The National Association of Broadcasters, or NAB, has canceled its 2021 NAB Show that was scheduled for Las Vegas next month amid the ongoing surge in the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
This year’s NAB Show had been scheduled to run between October 9-13, 2021. The festival’s organizers hope to reunite in person for a 2022 show that’s currently scheduled between April 23-27, 2022.
Select content from the show will be made available virtually through the group’s platform NAB Amplify. The cancellation comes after the group previously announced that attendees to the event would have to be vaccinated.
Verizon, Amazon Web Services, B&H, Canon, Panasonic and Sony were among the companies that were attached to exhibit on the NAB Show floor.
The NAB represents America’s radio and TV broadcasters and represents them through interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs.
See the full statement from Chris Brown, executive vice president and managing director of Global Connections and Events at the National Association of Broadcasters, below:
For more than a year we have worked tirelessly to bring our industry together safely in Las Vegas at NAB Show. Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community. As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events, the Radio Show and Sales and Management Television Exchange, in person. NAB Show is the premiere destination for the media and entertainment industry and we will not move forward with a show that delivers anything less than the excellence our community has come to expect and deserves from us. While we are disappointed that we will not be together again in person next month, we look forward to converging at the 2022 NAB Show, April 23-27, 2022, to reignite our passion for our business and focus on a bright future ahead. Stay tuned for details regarding virtual options for accessing select 2021 NAB Show content through NAB Amplify.