ATSC 3.0 NPRM Keeps Intact Call for Comments on Tuner, HDMI Port Mandates
The ATSC 3.0 NPRM released Friday (see 1702240069) keeps intact the FCC’s call for comments on whether it should consider a tuner mandate or require HDMI ports on future TVs to upgrade ATSC 1.0 TVs for 3.0 reception. The commission had written both those solicitations into the draft NPRM it released Feb. 2 (see 1702020059).
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Comments in the ATSC 3.0 proceeding will be due 60 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register. That would place the comments deadline around early May, not long after the NAB Show closes shop in Las Vegas, but just weeks before ATSC members convene in Washington for their annual broadcast TV conference.
As it said in the draft, the FCC “tentatively” concludes that an ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate or an HDMI port requirement are “not necessary at this time,” said the NPRM released Friday. But deleted was a solicitation that was written into the draft seeking comment whether the commission has the “statutory authority” to require HDMI ports in TVs, “and, if so, what is the basis for such authority?” FCC representatives didn’t comment Monday on why that draft solicitation was deleted. In its August 2002 order imposing the DTV tuner mandate over the strong objections of the consumer electronics industry, the FCC claimed broad statutory discretion to do so under the 1962 All-Channel Receiver Act (ACRA). For ATSC 3.0, in coming to the tentative conclusion that tuner mandates aren't needed, the commission is proposing in the NPRM to write a language modification into the ACRA to read that the law's tuner mandates will continue to apply to ATSC 1.0, but not 3.0.
By all current indications, requiring HDMI ports on future TVs appears likely to be a moot point. Licensing administrator HDMI LA estimates that 100 percent of new flat-panel TVs shipped today “are enabled with HDMI technology,” Brad Bramy, its senior marketing director, emailed us Monday. HDMI ports began appearing on TVs in 2006, but industry estimates evidently are hard to come in terms of what percentage of the millions of TVs in the installed U.S. base have HDMI ports.
Our unscientific check of the 237 models of flat-panel TVs in all sizes offered for sale Sunday at BestBuy.com seemed to bear Bramy out on the ubiquity of the HDMI feature. We found that all but a smattering of sets at the very low end had at least one HDMI port. Even eight of the nine 720p models in the under-27-inch class priced as low as $69.99 had at least one HDMI input, we found. TVs with screen sizes 49 inches and less accounted for 39 percent of BestBuy.com’s model mix, we found. Of those, the average set had 2.6 HDMI inputs, we found. BestBuy.com’s sweet spot is in TVs 50 inches and larger. Of those sets offered for sale Sunday, the average TV had 3.4 HDMI inputs, we found.