The broadcaster spectrum consortium working on ATSC 3.0, virtual MVPD, automotive and wireless applications and other issues added its first affiliate member: Northwest Broadcasting. Nexstar, Sinclair and most recently Univision (see 1706010079) are part of the group promoting spectrum aggregation for TV stations to compete in wireless data transmission; the consortium now reaches about 90 percent of the U.S. "We invite other broadcasters to join us as we continue to advance the Next Generation Broadcast Standard," said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley Wednesday. Northwest CEO Brian Brady said the consortium gives "broadcasters the ability to control their future rather than having it dictated by others."
Sinclair’s proposed buy of Tribune Media would put too many U.S. homes within reach of not enough voices, media consolidation opponents, union officials, academics and MVPD officials told us. After the $3.9 billion deal, the resulting company would reach 69.4 percent of U.S. homes. “I’m not sure it’s a great thing for the American consumer,” said DePauw University media professor Jeffrey McCall. Though some broadcast-side proponents of the deal said it’s necessary for Sinclair to grow to compete in the modern media market, analysts and broadcast officials said the transaction is intended to increase Sinclair’s reach and enhance the viability of the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.
The current retransmission consent regime gives broadcasters too much power over MVPDs for the FCC to take a hands-off stance in approving ATSC 3.0, Mediacom’s Joseph Young said in a long filing in docket 16-422, with extensive footnotes and references to the novel Catch 22. Broadcasters will exploit their position and “use retransmission consent as a club” to compel MVPDs and consumers to transition to ATSC 3.0 without FCC safeguards, Mediacom said. “It would be a mistake to give broadcasters conditionless permission to innovate around the ATSC standard unless subscribers were also given permission to pay only for the stations they want to buy,” the filing said. “Permission to implement ATSC 3.0 should be granted, but subject to carefully thought-out safeguards against the potential negative consequences for millions of Americans who have no practical choice but to buy whatever broadcasters put on the menu.”
The FCC ATSC 3.0 rulemaking saw more replies underscoring the sometimes contentious nature of what broadcasters hope is a switch to the next-generation standard. Earlier replies in docket 16-142 (see 1706080067) and initial comments (see 1705100072) also showed some differences among broadcasters, MVPDs and consumer electronics interests. Whether to mandate 3.0 tuners is one such issue, with CTA replying to stress the importance of not imposing tuner mandates. It was the first time in the 14-month-long proceeding that CTA commented on its own rather than jointly with NAB and the other groups that petitioned to authorize 3.0 as a voluntary, market-driven service (see 1604130065).
LG Electronics used its reply comments Thursday in FCC ATSC 3.0 rulemaking docket 16-142 to press its case again that the commission needs to incorporate into rules the A/322 and A/321 physical-layer documents within ATSC 3.0 standards (see 1706070058). But Sinclair's One Media subsidiary said A/321 is ATSC 3.0's only needed physical-layer ingredient because A/322's functions already are written into FCC rules. Meanwhile, MVPDs and broadcasters argued over whether the switchover will amount to a mandate.
LG Electronics was right to urge the FCC to incorporate into its rules both the A/322 and A/321 physical-layer documents within the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards (see 1705100003), Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers told the commission in comments posted Wednesday in the next-generation broadcast standard rulemaking proceeding (docket 16-142). The engineers' "primary concern" in the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking "is with minimizing the potential for intersystem interference among users of the broadcast spectrum," they said. “While in general we support a minimum of regulation, fundamental technical standards must be a part of the regulation package,” said the engineers. “A/321, by itself, is insufficient to define the waveform and interference requirements” of ATSC 3.0, they said. “A possible solution would be to incorporate A/322 as a part of the Commission’s rules, applicable to television broadcast content, allowing flexibility for use of non-television content so long as the basic emission waveform criteria are met.” LG has called the A/322 document on physical-layer protocol "critical for ensuring that an ATSC 3.0 signal is reliably transmitted and received." A/321 on system discovery and signaling was the only ATSC 3.0 physical-layer document that ATSC had ratified when CTA, NAB and others filed their petition for rulemaking last April asking the FCC to allow broadcasters to begin using the new broadcast standard (see 1604130065). ATSC ratified A/322 in September and approved a 2017 amendment to the document just this Tuesday. Reply comments in the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking are due Thursday.
Sinclair's proposed buy of Tribune Media for $3.9 billion (see 1705080018), if it goes through, would improve prospects for ATSC 3.0 and fit with plans for a nationwide consortium of broadcasters supporting the new standard, but may not be a requirement for 3.0’s success, attorneys, analysts and broadcast officials told us. “Tribune provides markets where Sinclair doesn’t have coverage,” said BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik.
The FCC Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology set aside a block of days at the end of June for ex parte meetings on ATSC 3.0, said a public notice Friday. “Given the interest in this proceeding, we have determined that it would be efficient for the Commission staff to set aside a specific period.” Staff will be available for ATSC 3.0 ex parte meetings roughly three weeks after the June 8 due date for reply comments in the 16-142 proceeding, June 27-30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the notice said.
Univision became the third member of the spectrum aggregation consortium established by Nexstar and Sinclair earlier this year, the two founders announced. The consortium is intended to allow the broadcasters to better pool resources such as wireless spectrum stemming from ATSC 3.0 and advertising capacity to better compete, broadcast executives connected to the arrangement said. The consortium promotes the new TV standard and “monetization opportunities” in “spectrum utilization, virtual MVPD platforms, multicast channels, automotive applications, single frequency networks and wireless data applications,” the release said. "Our collaborative efforts to advance the promotion of spectrum utilization, innovation and monetization,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook. This "brings Spanish language broadcasters into the mix which will be able to benefit from the many 3.0 products and services that are on the horizon,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley.
After broadcasters pushed hard in the lead-up to the incentive auction for the option to forego repacking reimbursement in exchange for having “flexible use” of their spectrum in the aftermath, the FCC received only six applications for the “service rule” waiver needed to trigger that option by last week’s deadline. Flexible use of their spectrum will allow broadcasters to adjust to changing wireless technology and "mine for innovation,” said WatchTV President Greg Herman, an applicant. He and other broadcast officials agree lack of enthusiasm for flexible use spectrum is a consequence of the increasing viability of ATSC 3.0, which offers many of the same opportunities as flexible use did in what’s seen as a more widely accepted and clearly defined package.