The FCC should react to the recent false missile alert in Hawaii by developing best practices for the emergency alert system, studying improvements to the system and committing “right now” to having changes in place before summer, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday at an NAB event on how broadcasters can prepare for emergencies (see 1801160054). “We need to look at everything from state training and practices to improved user interfaces for public safety that can reduce the likelihood of error.” Broadcasters told us preparation and funds are important to staying on-air (see 1712220028).
Dallas will be the first test market of plans by a new consortium for the ATSC 3.0 transition and, if things go well, possibly the location of the first commercial offering of the new standard as well, said American Tower and Sinclair executives in interviews Wednesday. “We fully expect this to go on to be a commercial market,” said American Tower Vice President-Broadcasting Peter Starke. “We don’t plan to take this equipment down.” The broadcast consortium of American Tower, Nexstar, Sinclair and Univision hopes to use the Dallas test bed to work out the details of 3.0 simulcasting, connectivity and wireless offerings, said Mark Aitken, Sinclair vice president-advanced technology.
The FCC should exempt noncommercial educational TV stations from ATSC 3.0 simulcasting requirements, said PBS in a meeting Thursday with Commissioner Brendan Carr, recounted a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. “Public television stations will ensure the continuity of viewer access throughout the transition regardless of whether the Commission imposes a regulatory mandate.” Letting stations make their own choices about how to continue providing service during the transition would be preferable, PBS said. “The simulcast mandate unnecessarily constrains the ability of public television stations to best serve local community needs, and the mandate would in fact preclude many public stations from bringing the educational benefits of the new standard.” The public TV network said the FCC should acknowledge the amount of the repacking shortfall and issue a follow-up allocation of reimbursement money from the $1.75 billion repacking reimbursement fund.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai doesn’t plan to create new processes to review broadcast deals that involve financial and sharing agreements, he said in a Dec. 21 response to a September letter from House Commerce Democrats posted Wednesday. In the initial letter, Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette, D-Colo., asked Pai numerous questions about the Sinclair/Tribune deal (see 1709290063). Along with declining to change the way the bureau handles deals involving sharing, Pai repeated he wasn’t seeking to favor a particular company, and answered questions about the timing of FCC actions related to the merger and contact with Sinclair officials. Pai said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz had used Pai's personal email address to send a letter about ATSC 3.0 chip development in India, but that email was then forwarded to Pai's work email address in order to include it in the record. Pai also said the FCC had been in communication with Sinclair about a pending enforcement matter -- the agency released a notice of apparent liability against Sinclair on Dec. 21 (see 1712210042), the same day as Pai’s response. Pai also left open the possibility the Media Bureau could request further information from Sinclair on the deal, and said he first learned of the proposed merger through news reports. Pai responded only briefly to numerous other letters from lawmakers on the Sinclair/Tribune deal, according to responses posted Wednesday. Pai sent the same letter to each lawmaker who wrote in about the deal, assuring all of them that their comments would go into the record but declining to discuss the matter. “While I am unable to discuss the merits of this particular proceeding, I can assure you that the Commission is conducting an open and transparent process as required by FCC rules and regulations,” Pai said in letters responding to questions about the proposed merger from Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Our decision will be based on a careful analysis of the robust record that has been developed,” Pai said.
LAS VEGAS -- Relations among FCC members remain the same as they were before the highly charged net neutrality debate resulting in last month’s vote overturning the 2015 net neutrality rules, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told us at CES Tuesday. Clyburn joined Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr on a CES panel Tuesday, amid tight security. Meanwhile, preoccupying CES Wednesday was a blackout that struck the Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall and kept that portion of the show in total darkness for several hours. Later in the day the blackout was blamed on the torrential rains that poured down on Las Vegas Tuesday.
LAS VEGAS -- The heads of ATSC, CTA and NAB raised glasses of champagne and sparkling apple cider Tuesday to toast the release of the last of the suite of ATSC 3.0 standards. The toast came on the opening morning of CES in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Grand Lobby.
LAS VEGAS -- Fifth-generation wireless will be a complete change from earlier generations, technologists said at CES. The move to 5G and the IoT have been top wireless themes at the conference. Erik Ekudden, Ericsson chief technology officer, said 5G will be like having a fiber connection in your pocket. Ekudden and others predicted the U.S. will face tough competition to be the leader on 5G.
LAS VEGAS -- As a pre-CES media advisory Friday said heads of ATSC, CTA and NAB will convene in a “milestone ceremony” on the show's opening morning to commemorate completion of the last of the suite of ATSC 3.0 standards, broadcast consortium Pearl TV announced a “collaborative project” with Sony Electronics to develop a “channel navigation tool” to be deployed and tested in the Phoenix “model market” of 10 TV stations (see 1711140053).
LG is the first TV maker to complete “initial field tests” of the Verance Aspect audio watermark for ATSC 3.0, said Verance in a Wednesday announcement. The tests were conducted using the current 1.0 standard in collaboration with Fox and NBC in the Phoenix market, Verance said. That's where broadcast consortium Pearl TV announced plans mid-November for a 3.0 “model market” involving 10 TV stations to “help foster industry consensus and drive ecosystem development” (see 1711140053).
Despite 2017 being a particularly active year for retransmission consent negotiations, cable and broadcast experts weren’t expecting a notable wave of new blackouts on Jan. 1 triggered by contracts that expired Dec. 31. The end of 2016 had a slew of retrans disruptions, and there were worries about sizably more at the end of 2017 (see 1701030046). Alaska's GCI emailed customers last week that they might lose local ABC and CW stations from their cable lineups on Jan. 1 and the local Fox station on Jan. 15 due to a retrans impasse with the stations' ownership.