The American Cable Association will petition for reconsideration of the ATSC 3.0 order if broadcasters put undue pressure on small cable operators to carry the standard, ACA said in docket 16-142, posted Tuesday. Such petitions can be submitted within 30 days of the order's publication in the Federal Register, and many ACA members will be negotiating retransmission consent deals in the next month, the group said. It cited Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's warning at commissioners' November meeting he would be watching for examples of possible violations of good-faith rules for 3.0 carriage. "Should broadcasters insist on ATSC 3.0 carriage in their negotiations with ACA members, the 'concrete examples' of which Commissioner O'Rielly spoke may become available sooner rather than later," ACA said. "We hope, however, that broadcasters will show some measure of restraint."
“Enhanced” public safety benefits will abound with ATSC 3.0, top America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) officials told FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in Monday meetings, said an ex parte letter posted Wednesday in docket 16-142. The public safety services that APTS stations provide now to first responders, and in alert and warning, “will increase and expand” with 3.0, said the officials, including CEO Patrick Butler and Chief Operating Officer Lonna Thompson. “ATSC 3.0 will allow the ability to ‘wake up’ receiver devices when emergency alerts are transmitted overnight and will improve accessibility measures” for hearing- and visually-impaired viewers, they said. The FCC voted Nov. 16 to authorize the voluntary deployment of 3.0 over the dissents of Rosenworcel and her fellow Democrat Mignon Clyburn (see 1711160060). There’s “a lot to be excited” about with 3.0, including Ultra HD picture quality, immersive audio, advanced emergency alerts and “innovative interactive services,” said Rosenworcel in her Nov. 16 dissenting statement. “But what we do today is rush this standard to market with an ugly disregard for the consumer consequences.” The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance hopes by 2019 to have in place a “beta solution” for 3.0-capable emergency alerts, said alliance Executive Director John Lawson (see 1711200023). APTS and the AWARN Alliance were petitioners with CTA and NAB in April 2016 to ask the FCC to launch the 3.0 rulemaking (see 1604130065).
The FCC will use the first five years of ATSC 3.0's voluntary deployment “to monitor how the marketplace handles patent royalties for essential patents, but we will not require reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) licensing at this time,” said a footnote in the order it released (see 1711200055) in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Commissioners approved the order Thursday in a 3-2 party-line vote (see 1711160060).
A draft NPRM on the national broadcast ownership cap contains no tentative conclusions, seeks comment on broad questions about altering the cap and is seen as unlikely to lead to concrete agency action, FCC and industry officials said in interviews Tuesday. Both FCC Democrats issued statements Tuesday opposing proposed alterations to the cap, and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly appeared to reaffirm his previous comments that the agency doesn’t have authority to alter the cap, though expressing support for the NPRM. “While I have outlined my thoughts on the authority to alter the cap and UHF discount, I support the Commission asking these questions and look forward to seeing the issue be litigated out,” he said.
A consortium of large TV broadcasters made up of Sinclair, Nexstar, Tegna and Tribune launched an industry work group to develop standard interfaces to accelerate electronic and automated advertising purchases on TV, said the Television Bureau of Advertising in a news release. Called the TV Interface Practices, or TIP, Initiative, the project is intended to help TV ad buying automation systems work together better to facilitate ad sales, the release said. “The goal of the TIP initiative is to accelerate local TV interoperability by creating a coalition of system providers to work with buyers and sellers to develop and implement streamlined transaction workflows using standards-based open APIs [application programming interfaces],” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in the release. The group proposed a set of APIs “to support the electronic transfer of ‘buy’ transactional data,” the release said. TVB, headed by Sook, will “provide a repository for the TIP Initiative’s work and open access for industry partners,” the release said. The consortium produced a white paper on best practices, called "Interface Automation Guidelines for Local TV Transactions." Advertising and content “monetization options” will expand with the spread of ATSC 3.0, said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley in the release. “For our industry to quickly and effectively optimize this opportunity, while ensuring transparency, it is important for us to collaborate on this effort ahead of the adoption of ATSC 3.0.”
Four items approved at Thursday's FCC meeting were released by Monday afternoon -- orders on ATSC 3.0, media ownership, robocalling and wireless infrastructure. The agency released items on ATSC 3.0 and media ownership Monday. The ATSC 3.0 item authorizes a new broadcast standard and requires broadcasters to simulcast in the current standard during the transition process. The reconsideration order on media ownership gets rid of rules that barred broadcasters from owning duopolies in certain markets or from owning both a TV station and a newspaper in the same market. The recon order also eliminates a rule making TV joint sales agreements attributable for calculating broadcast ownership, and establishes an incubator program to encourage new industry entrants. Comments are due Jan. 23, with replies Feb. 22 on possible ways to ensure calls erroneously blocked as illegal robocalls can be unblocked and on ways of measuring the FCC's effectiveness in its robocalling efforts, said the robocall order and Further NPRM in Monday's Daily Digest. The commissioners 5-0 approved rules spelling out how voice service providers can block calls likely to be illegitimate due the lack of any legal reason to spoof certain kinds of numbers (see 1711160054). In the order, the agency also directs its Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to prepare, along with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, a report on robocalling, including on the progress being made in combating illegal robocalls and the hurdles that remain. The FCC Friday released an order in docket 17-79 aimed at promoting 5G and other wireless infrastructure deployment by making it easier to replace utility poles under the National Historic Preservation Act (see 1711160032). The order eliminates a historic preservation review requirement "when utility poles are replaced with substantially identical poles that can support antennas or other wireless communications equipment," it said. The order excludes "from historic preservation review only those replacement poles that are situated no more than ten feet away from the original hole; are no more than 10 percent or five feet taller than the original pole, whichever is greater; and are consistent with the quality and appearance of the original pole." The FCC as of Monday afternoon hadn't issued texts of meeting items on wireline infrastructure deployment, Lifeline USF low-income subsidies (see 1711160021), its most recent spectrum frontiers order, which opened up additional high-band spectrum for mobile use (see 1711160026), or its NPRM on eliminating cable Form 325 reporting requirements.
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.
ATSC 3.0 is proving to be a complication in the current cycle of retransmission consent negotiations, with some stations potentially deploying the next-generation standard over the next three years, an FCBA CLE heard on the eve of FCC members 3-2 OK'ing the standard (see 1711160060). One complication on retrans is no one knowing what the new system will look like, said broadcast lawyer Dan Kirkpatrick of Fletcher Heald. He said lack of clarity makes negotiating for rights or compensation challenging. Broadcast lawyer Jack Goodman said implementation will change retrans negotiations dynamics, since standard contractual language now says broadcasters can't use cable operators' interactive plant, but one promise of 3.0 is interactive programming.
The FCC approved its ATSC 3.0 order 3-2 Thursday over the objections of Democrats, as expected (see 1711140053). Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn were highly critical of 3.0's transition plan order, which was little changed from what circulated last month. The plan is “cavalier” about possible consequences for consumers and MVPDs, Rosenworcel said. “Not ready for prime time,” said Clyburn. The order intentionally doesn't address every aspect of the new standard, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said. “Many questions remain,” he conceded. “This won’t be the last time we address ATSC 3.0,” he said.