Sony Electronics wants broadcasters to use their new ATSC 3.0 opportunity to begin beaming 4K programming with HDR over the air, Nick Colsey, vice president-business development, told the prerecorded ATSC broadcast conference Monday during the virtual NAB Show New York event. Broadcasting in 4K HDR will “make the biggest difference” in sowing 3.0 consumer adoption, he said.
The FCC is expected to vote on an order on ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission systems (see 2007140047) by year-end, an agency official told us after Commissioner Brendan Carr referenced ongoing work on the item in prerecorded remarks for Monday's virtual NextGen Broadcast Conference. The FCC is working “on a proceeding to expand the use of single-frequency networks, which will ultimately help 3.0 reach its full potential,” Carr said. The proposed changes to the interference rules in the DTS proceeding would allow expanded use of single-frequency networks, which ATSC 3.0 advocates said is important for the new standard's future.
The Patent and Trademark Office granted CTA its first six-month deadline extension request for a statement of use (SOU) in its application to register the NEXTGEN TV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs (see 1909260021), said an agency notice Friday. PTO requires the SOU before a registration certificate can be issued to prevent applicants from hoarding trademarks they have no intention of using commercially. Applicants are entitled to five deadline extensions of six months each but must file the SOU within three years after the issue date of the notice of allowance, which in CTA’s case would be April 21, 2023. CTA has a “continued bona fide intention” to use the logo in commerce, said its Wednesday extension request. PTO doesn’t require applicants to say why they want SOU deadline extensions, and CTA didn’t offer an explanation. The association didn't comment Friday. CTA last landed a certification mark registration certificate from PTO in April 2019 for the 4K Ultra HD logo, but not before the association filed for three SOU deadline extensions over two years.
Broadcasters see the progress of the ATSC 3.0 rollout as one of several promising signs for the future of broadcast TV, despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, said industry officials at the virtual NAB Show New York event Thursday. COVID-19 is “a double-edged sword” because the increase in TV and over-the-top viewing brought by the pandemic plays to 3.0 strengths, said John Taylor, LG Electronics senior vice president-public affairs and communications.
Edge Networks is drawing cord cutters, CEO Todd Achilles told the NAB Show New York virtual event Tuesday. “They’re tired of paying over 100 bucks for a pay-TV bundle, and they want reliable service, which a lot of the streaming services don’t provide because of the unmanaged internet into their homes." The startup is having strong demand in its first market for its Evoca-branded ATSC 3.0-based content service Sept. 1 in Boise (see 2008210021), the corporate chief said. BitPath, “despite the pandemic,” this year launched seven 3.0 markets, with nine more coming, including Mobile-Pensacola going live Wednesday, said President John Hane. The “big one for this year” will be Seattle in December, with “very wide participation,” he said.
Next-generation broadcast TV faces an uphill climb despite the “great job” Sinclair is doing with ATSC 3.0, Interpret Vice President Brett Sappington told a Brightcove webinar last week. “Consumers have been trained with" over-the-top, he said. "If you’re going to go to an alternative service, I think it’s more likely to go to OTT than to broadcast’s next-gen delivery." Sappington said 3.0 needs to provide something “uniquely valuable that OTT can’t do. If you can define that, you can win. If you can’t define that, you’re going to struggle.” Cord cutting hasn’t led to a meaningful increase in over-the-air viewing, said Sappington, though he’s curious to see what ATSC 3.0 does for broadcast TV. “That’s going to be a slow roll because people have to have devices, ability to access and then have to learn how to access,” he said. The new standard does allow for ways for “broadcast to grow,” he said.
Insight TV, billed as the first over-the-air 4K HDR broadcast channel in the U.S., launches Thursday in Boise on Evoca, the Edge Networks ATSC 3.0 platform (see 2004030006), said the startup. Insight TV, available 24/7 on the Evoca platform, will feature “original, adventure-focused programming and incredible storytelling,” said the company. “We built Evoca for the more than 50 million U.S. households in mid-sized markets like Boise -- where TV choices are limited and expensive,” said Evoca CEO Todd Achilles.
Don't require stations moving to ATSC 3.0 to HD simulcast or take up proposals from public interest groups to subsidize consumer compatible equipment purchases from broadcasters' ancillary service fees, said NAB in a call Thursday with FCC Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey. “Rules regarding derogation of service have not proven controversial or unworkable in any way, and there is no compelling reason for the Commission to adjust those,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-145. Don’t “inject” retransmission consent matters here, NAB asked. “There is simply no reason for the Commission to consider, let alone adopt, regulations to prevent a harm that has not yet materialized associated with services that are not yet being offered.”
E.W. Scripps' plans to divest 23 Ion stations as part of its $2.65 billion purchase of the broadcaster (see 2009240006) likely will obviate FCC and DOJ regulatory concerns, deal watchers told us. It isn't expected to get the public and political outcry faced by Sinclair's aborted Tribune purchase. The Ion purchase from private equity firm Black Diamond is expected to close in Q1, Scripps announced Thursday.
Broadcasters will have “a lot" of new ATSC 3.0 deployments over the next five years, NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny told CTA’s virtual Technology and Standards Forum Tuesday. “You’re going to see a lot of stations that are taking advantage of the benefits of NextGenTV as it relates to better picture, better sound.” Sports broadcasting contracts will be up for renewal, and with that will come “increased pressure to start doing stuff in 4K,” he said. NextGenTV is now a “reality” in the U.S., said Matheny. COVID-19, "unfortunately," is “another reality,” he said. Broadcasters haven’t put NextGenTV “on the back burner” during the health crisis, he said. “Their commitment hasn’t wavered,” though the pandemic “has slowed the rollout,” said Matheny. Nine U.S. markets are live with 3.0, serving about 10% of TV households, he said. Stations in eight more markets have filed 3.0 license applications “with intentions to go on the air in the near future,” he said. “Things are changing rapidly,” though industry likely will fall 50% short of its 2019 NAB Show goal of launching in 60 markets by the end of 2020, he said. The CES 2020 “commitment” of LG, Samsung and Sony to debut up to 20 NextGenTV models collectively this year was “probably exceeded,” despite “quite a few challenges around getting products launched and shipped” during the pandemic, said Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-technology and standards. Models run the gamut from sets priced below $1,000 to the most expensive 8K TVs, available both in OLED and "full-array" LCD, he said. CTA and NAB are “in the process now” of releasing the “next big revision” in the NextGenTV “test suite” for 2021-model TVs, he said. The suite involves 135 tests and more than 150 “unique assertions,” he said. TVs are required to pass to qualify for the NextGenTV logo, he said.