WatchTV Amends its Application to Test OFDM-based Hybrid Broadcast/Broadband System
A low-power TV (LPTV) operator is again seeking FCC authority to test an alternate broadcast transmission system that would let stations offer broadband service alongside traditional broadcast content. Portland, Ore.-based WatchTV filed an amended application “to evaluate new digital television technology” with the FCC this week, five months after the FCC Media Bureau denied the station’s last request to test the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based system (CD Feb 11 p12). WatchTV’s March application for review of that denial remains pending, it said.
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WatchTV CEO Gregory Herman said he’s optimistic the FCC will act on the new application soon. “I've been very pleased with our more recent dialog with the FCC,” Herman said. “It’s been very pleasant to see we've moved along.” That tone marks a departure from a January letter Herman sent FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski complaining the bureau had blocked his company from meeting with Genachowski and his staff (CD Jan 14 p4). “We have spent a lot of time and energy and money helping the government to understand the benefits of this experiment and I think it’s bearing fruit and we are very excited about it,” Herman said.
WatchTV is asking for a six-month authorization, “with the hope that at least one six-month renewal request will be favorably entertained by the commission,” it said in its amended application. It wants to operate seven fixed transmitter sites operating on five channels in and around Portland, it said. The channels are 6, 29, 35, 38 and 51. It also plans a market-trial of the service using no more than 250 members of the public, the application said. It won’t sell any OFDM or OFDM Access (OFDMA)-only equipment as part of the trial and it will make sure consumers understand that the OFDM aspects of any devices involved in the trial may not always function as they do during the trial, it said.
In a separate filing, WatchTV said it tested similar broadcast-broadband technology using the existing ATSC and ATSC mobile/handheld standards with disappointing results. “WatchTV [and its partner Cellular Terrestrial Broadband] have concluded that the ATSC technical standard,” even with the mobile DTV enhancement standard, “does not maximize efficiency in use of the spectrum,” it said. “Given the inefficiencies of the ATSC M/H system coupled with the lack of commercially available receivers, it would seem prudent to explore alternate modulation/transmission systems, including OFDM and OFDMA, to fulfill the hope of putting television spectrum to maximum efficient use to provide both broadcast and broadband service to the public,” it said.
But the conclusions WatchTV drew about the efficiency of the mobile DTV system seems to be based on pre-commercial devices, said Anne Schelle, executive director of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which has been working with stations on mobile DTV. “The consumer implementation of this is going to be a good service,” Schelle said. “The products listed here were pre-beta at best,” she said. Among the devices WatchTV used to test the system were USB dongles from Pixtree, a receiver from Valups, an LG developmental receiver kit and Dell notebook computers with embedded mobile DTV receivers, WatchTV’s filing said.