DAVID DONOVAN

President and executive director, New York State Broadcasters Association

Broadcast industry veteran David L. Donovan is president and executive director of the New York State Broadcasters Association. Donovan came to Albany in 2011 with more than 25 years of broadcast regulatory experience in Washington, DC.

He served two terms on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee as well as the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. He is on the advisory board of the James H. Quello Center for Communications at Michigan State University.

From 2001 to 2011, he served as president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, Inc. (MSTV), the leading engineering and technical trade association of the television industry.  During his tenure, MSTV guided the industry through the digital transition.  It developed and implemented the DTV channel selection process.  MSTV helped design the technical specifications for the government-subsidized digital-to-analog converter box. Working with Sprint he helped coordinate the broadcast industry’s reallocation of broadcast auxiliary spectrum, which is essential for electronic news gathering. Since 2004, he led the fight to prevent unlicensed devices from interfering with television transmissions.

Donovan served as the vice President for legal and legislative Affairs for the Association of Local Television Stations (ALTV) from 1990 to 2000.  He worked with the NAB and successfully lobbied for a TV station’s right to must-carry and retransmission consent. He successfully lobbied for the carry one-carry all rules that govern satellite carriage on television stations. Donovan helped relax the TV duopoly rules for large markets ,and was involved in the reshaping of the financial interest and syndication rules.

Joining the Federal Communications Commission in 1983, Donovan occupied a number of important legal positions at the agency. He was directly involved in revising content regulations as well as the ownership rules for radio and television. Donovan served as the chief media advisor for the Honorable James H. Quello for three years.

An attorney, Donovan is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and before several federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. He earned his JD from the Suffolk University Law School in Boston. He received an MA in communications and BA in political science from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst).

Donovan and his wife, Jackie, live in the Albany area. He has three adult sons and a little dog.