One Media got extension of FCC permission to broadcast in ATSC 3.0 on a Washington, D.C., translator station through Sept. 30, said Office of Engineering and Technology materials for special temporary authority. ATSC 3.0 can be broadcast only through STAs and experimental licenses because the Media Bureau hasn’t created a form for broadcasters to transition to the new standard (see 1902260046).
Eurofins Digital Testing will showcase a new conformance test suite for ATSC 3.0 at NAB, it said Wednesday. Arreios for ATSC 3.0 enables certification and testing for UHD, HDR, video over broadcast and broadband, interactive applications, targeted advertising, emergency alerts, content recovery and watermarking, it said. The company will exhibit at Futures Park in North Hall booth N1335 in the Las Vegas Convention Center and in Westgate Director C, it said.
The Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance will demo at next month's NAB Show a new user experience and uses for AWARN emergency alerts using the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, alliance Executive Director John Lawson told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and an aide. To improve over prototypes, Lawson told Pai the group met public safety officials from cities including New York and did usability testing, recounted a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. It said 3.0 could be used for connected vehicles, and there are "potential synergies between AWARN and Wireless Emergency Alerts." The standard could be used for "localized emergency alerts for streaming media," said the alliance. An alert mock-up Lawson emailed us shows a black box taking up the middle third of a TV screen, with warning text and a button on the bottom to get "more info" and another to "dismiss" the message. He told us changes from earlier versions include "a simple banner in the middle of the screen vs filling the whole page" and viewers have two choices instead of more options. AWARN could put legacy emergency alert system warning screen crawls in the top third of a TV screen and the lower third is for “'Breaking News' graphics," Lawson added. "Clicking 'more information' leads to multimedia graphics like evacuation routes and shelter locations."
No “project” is underway at ATSC to “specifically add” 8K resolution or the next-generation Versatile Video Coding (VVC) codec (see 1903140012) to A/341, the video standards document for ATSC 3.0, Madeleine Noland, LG Electronics senior adviser-technology and standards, told a SMPTE webinar Thursday. A/341 specifies 3.0 resolutions up to 4K using the High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec.
Rising retransmission consent rates, dependence on the UHF discount, and a lack of complete information are reasons the FCC should turn down Nexstar’s proposed buy of Tribune (see 1901300054), said postings in docket 19-30 this week. Dish Network, NCTA, Frontier Communications, the American Television Alliance and a collection of anti-consolidation groups including Common Cause and Sports Fan Coalition filed concerns. “The transaction raises serious concerns under antitrust analysis that would undermine competition in the broadcast market,” said the anti-consolidation joint filing.
“IP licensing issues are perceived to have played a part in the somewhat slower rate of broad-based adoption” of H.265 for over-the-top streaming, but the 8K Association's contention that adoption is limited is wrong, said CEO Pete Moller of the codec's HEVC Advance patent pool. H.265, for 4K video and the adopted standard for ATSC 3.0, “can support the efficient encoding of 8K content today, but a next generation codec is expected to increase encoding efficiency by up to 2X,” said the 8KA in a Wednesday email about its seminar at NAB's show on April 10 in Las Vegas. Versatile Video Coding (VVC), a candidate standard vying to become H.265's successor, is “going through the standardization process now,” said the 8K group. “Complex” patent and royalty issues have hampered the wide adoption of H.265, and the industry “is working to avoid a repeat,” it said. Moller responded to us that “we consider desires by a few to exert control over video compression technology as a larger factor impacting that market segment.” Virtually every “new major technology implementation has issues that take time to get worked out by the marketplace, including often IP issues, but the issues do get resolved,” emailed Moller. The IP problems with H.265 “are largely behind us,” and adoption is “rapidly accelerating,” he said. HEVC Advance is “working hard to facilitate” additional “consolidation” of H.265 patent owners, “which I expect will accelerate over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Moller. “We are already working to create the solutions and processes that will allow us to offer a highly efficient and seamless singular licensing program” for H.265 and VVC “essential patents,” he said. H.265 adoption “appears to be similar to that” of other codecs the MPEG LA patent pool has “experienced,” emailed spokesperson Tom O’Reilly. “Royalties are just one of many factors and often not the principal one that users take into consideration when choosing a video technology.”
The FCC’s draft low-power TV, translator and FM radio reimbursement order isn’t expected to be much changed from its circulated version and is considered largely uncontroversial, agency and industry officials told us. NPR, T-Mobile and several Class A broadcasters (see 1903070071) lobbied the agency for changes to the item. Now, FCC officials said few changes are likely. The order is to get a vote at Friday's commissioners' meeting.
MPEG LA is making “substantial progress” toward launching a patent pool for ATSC 3.0, and hopes soon “to be in a position to make an announcement” on its debut of a one-stop license, emailed spokesperson Tom O’Reilly Monday. “Each pool has its own unique set of factors affecting time to market," he said. "Reaching agreement among patent holders to offer a license of wide benefit to the market takes time. ATSC 3.0 is being tested in select markets now, and we expect the license to be available well before it becomes widely deployed.” MPEG LA hoped to have a 3.0 pool operational by early 2019 with the participation of more than a dozen licensors, O’Reilly told us in November (see 1811270013). MPEG LA's August 2017 call for 3.0-essential patents was the beginning of the process to create a one-stop-license pool.
The FCC should increase flexibility of kidvid rules, move quickly to let stations transmit ATSC 3.0, discard AM radio subcaps and grant needed extensions in the repacking, said California Broadcasters Association representatives in meetings Feb. 27 with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-349. “Although the repack appears to be moving forward smoothly in California, so far, broadcasters remain very concerned as the transition ‘crunch’ approaches." Attendees were from Univision San Jose and other TV stations and Diane Sutter of Shooting Star Productions, and they “lauded” the agency for actions on pirate radio.
Sinclair was involved in recent broadcast TV mergers and acquisitions “processes,” but the properties went to other buyers at prices higher than it wanted to pay, said CEO Chris Ripley on a Q4 call Wednesday. Sinclair didn’t comment on which deals he was referencing. Recent M&A includes Cox’s proposed sale of stations to investment fund Apollo and Nexstar’s proposed buy of former Sinclair dance partner Tribune. Since issues from the outstanding hearing designation order stemming from the failed Sinclair/Tribune remain unresolved (see 1901040047), it’s widely believed Sinclair buying TV stations could trigger unwanted FCC action on its licenses. That’s been seen as something Sinclair would seek to avoid, and the broadcaster has opposed efforts to bring that matter before the FCC before the 2020 license renewal period (see 1812110062). Ripley has said the HDO won't keep Sinclair out of M&A (see 1810180024). Q4 revenue rose 25 percent, compared with Q4 2017, Sinclair reported, reaching $893.3 million. Executives are bullish about the company’s outlook, touting activity with regional sports networks, expected political advertising sales gains and progress on ATSC 3.0. Sinclair and SpectrumCo hope to begin broadcasting 3.0 in 20-30 markets this year, Ripley said. That's delayed waiting for the FCC to create an application form (see 1902260046). Sinclair is open to doing more sports deals similar to its recent one with the Chicago Cubs (see 1902130019), Ripley said. Sports content is the highest rated and the “scarcest” content, Ripley said. “You can't create more sports, you can create more of almost any other genre.” The rapidly increasing field of 2020 presidential candidates “really bodes well for local broadcasters” on political ad dollars, said Chief Operating Officer Steven Marks. In the lead-up to the election, broadcasters “aren’t gonna be able to get out of the way of all the money” pouring in for political ads, he said.