The Community Broadcasters Association (CBA) was a trade organization representing

low-power broadcasting Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more common ...

interests, including LPTV and Class A television stations, in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. It ceased operations in 2009.

History

Key issues addressed by the CBA included the provision of interference protection for small broadcasters (for which it successfully petitioned the FCC for creation of the "Class A" designation in 1998) and the need for

analog passthrough Analog passthrough is a feature found on some digital-to-analog television converter boxes. Boxes without the analog passthrough feature only allow older, analog-only TVs to view digital TV. Those with analog pass-through allow both digital and a ...

coupon-eligible converter box A coupon-eligible converter box (CECB) was a digital television adapter that met eligibility specifications for subsidy "coupons" from the United States government. The subsidy program was enacted to provide terrestrial television viewers with ...

es (it had unsuccessfully pursued legal action claiming that the absence of this feature, needed to avoid blocking signals from low-power and foreign stations not converting to digital in 2009, violates the

All-Channel Receiver Act The All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962 (ACRA) (), commonly known as the All-Channels Act, was passed by the United States Congress in 1961, to allow the Federal Communications Commission to require that all television set manufacturers must incl ...

of 1961). CBA's

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

seeking an

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

to halt the sale and distribution of DTV converter boxes lacking analog tuners and

was filed in March 2008 but denied without comment in the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, ...

in May 2008. The FCC and

NTIA The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is a bureau of the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the President of the United States, president's principal adviser on Telecommunications policy of the U ...

urged manufacturers to include analog pass-through voluntarily in all converter boxes, and some of the newest generation of models now offer the feature. Due to the large number of

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...

s on full-service stations, which often confusingly claimed that "all TV is going digital" on February 17, 2009, the CBA established websites such as KeepUsOn.com to notify consumers of the continued post-transition operation of analogue LPTV, with information on how to find and install converters which offered analogue pass-through capability. The CBA also advocated that existing Class A stations be permitted to upgrade to full service status, obtaining the same

must-carry In cable television, many governments, including the ones of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, apply a must-carry regulation stating that forces a cable TV provider to carry the public interest programming, like locally licensed te ...

access to

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

that was available to full-power broadcasters, and (like full-power broadcasters) opposed expansion of the

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

band into the frequency range currently occupied by TV channels 5 and 6. Amy Brown was the executive director of the Community Broadcasters Association when it closed.Community Broadcasters Association closes doors; some LPTV stations look to cellular alternative
The corresponding advocacy role for U.S. full-service television stations is filled by the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...

References

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External links

Community Broadcasters Association
(no longer active) Television organizations in the United States Broadcast law Defunct organizations based in the United States Organizations disestablished in 2009

History

See also

References

External links