O'Rielly Vows to Protect ATSC 3.0 Datacasting From Ownership Rules
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly vowed to prevent broadcast ownership regulations from applying to ATSC 3.0, in his written remarks Tuesday on the FCC NPRM on distributed transmission systems. That NPRM and media items on program carriage and significantly viewed stations were, as expected (see 2003300054), approved unanimously before a brief teleconference-only commissioners’ meeting Tuesday. Commissioners mostly held off on comments (see 2003310067). Telecom items also were OK'd (see 2003310039).
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“At the proper time, I intend to ensure that every unnecessary regulation is deemed nonapplicable to NextGen TV, whether related to datacasting or other applications yet to be developed,” said O’Rielly. He praised 3.0 as an avenue for broadcasters to avoid “our Neolithic media regulation paradigm.”
Broadcast and public interest attorneys interviewed Tuesday weren’t aware of efforts to apply media ownership rules to datacasting or constrain 3.0 through ownership regulations. O’Rielly said broadcasters approached him with concerns. “I’m glad Commissioner O’Rielly is thinking ahead,” emailed John Hane, president of 3.0 consortium SpectrumCo. "The idea that anyone would try to apply the broadcast ownership rules to datacasting would seem to be ludicrous, but no regulation that inflicts harm on local broadcasting seems to be off the table, no matter how bizarre,” Hane said.
“Most agree” broadcasters using their spectrum for datacasting wouldn’t fall under ownership rules, O’Rielly said, adding the FCC doesn’t need to rewrite or edit rules to allow such applications. “While we can dream of a post-Prometheus world where rational actors on the federal bench may finally provide a reasonable path forward on ownership regulations, at least for now broadcasters deploying the new ATSC 3.0 standard may consider new business ventures.”
“Consolidation is problematic regardless of whether it is in the broadcast industry or in data transmission,” emailed United Church of Christ attorney Cheryl Leanza, who successfully argued Prometheus IV before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “The FCC lost Prometheus IV because it did not do its job, it should stop blaming federal judges for doing theirs.” The “Constitutional foundation of the many limitations on broadcast speech has already crumbled,” said Hane. “If the diehard proponents of those limitations push too far they’re going to kill the goose.”
The DTS technology that’s the focus of Tuesday’s NPRM involves broadcasters using multiple, synchronized transmission sites in a station’s service area to send signals to hard-to-reach areas and improve mobile reception. The NPRM seeks comment on relaxing limits on signals from DTS spilling outside a broadcaster’s contour, and on how that might affect other spectrum users, said a release. It asks about applying the rules to low-power TV broadcasters and 1.0 stations.
Commissioner Brendan Carr said the proposals in the NPRM could help remove barriers to 3.0, which he said should be called “Broadcast Internet” because of datacasting capabilities. Carr said the final NPRM incorporates edits he suggested “that highlight the potential for broadcasters to provide next-gen services alongside traditional -- but enhanced -- broadcast programming.” His and O'Rielly's statements are here.
An NPRM on significantly viewed stations seeks comment on whether the current process for establishing that status has become outdated. “The existing process for determining a station’s significantly viewed status was adopted nearly 50 years ago and relies on independent audience surveys of over-the-air television homes,” said a release. “It is uncertain the extent to which the necessary over-the-air viewership data for determining a station’s significantly viewed status under the Commission’s current rules is commercially available today.” Broadcast attorneys have said it's difficult to make such showings under the current rules. Nielsen, which provides data for the process, says it will respond extensively.
Revisions to program dispute resolution rules are aimed solely at a "ridiculous and downright nonsensical ... program carriage statute of limitations," said O'Rielly, saying they aren't undermining program carriage rules, "whether justified or not." He was the only commissioner to issue a statement on the approved item. He shepherded the NPRM and FNPRM and hopes it will "go to order expeditiously." The item asks about administrative law judge decisions on program access, program carriage and open video systems taking immediate effect. O'Rielly said an automatic stay during appeals makes sense because it lets MVPDs avoid making programming changes that then might get reversed.