HOPE RENEWED FOR AGREEMENT ON DIGITAL SET PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
Voluntary guidelines for digital standards to be built into TV receivers have moved a step closer to reality with an agreement announced Mon. by broadcasters and set manufacturers to let the Advanced TV Systems Committee (ATSC) move forward on their development. The action comes after “months and months” of “historic opposition to standards of any sort for digital receiver performance” by the consumer electronics industry, a broadcasting official claimed.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The agreement to seek voluntary standards was partly the result of prodding by the FCC, which on its own motion (after denying separate requests by NAB and Sinclair Bcstg.) opened an inquiry into whether it should adopt mandatory set standards. At that time, the Commission urged the 2 industries involved to agree to voluntary standards without govt. involvement. Comments are due at the FCC July 21, replies Aug. 18.
In announcing that an ATSC special group on receivers will develop proposed standards, ATSC Pres. Mark Richer said the effort “reflects our goal of providing the consumer electronics industry with important information while providing manufacturers with the necessary flexibility for product innovation.” Set manufacturers had complained that govt.-mandated standards would do away with that desired flexibility. Richer also said the ATSC initiative was “to be responsive” to the FCC’s call for industries to develop voluntary DTV receiver performance guidelines. The proposed ATSC guidelines are expected to be released early next year for comment.
Lynn Claudy, NAB senior vp for science and technology, said the ATSC announcement was “a good-faith attempt to do something positive” in the development of TV digital set standards. Ex-FCC Chmn. Richard Wiley, who headed the Commission’s Advisory Committee on Advanced TV Service, also said the ATSC effort “looks to be a positive development.” CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro told us the set manufacturers’ group was “a supporter of ATSC and supported this decision.” He said HDTV consumer products continued to improve and “as long as the ATSC is a consensus-based organization, we expect to fully support their actions.”