The “biggest thing” about ATSC 3.0 from Sony Electronics' “perspective” is that it’s “designed to last, to evolve and endure,” Paul Hearty, vice president-technology standards, told last week’s ATSC conference in Washington. “When we did ATSC 1.0, I think it took us nine very painful years,” said Hearty. ATSC 3.0 “has taken us six and a bit,” he said. “But 3.1, maybe it will be only a year or six months or eight months." The HTML5 “ship” at ATSC 3.0's IP core "sailed into our products, and we’re all supporting it,” Hearty said of the prevalence of smart TVs in the consumer tech market. “One of the challenges we’re going to have to face is that we’ve got to figure out how we’re going to accommodate the runtime platform” in ATSC 3.0 “with the platforms that we already have in our devices,” he said.
The ATSC 3.0 receiver chipsets that Saankhya Labs is developing on the “fast track” with Sinclair’s One Media (see 1703280044) should be available in time to be deployed in smartphones and other consumer products for the 2018 holiday selling season, Saankhya CEO Parag Naik told us Friday. “We’re discussing the scale,” and will know the timetable “in about a month’s time,” said Naik. Saankhya’s software-defined radio platform will allow for chips that can accommodate other global broadcast standards, he said. “Depending on the application, depending on the customer, we could have a different product mix” based on variations of the same chipset design, he said. “For example, the same chip could be used for fixed receivers,” like large-screen TVs, and “also gateways,” in addition to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, he said. Naik sees the U.S. as hosting the first worldwide commercial deployment of the Saankhya chipsets for ATSC 3.0. In South Korea, which is scheduled to formally launch ATSC 3.0 services in a matter of days, “we are talking to OEMs there as well,” he said. Sinclair’s offer at last week’s ATSC conference to give out the receiver chips for free (see 1705170033) is part of an effort “to seed the market,” said Naik. Component costs are “a function of the volume,” he said. “Once the market gets seeded and critical mass is achieved, your costs will drop and it becomes ubiquitous, and almost everyone then will probably start to put it in his phones or TVs.”
The FCC has received 20 applications for construction permits for the post-incentive auction transition, and granted 14, said Media Bureau Associate Chief Hillary DeNigro and Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman at an FCBA event Monday. Members of the Incentive Auction Task Force also discussed the repacking schedule, timing of payments, and broadcasters seeking payment for equipment upgrades. Though applications aren’t due until July 12, the officials said more applications would be welcome and will be granted on a rolling basis. “We’re ready for the onslaught,” said DeNigro.
Jenner & Block hires ex-FCC officials for Communications, Internet and Technology Practice: Howard Symons as partner (see this section of the May 8 issue of this publication); Roger Sherman, as of counsel, effective June 7; and Johanna Thomas as special counsel ... Arizona Corporation Commission promotes at Utilities Division Eli Abinah to permanent director; and, at Legal Division, Robin Mitchell to assistant director-senior staff attorney; Maureen Scott to deputy chief-litigation and appeals, new post; and Scott succeeded by Wes Van Cleve as senior staff attorney.
The “skyscraper” that symbolizes the “suite” of 23 standards comprising ATSC 3.0 “is getting fairly bottom-heavy, which is good, more stable,” Rich Chernock, Triveni Digital chief science officer, told an ATSC conference Wednesday. “Most of the standards are either finalized or in the proposed standard stage,” said Chernock, who chairs Technology Group 3 that’s tasked with supervising the framing of the next-gen standard.
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., has “concerns” about transition to the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard and its impact on affordability, he said at a hearing Wednesday on emergency alerts and featuring testimony from NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny and Qualcomm Director-Engineering Farrokh Khatibi. Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pressed Matheny on whether NAB prefers mandates or market forces to guide the transition. “We are not looking for a mandate,” Matheny told her.
The FCC could consider a "phased approach" to the transition to ATSC 3.0 and could be open to changes to broadcaster public interest requirements, said Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey at an ATSC conference (see 1705170033) Wednesday, saying the agency is "drilling down" into comments on the ATSC 3.0 NPRM. ATSC 3.0 is a "top priority," Carey said, saying the recent comments created a "robust record" and staff are working on the new standard as fast as they can.
Broadcasters see ATSC 3.0 as the gateway for delivering better pictures to the viewing public almost immediately after launch, engineers told an ATSC conference Tuesday. Bandwidth constraints have many looking toward using 1080p with “enhancements” like high dynamic range in launching ATSC 3.0, at least as an “interim” approach, they said.
An NAB official will peg approval of ATSC 3.0 to emergency alerts during a Wednesday hearing on the topic and warn that a botched repacking after the broadcast TV incentive auction could interfere. “If the FCC approves Next Gen TV, a television broadcaster will be able to simultaneously deliver geo-targeted, rich media alerts to an unlimited number of enabled fixed, mobile and handheld devices across their entire coverage area,” NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny will testify. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said he hopes for commission approval of ATSC 3.0 by year’s end.
Testifying at the House Communications Subcommittee’s Wednesday hearing on emergency alerts will be NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny; CGM Advisors CEO Chris Guttman-McCabe, a former CTIA official; and Qualcomm Director-Engineering Farrokh Khatibi. A GOP memo, dated Monday, said the hearing is part of a broader look at emergency communications: “Earlier this year, FirstNet established a public-private partnership for the deployment of a nationwide wireless broadband network for the Nation’s First Responders and steady progress is being made in the deployment of next generation 911 networks. This hearing will examine the third prong of public safety communications -- emergency alerting -- including its current state and its future against the backdrop of these and other evolving technologies.” It included sections detailing the emergency alert system, ATSC 3.0 and wireless emergency alerts. “In addition to EAS and WEA, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have emerged as mechanisms for emergency communications,” the memo said. “Extensive work has been undertaken and continues in both academia and public safety to ascertain the impact and use of social media in times of emergency and as an alerting tool.”