The Fox affiliates body is scheduled to hold a low-key meeting on April 15 during the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas.
The Fox gathering usually is held on the eve of the National Association of Television Program Executives gathering in Las Vegas in January. However, this year NATPE and Fox’s broadcast of the Super Bowl fell too close together.
The meeting then was rescheduled for mid-March on the Fox lot in Los Angeles, to piggyback on Fox’s 2008-09 development presentation to advertisers. That plan was scotched when the Writers Guild of America strike shut down development and production for three months.
It was while they were attending the Super Bowl that Fox affiliates discussed the idea of a very business-focused closed meeting for affiliates with a window for discussion with Fox Broadcasting executives.
A Fox Broadcasting spokesman confirmed the network’s participation in the event, which he described as “an informal meeting with no specific agenda.”
There will be no formal presentations. That will keep down the costs of the meeting, which will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in a room arranged by the NAB.
Good attendance is expected because the convention will be tucked into the last NAB Show before the digital transition in February 2009. The addition of the Fox affiliates meeting might sway some affiliate executives who had been on the fence about attending the event in Las Vegas.
There was no word on how the annual meeting might be scheduled next year.