NAB Cuts Ties With Axis Mundi LLC After One-Year Lobbying Contract

The $60,000 LDA Termination in Context

The National Association of Broadcasters ended its lobbying relationship with Axis Mundi LLC on December 30, 2025, according to an LDA termination filing disclosed for Q4 2025. The lobbying contract ended after a single calendar year, during which Axis Mundi LLC's lobbying work for the broadcaster trade group focused on telecommunications issues including AM radio preservation, broadcast ownership rules, and NextGen TV technology.

The firm earned $60,000 in total — $15,000 per quarter — with a single lobbyist, Grisella Mari Martinez, handling the account. That figure represents roughly 0.5% of NAB's estimated $11.46 million in total lobbying spending for 2025.

---

Why It Matters

A Small Piece of a Large Operation

NAB is one of Washington's heaviest hitters on telecom policy. The trade group represents more than 8,300 radio and television stations, pulled in $71.5 million in revenue in 2024, and operates a bipartisan PAC that has disbursed approximately $1.18 million. Its lobbying operation is sprawling.

The National Association of Broadcasters' lobbying disclosure termination with Axis Mundi is notable less for its dollar amount than for what it reveals about how a major trade association manages its K Street roster. NAB employed at least 10 outside firms plus a robust in-house team during 2025. The firms still on retainer include:

NAB's in-house lobbying team alone reported $8.31 million in spending across three quarterly filings, staffed by eight registered lobbyists with deep Hill experience. Several of those in-house lobbyists — including John P. Smedile, a former Senate Commerce Committee staffer, and Nicole Marie Gustafson, a former Senate Judiciary Committee counsel — were working the same telecommunications issues that Axis Mundi covered.

No Replacement Firm Identified

Based on available lobbying disclosure data, NAB does not appear to have hired a new firm to specifically replace Axis Mundi's work. The issues Axis Mundi lobbied on — the Local Radio Freedom Act, AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, American Music Fairness Act, FCC ownership rules, and ATSC 3.0 — are all covered by NAB's remaining outside firms and in-house staff. Multiple firms on NAB's roster list identical bills and regulatory matters in their own filings.

---

Broader Context

The LDA Termination Comes as NAB's Legislative Agenda Remains Unresolved

Every bill that Axis Mundi LLC lobbied on for NAB during its NAB lobbyist registration period remains pending in Congress. None have been enacted.

AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979 / S. 315): This is reportedly NAB's most viable legislative priority. S. 315 was ordered reported by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in February 2025, but neither chamber has held a floor vote. The bill would require automakers to include AM radio receivers in all new vehicles.

Local Radio Freedom Act (H.Con.Res. 12 / S.Con.Res. 8): A non-binding resolution opposing performance royalties on local radio. It has attracted 223 co-sponsors in the House (160 Republicans, 63 Democrats) but has not advanced beyond committee. Versions of this resolution have been introduced in nearly every Congress for over a decade.

American Music Fairness Act (H.R. 861 / S. 326): NAB opposes this bill, which would create a performance royalty for terrestrial radio broadcasts. Both versions remain in committee with no reported action.

Regulatory Front Is Active

On the regulatory side, the FCC unanimously adopted a Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in October 2025 to accelerate the transition to ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV). Issues under consideration include eliminating the "substantially similar" simulcasting requirement and potentially mandating ATSC 3.0 tuners — both areas where NAB has been actively engaged.

FCC broadcast ownership rules also remain a live issue. An FCC Commissioner explicitly linked NextGenTV benefits to proposed ownership rule changes as recently as October 2025.

Congressional Attention on NAB

NAB drew direct congressional attention on multiple fronts during 2025 and early 2026:

  • In December 2025, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) questioned Henry Hinton, an NAB board member, during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the American Music Fairness Act. Blackburn challenged NAB's opposition to requiring AM/FM stations to pay artists for playing their music.
  • In February 2026, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) held a hearing on broadcast ownership featuring testimony from NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt, where she raised concerns about media consolidation.

No hearing testimony or member communications from the past year specifically referenced Axis Mundi LLC or its work for NAB.

---

Bottom Line

The lobbying contract ended quietly. NAB's $60,000-a-year engagement with Axis Mundi LLC was among the smallest on its lobbying roster, staffed by a single lobbyist working issues that overlapped heavily with what NAB's larger firms and eight-person in-house team were already covering. The legislative and regulatory issues that defined the engagement — AM radio mandates, performance royalties, broadcast ownership, NextGen TV — all remain active and unresolved. NAB continues to press those fights through its remaining firms and a well-resourced in-house operation that reported more than $8 million in lobbying activity in 2025 alone.