LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters have made great progress toward realizing the promise of ATSC 3.0, but for the transition to succeed long term they need the FCC to sunset the requirement that 3.0 broadcasts be "substantially similar" to ATSC 1.0 content, said several broadcast executives on multiple weekend panels at the NAB Show 2022.
The 2022 NAB Show is projected to have about 55% of the attendance of the last in-person show in 2019, but broadcasters told us it feels like a step toward the industry getting back to where it was pre-COVID-19. The show runs April 23-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The FCC should focus efforts to improve the emergency alert system on the internet-based common alerting protocol (CAP) system rather than the legacy daisy chain EAS, said broadcast alerting equipment manufacturers and cable groups in comments posted this week in docket 15-94. A notice of inquiry sought comments on possible improvements to the legacy system to make it more accessible and increase the amount of text in alerts.
FCC arguments on the agency’s authority to require broadcasters to check would-be lessees against databases of registered foreign agents met apparent skepticism from at least two members of a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday.
Broadcast groups and the FCC will face off in oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday over the agency’s foreign-sponsored content disclosure rules, and broadcast and appellate attorneys told us it's especially difficult to predict how the matter will play out, with rules that were unanimously approved and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a backdrop. “There is simply no need -- and it is unlawful -- to force broadcasters leasing to churches, schools and local businesses, among others, to do pointless research as to whether those lessees are foreign agents,” said an NAB spokesperson Friday. NAB is challenging the rules alongside the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council.
The FCC is ramping up its back-to-work plans and will transition to phase 3 of its re-entry plans May 15, said a memo emailed to employees Tuesday and obtained by Communications Daily.
Trade groups want the FCC to continue a flexible approach to accessibility rules, but consumer groups want Congress to expand the agency’s authority to keep up with shifts in technology, said comments filed by Monday’s deadline in docket 10-213 responding to the FCC’s call for feedback on accessibility under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (see 2202170052). The CVAA requires the FCC to create a biennial report to Congress on progress in technology access.
Noncommercial educational stations that haven’t had the chance to participate in the ATSC 3.0 transition could receive temporary, internet-only channels to allow their content to be received by 3.0 devices, said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle in an interview.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Legislative Affairs Director Narda Jones is widely expected to soon be named FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s chief of staff, and will be joined in Rosenworcel’s office by Facebook’s Priscilla Delgado Argeris, who previously was on Rosenworcel’s staff when the chairwoman was a commissioner. Numerous industry officials told us they see the new hires as part of Rosenworcel gearing up in anticipation of having a Democratic majority, not as indicators of a policy shift. FCC chiefs of staff help shape the chair’s policy but still reflect the agenda of their boss, said Blair Levin, who held that spot under former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. Industry officials told us they expect the new hires to be announced soon, possibly at the start of April.
The complexities of the content distribution system, a lack of uniformity among different platforms and absence of regulatory requirements are among the reasons for inconsistency in which online content includes audio description, said panelists from streaming services and consumer groups at the FCC’s Video Programming Accessibility forum Monday.