SXSW Imposes a No-Drone Policy at the 11th Hour

Robot-flying marketers now have to switch gears

Marketers that were hoping to wow South by Southwest goers with drone-based activations got sobering news Wednesday night, less than two days before the festival. The Austin, Texas-based technology and marketing conference announced a no-drone policy on its website, citing a city ordinance

"This policy was established after consultation with drone experts, user groups, municipal authorities and aviation safety experts," read a SXSW statement. "While SXSW may make exceptions to this policy if the drones are used within certain trade show areas where safety measures such as tethering to the ground are implemented, the airwaves and/or frequency spectrums generally used in the remote control of drones are too congested during the SXSW event to ensure operation safe from interference."

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