After last week's 3-2 FCC vote authorizing voluntary deployment of ATSC 3.0 (see 1711160060), the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance is “finalizing our work plan for 2018, which includes a technical development component” for 3.0-capable emergency alerts, alliance Executive Director John Lawson told us. The goal is to have an AWARN “beta solution” in place by early 2019 so it can be available for stations that launch 3.0 broadcasts beginning in 2019, said Lawson.
The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance sees the FCC vote authorizing voluntary deployments of ATSC 3.0 (see 1711160060) as laying "the ground work for major improvements in America’s emergency alerting system,” said Executive Director John Lawson. Recent disasters “provide more depressing examples that our current alerting systems are not adequate,” he said. Using 3.0, the alliance and “public safety partners will begin the technical development” of AWARN next year, he said. But Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld blasted FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for the vote, calling it an “action that primarily benefits Sinclair Broadcasting at the expense of consumers.” With Sinclair having “boasted” about the audio measurement tools it will develop and patent royalties it will collect from the next-gen standard, the order “does nothing to protect consumer privacy or protect consumers from the extra costs" of the transition, said Feld. Though NCTA was active in docket 16-142 with filings urging 3.0 not impose costs and burdens on cable companies and their customers, the group declined comment Friday on 3.0's approval.
Ford expects to have 100 percent of its U.S. vehicles connected by 2019 and 90 percent globally by 2020, President-Global Operations Joe Hinrichs told a Goldman Sachs investor conference Monday. “The opportunity of connecting the vehicle with modems going forward is really to bring the whole system to that connected integration as well. And so the art of the possible expands dramatically.” Ford needs to design the “electrical architecture” into the connected car “to take advantage of that at the same time you put the modem in the vehicle,” said Hinrichs. He said the question is, “What can we help you do better in your daily life and make it easier and more enjoyable by having this capability?”
Though consumer privacy advocates like Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., raised concerns last week about privacy implications of ATSC 3.0 audience measurement tools (see 1711080052), there’s little to fear because “data analytics” from 3.0 receivers will be “anonymized,” so as not to identify individual viewers, Mark Aitken, Sinclair vice president-advanced technology, told us. Chipset scarcity also will delay commercialization of 3.0 audience measurement tools for “some time,” said Aitken. FCC members are expected to OK 3.0's voluntary deployment Thursday in a 3-2 party-line vote (see 1711140053).
EPA is "carefully considering all comments received from different stakeholders" on the revised final draft of the Energy Star V8.0 TV specification released Oct. 24 (see 1710240066), "including those related to effective date and are determining the next steps," Verena Radulovic, the agency’s Energy Star product manager for consumer electronics, told us Thursday. CTA wants EPA to withhold release until the agency resolves TV set makers’ concerns about automatic brightness control requirements and the July 1 effective date (see 1711090030 or 1711090063).
CEO Terry Gou personally would be liable for repaying 25 percent of the cash Foxconn collects in state incentive tax credits from a company he controls in the Cayman Islands if Foxconn defaults on its agreement to build a plant and hire a big workforce, with the electronics maker paying the rest, said the signed contract. A copy was furnished to us by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC). Foxconn would collect up to a maximum of $2.85 billion in cash credits, equaling 15 percent of what it spends on construction and 17 percent of its payroll costs. Gou, Gov. Scott Walker (R) and WEDC CEO Mark Hogan signed the contract Friday at a ceremony in Racine. "The ‘pay as you go’ nature” of the agreement “guarantees” Foxconn gets paid cash credits only after “jobs are created,” said the accord. A news release from Walker's office called it "pay as you grow." The contract sees Foxconn reaching full employment in 2022, two years later than forecast by the Wisconsin Department of Administration (see 1708040056). WEDC can inspect “operations and documentation" with 48 hours’ “advance written notice.”
ATSC 3.0 is something CTA has “worked on really hard with the broadcasters,” and any opposition to FCC commissioners’ expected vote this week authorizing voluntary deployment came “out of the blue,” President Gary Shapiro told a CES Unveiled New York news conference Thursday. This week, criticism of the draft continued, including from Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, as Chairman Ajit Pai defended moving 3.0 forward and an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel stood by her boss' concerns.
CTA wants EPA to withhold release of Energy Star's Version 8.0 TV specification until the agency resolves TV set maker concerns on the requirements and its July 1 effective date, “given the industry’s normal model year changeover,” said Brian Markwalter, senior vice president-research and standards, in comments filed Tuesday on the “revised final draft” released Oct. 24 (see 1710250021). EPA should keep V7.0 TV in force “while we work together to revise Version 8.0,” said Markwalter. The revised final draft “ignored the industry’s most fundamental concern that the Version 8.0 specification both limits consumer choice in picture presets and mandates numerous warnings related to picture presets and Special Functions,” he said. EPA representatives, who previously said they expected to release V8.0 in final form as soon as possible after Tuesday’s deadline for comments on the revised final draft, didn’t comment Thursday. Nor did the Natural Resources Defense Council that backed the revised 8.0. Work on finishing the spec is significantly behind schedule on the timeline EPA published in an April 21 cover memo aiming to complete it in summer.
Roku added 48 percent more “active” user accounts in Q3 than a year earlier, said CEO Anthony Wood Wednesday on the company’s first earnings call since it went public Sept. 28. “If Roku were a traditional cable company or a service operator, we would be the fourth largest in the country,” he said. “Streaming is mainstream, and a huge market. We believe every TV will one day run a streaming OS.” Momentum in licensing to TV makers made Roku the top U.S. streamer, “based on streaming hours,” said Wood. Streaming hours for Q3 were up 58 percent from a year earlier to 3.8 billion, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden. Q3 revenue jumped 40 percent to $124.8 million, as the operating loss narrowed to $7.9 million. Roku shares ended Thursday up 55 percent at $29.19.
NCTA expressed worries about the ATSC 3.0 transition and local TV ownership deregulation, meeting Monday with FCC staff, said an ex parte letter posted Thursday in docket 16-142. NCTA, referencing our Nov. 2 report (see 1711010054), expressed “concern” with statements by Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley on an earnings call last week that the company started the process of determining the value of the patent holdings it has in 3.0 technology.