of the Bureau of Broadcast Measurements and a former Director for both the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and the Canadian Association of Broadcast Representatives.

ABOUT NABA

NABA is a non-profit union of the most influential broadcasting organizations throughout North America committed to advancing the interests of broadcasters at home and internationally. Network broadcasters, both public and private, in the United States, Mexico and Canada, work together to provide a common voice for the North American broadcast community. As a member of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), NABA creates the opportunity for North American broadcasters to share information, identify common interests and reach consensus on issues of an international nature. NABA provides representation for North American broadcasters in global forums on topics including journalism issues, protection of content, spectrum related concerns, the territorial integrity of broadcasters’ signals, and digital transmission issues.

For further information contact:
Jason Paris, NABA
+1 (416) 598-9877, jparis@nabanet.com

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Grupo Televisa’s Director of High Technology Projects, Leonardo Ramos New President of North American Broadcasters Association

Michael Starling, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director of National Public Radio Labs and Terry Snazel, Vice President Technology for Bell ExpressVu named as Vice Presidents.

March 04, 2008 / TORONTO, Canada - The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is pleased to announce its new executive. Mexican high level executive Leonardo Ramos Mateos, Director of High Technology with Grupo Televisa Mexico was appointed by the NABA Board of Directors as President.

Mr. Ramos takes over the role from Ray Carnovale, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for CBC/Radio-Canada who served as NABA President from 2006 to present.

Mr. Ramos comes to the NABA Presidency at a time of great change for the broadcasting industry. As a longstanding member of the NABA Board of Directors and Executive, he has developed a great appreciation for the rapid pace of change and innovation at work in this collaborative forum. Mr. Ramos brings a vision for change and cutting edge expertise in the design, inspection and operation of satellite, radio and television networks and systems. Mr Ramos noted at NABA’s recent Annual Meeting:

“The Broadcasting industry is turning an important corner as it embraces new service opportunities that several years or months ago were not considered as part of a broadcaster activity, but today must be seen as a challenge and opportunity for all of us. Through NABA, broadcasters in North America provide leadership in this new convergence ensuring that we are able to offer our content and services to everyone, everywhere and in the format that our audiences or users want. Ensuring that television and radio broadcast spectrum and services are protected and well positioned as new products and business models emerge, continues to be of highest priority for NABA.”

As the current Director of High Technology Projects at Grupo Televisa Mr. Ramos is responsible for the service evaluation, development and implementation of state of the art systems and technology for the transmission and distribution networks. Prior to joining Grupo Televisa Mexico, Mr. Ramos worked for Ericsson & NEC where he developed systems for cellular communication, satellite services, microwaves, digital video and fiber optics links.

Michael Starling, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director of National Public Radio Labs in the United States, was re-affirmed for another term as Vice President and Terry Snazel, Vice President, Technology, Bell ExpressVu, in Canada was also appointed as Vice President.

The NABA Board of Directors confirmed the new executive at their Annual General Meeting and Conference held at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia on February 25th.

ABOUT NABA

The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is a non-profit union of the most influential broadcasting organizations throughout North America committed to advancing the interests of broadcasters at home and internationally. Network broadcasters, both public and private, in the United States, Mexico and Canada work together to provide a common voice for the North American broadcast community. As a member of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), NABA creates the opportunity for North American broadcasters to share information, identify common interests and reach consensus on issues of an international nature. NABA provides representation for North American broadcasters in global forums on topics including journalism issues, protection of content, spectrum related concerns, the territorial integrity of broadcasters’ signals, and digital transmission issues.

For further information contact:
Anh Ngo, NABA
(416) 598-9877, ango@nabanet.com

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February 11, 2008 / TORONTO, Canada - Edward (Eddie) Fritts will be honored by the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the broadcasting industry.

Mr. Fritts will be presented with the Association’s prestigious International Achievement Award at the Award Ceremony and Dinner on February 26th during NABA’s Annual General Meeting and Conference, February 25-27th in Atlanta, Georgia. (For more information on the NABA AGM and Conference, please visit www.nabanet.com).

Mr. Fritts was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) from 1982 until 2006. As a local broadcaster from Mississippi, Eddie brought real world experience to his tenure as head of NAB, where he led the organization to become one of the most respected and effective lobbying entities in the United States and was a prime force in the reassessment of media ownership rules and regulations by the US Government, resulting in fundamental changes for broadcasting.

Chief among his achievements was his leadership role as catalyst for the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The Act’s goal is to let anyone enter any communications business -- to let any communications business compete in any market against any other. Generally regarded as the most important legislation regulating media ownership in the past 50 years, this Act became the starting point for sweeping regulatory reforms that have continued since its passage. He started a grass-roots effort in Washington, DC to educate lawmakers on decades-old regulations that onerously constricted broadcasters and tightly limited ownership. Mr. Fritts modernized and expanded the NAB organization enabling it to work closely with lawmakers in navigating the changing landscape; thus, securing this important reformation of telecommunications law in the United States.

Beyond the 1996 Telecom Act, Eddie Fritts is credited with passage of the 1992 Cable Act; passage of legislation that rolled back an FCC low-power FM initiative; elimination of the fairness doctrine, and passage of legislation allowing satellite companies to deliver local TV stations. Throughout his over 20 year tenure, he has acted tirelessly to unite the broadcast industry, even when factions of the industry were not cohesive. Eddie’s personal belief in the responsibility of broadcasters to provide public service has been an earmark of his involvement in the industry. He is also engaged in many civic and charitable efforts outside of the broadcast industry.

After twenty-three years at NAB, Eddie launched The Fritts Group in March 2006 where he continues his work in the telecommunications arena offering strategic counsel in the areas of political consulting, government relations, international affairs and public relations. Eddie’s passionate and significant contributions to the broadcasting community will have great impact for years to come.

The NABA International Achievement Award is presented annually and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in broadcasting and commitment to NABA’s goals and principles.

For more information on NABA and its AGM and Conference, please visit www.nabanet.com.

ABOUT NABA

The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is a non-profit union of the most influential broadcasting organizations throughout North America committed to advancing the interests of broadcasters at home and internationally. Network broadcasters, both public and private, in the United States, Mexico and Canada work together to provide a common voice for the North American broadcast community. As a member of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), NABA creates the opportunity for North American broadcasters to share information, identify common interests and reach consensus on issues of an international nature. NABA provides representation for North American broadcasters in global forums on topics including journalism issues, protection of content, spectrum related concerns, the territorial integrity of broadcasters’ signals, and digital transmission issues.

For further information contact:
Anh Ngo, NABA
(416) 598-9877, ango@nabanet.com

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