LAS VEGAS -- The FCC Media Bureau is “outlining” NPRMs on dispensing the additional repacking reimbursement funds, will soon issue a public notice announcing a secondary reimbursement allocation, and is planning to tackle kids' video rules and retrans reform in 2018, said Media Bureau Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman on a panel at the NAB Show Monday. The commission is also “actively working” on policies to address interference between FM translators and full power stations, Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner said.
LG Electronics is the first TV maker to join the ATSC 3.0 “model market” project in Phoenix (see 1711140053), said the company Thursday. It will supply the first 3.0 receivers for the project, which is being spearheaded by Pearl TV and supported by 10 TV stations in the market to show how the standard “can be deployed while maintaining existing digital TV service for viewers,” it said. LG receivers "will be tested by local broadcasters and consumer focus groups" as the model market project "ramps up this summer," it said. Though just before CES Pearl announced a “collaborative project” for the Phoenix model market with another TV maker, Sony Electronics, that was for the development of a 3.0 “channel navigation tool,” not TV receivers (see 1801050035).
The post-incentive auction repacking’s recent cash infusion, construction process and looming phase deadlines are expected to dominate discussions at the NAB Show, which begins Saturday, broadcasters and their legal representatives said in interviews. NAB expects attendance to approach 100,000, a spokesman said. Exhibitions will feature about 1,700 companies, including 244 first-timers, the association said.
Programming for ATSC’s annual Broadcast TV Conference in Washington isn't complete, but the May 23-24 event is open for registration and does have a theme -- “Road to ATSC 3.0: Destination Next Gen TV.” A newly posted registration page bills day one as a 3.0 “implementation review” and day two as the Next Gen TV Conference. The event is ATSC’s first annual meeting since the FCC in November authorized 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) and framers completed work on the last of 3.0's suite of standards in January (see 1801090056). "Road to ATSC 3.0" also will be the name of the exhibit sponsored by ATSC, CTA and NAB in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center during next week's NAB Show, said ATSC President Mark Richer in the April issue of the group's monthly newsletter The Standard, which was released Monday. The exhibit will highlight early 3.0 deployments, said Richer. More than 40 exhibitors will showcase 3.0 technology on the NAB show floor, he said.
Four more broadcast equipment and services suppliers will participate in the Phoenix “model market” initiative for deploying ATSC 3.0, said Pearl TV in a Tuesday announcement. Dielectric will supply UHF bandpass filters to Phoenix TV stations participating in the initiative, Enensys is supplying its 3.0 broadcast gateways, GatesAir the latest generation of its Maxiva TV transmitters, and Triveni Digital is providing its Broadcast Services Management Platform content distribution systems, said Pearl. Harmonic announced Tuesday it will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processors (see 1803270006).
Petitions for Reconsideration of the FCC’s ATSC 3.0 order from NCTA and the American Television Alliance (see 1803060053) are being published in Thursday’s Federal Register. Oppositions are due April 13, replies April 27, the FR said.
Video delivery products and services supplier Harmonic is joining Pearl TV and its team of “ecosystem partners” deploying ATSC 3.0 field trials in the Phoenix “model market” of 10 TV stations (see 1711140053), said Harmonic in a Tuesday announcement. Harmonic will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processor, it said. The Phoenix testbed initiative is “the first time that a single market will test the ATSC 3.0 standard and provide a framework to the industry," said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle in a statement. Partnering with companies like Harmonic can help Pearl TV “validate groundbreaking improvements for over-the-air broadcasting and experiment with innovative use cases that ATSC 3.0 enables,” she said.
Broadcasters “have made no substantive case” that letting them use vacant channels for the ATSC 3.0 transition would benefit the public interest, Microsoft replied Wednesday in docket 16-142. Broadcaster arguments that unlicensed uses don’t have guaranteed access to spectrum are “a distraction,” Microsoft said. “No prospective user is entitled to use spectrum for which it does not yet hold a license.” The FCC isn’t being asked to give white space users interference protection from broadcasters, Microsoft said. “It is being asked to grant new spectrum to companies that have said they don’t need it,” the company said, referring to the broadcasters. The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance agreed, saying allowing broadcasters to use vacant channels would “diminish” prospects for white space devices “as the uncertainty over the ‘temporary’ nature of the dedicated transition channels will chill large-scale investments.” The FCC should “hold the line” on simulcast rules, NCTA said. With 3.0 authorized, broadcasters “insist on generous waivers of the requirements codifying their promises,” NCTA said. “The simulcasting rules are already excessively generous to broadcasters at viewers’ expense.” NCTA took aim at noncommercial stations’ request for a blanket simulcasting waiver, urging the FCC to deny it. PBS, America’s Public Television Stations and the CPB said the agency shouldn’t delay granting the blanket waiver because NCEs aren’t often located near prospective simulcasting partners. “It is precisely in those areas with few over-the-air options that it makes sense to preserve, not reduce, the number of viewable -- i.e., ATSC 1.0 -- signals,” NCTA said. NAB, One Media, the American Cable Association and interest groups including Public Knowledge also commented (see 1803210025).
Broadcasters seeking to use vacant channels for the ATSC 3.0 transition are attempting to “squat” on free spectrum, said Consumers Union, Public Knowledge and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute in replies in FCC docket 16-142 Tuesday on a Further NPRM on the new standard (see 1802210064). Allowing temporary use of the vacant channels “will trigger a lobbying frenzy to make the giveaway permanent,” the groups said. That claim is “nonsense,” said One Media. “The use would be temporary in the same way the second simulcast digital channel provided to broadcasters during the analog-to-digital conversion was temporary.” Special temporary authority process would govern channel provision, ensuring temporary use, Pearl said. Mutually exclusive applications for vacant channels during the switch will be unlikely because broadcasters will coordinate with each other, but would be resolved with auctions as the rules require, NAB said. Giving broadcasters access to vacant channels “is not necessary at this time to protect consumers and it comes at a high cost,” said the interest groups. The vacant channels will let stations maintain signal quality during the transition, NAB said. “Any party claiming to be concerned about consumer protection during the Next Gen deployment should support the use of vacant channels as a concrete step that may help to minimize disruption of service.” Granting broadcasters' vacant channel request will impose costs on MVPDs, the interest groups said. “If the broadcaster‘s 1.0 signal is transferred to a transmitter other than one that is already transmitting a broadcast signal being carried by the cable system, the cable operator would need to purchase and install new receiving equipment.” The broadcaster entities also said the FCC should be flexible in granting waivers of the 3.0 simulcast requirements, and Pearl said the agency should grant blanket waivers for noncommercial and Class A stations. “Implementing this exemption would show the Commission’s support for deployment of ATSC 3.0 across the country, particularly in more remote or rural areas,” said Pearl.
The growing importance of internet technology issues such as privacy and cybersecurity means traditional regulatory battlegrounds like retransmission consent matter less and less, said NCTA President Michael Powell Tuesday. He used a Media Institute luncheon to expand on his concerns about tech companies (see 1803060022). Consumers and lawmakers are worried about burgeoning tech issues while the telecom industry is “trapped” in outdated fights, Powell said. The issues that “dominate” the attention of lawmakers and the public “all emanate from the internet,” he said. He doesn't expect action from lawmakers or the FCC on retrans anytime soon.