Sinclair CEO’s Patent Remarks Suggest He Seeks to ‘Maximize’ Revenue Off ATSC 3.0, Says NCTA

Broadcast, wireless and other interests continued lobbying on 3.0, with a vote on orders on the new standard and ownership next Thursday. A week before the vote, Democrats from the FCC and Capitol Hill also continued expressing 3.0 concerns (see 1711090064).

Ripley’s remarks “are not the words of a patent holder expressing a recognition that any patents bearing on a government-mandated standard must be licensed on a reasonable and non-discriminatory” basis, NCTA said: “Those are the words of a corporate executive looking to maximize a revenue stream. The FCC cannot create a government-mandated monopoly for the intellectual property rights to build next-generation broadcast television products and then allow the patent rights holders to collect supra-competitive rents.”

Sinclair and its One Media believe "some on Capitol Hill and at the FCC have been misinformed by our MVPD friends regarding both the number of ATSC 3.0-related patents controlled by Sinclair and ONE Media and their place in the industry’s call for approval of the Next Gen TV standard,” responded Jerald Fritz, One Media executive vice president-strategic and legal affairs, in a Thursday statement. Of nearly 9,500 patents and applications recently disclosed to ATSC as part of 3.0 standards development, Sinclair and One Media own only 12, said Fritz.

Under ATSC rules, all disclosed patents are to be licensed under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, Fritz said. Do Sinclair and One Media deserve to be “compensated for our inventions as any other inventor would be? Absolutely. To suggest, however, that this is the motivating factor in our support for the new standard misses the true import and potential of the new standard,” said Fritz. The broadcaster “should be applauded for its persistent advocacy of a standard that will benefit everyone,” said Fritz. “If there is revenue associated with some associated patents, that is a minor side benefit applicable to all patent holders -- including the cable industry itself.”

Unlike with the transition from analog TV to digital ATSC 1.0, "which was a mandatory standard and required digital intellectual property in ALL devices from TVs to set top boxes to converter boxes, ATSC 3.0’s deployment will be voluntary with a marketplace hope that the technology will find its way into devices,” said Fritz. “There is no built in guarantee as there was for ATSC 1.0.”

The switchover shouldn’t be allowed to delay or increase the cost of the post-incentive auction repacking, CTIA wrote the agency. The association supports provisions designed to keep the 3.0 changeover from raising reimbursement costs or delaying the repacking, and the absence of a tuner mandate. Inclusion of 3.0 "capabilities would necessitate device and network modifications that could hinder the existing and future voice, data, and public safety capabilities of mobile wireless services and devices,” CTIA said.

PBS and America’s Public Television Stations told an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Tuesday that 3.0 will let public TV stations offer better services. They said the new standard will let public TV provide interactive educational children’s TV and distribute learning materials that otherwise would be unavailable to households without broadband. They said 3.0 will enable “robust emergency alerting.”