Anxiety rose over the fate of the CPB in recent weeks, after reports the Trump administration may be mulling a FY 2018 budget that places its funding on the chopping block. The White House and appropriators resisted confirming any objections to the CPB last week. Broadcasting officials told us Capitol Hill appropriators may stand poised to uphold the funding, if the administration does push such a proposal.
The A/341 document on ATSC 3.0 video that went out for ballot late January for elevation to the status of a proposed standard (see 1701200004) largely is silent on choosing a preferred high-dynamic-range technology for the next-generation broadcast system. A/341 does express dual support for perceptual quantization HDR systems like HDR10 and Dolby Vision and also the hybrid log-gamma approach proposed for HDR broadcasts by BBC and NHK.
The FCC approved unanimously an NPRM on ATSC 3.0 and an order relaxing location rules for FM translators at Thursday’s commissioners' meeting, as expected (see 1702210058). Commissioner Mignon Clyburn supported the NPRM on the new TV standard, but was critical of aspects of the document and said it didn’t do enough to show that TV consumers won’t have their service disrupted by the transition to ATSC 3.0.
Triveni Digital will market a series of ATSC 3.0 "starter kits" that will bring broadcasters "up to speed” with the next-generation TV standard in a "real-world environment," the company said in a Wednesday announcement. The kits will be introduced throughout the year and “encompass everything from file-based monitoring to live encoding and over-the-air transmission options,” it said. Triveni plans to demonstrate the kits for the first time at the NAB Show in late April, where it will exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall, it said. Triveni Chief Science Officer Rich Chernock chairs ATSC’s Technology Group 3, which is supervising ATSC 3.0's framing.
Sinclair’s One Media is continuing development of ATSC 3.0 products and services that will “lead to next-gen business opportunities,” said CEO Chris Ripley on a Wednesday earnings call. One Media’s ATSC 3.0 efforts include work on single-frequency-network deployment, automotive telematics, “a 3.0 transition plan and other business-model opportunities,” said Ripley.
The wording of the FCC’s draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 makes it “very clear” the FCC will adopt the new standard, and an order is expected this fall, said Jerald Fritz, One Media executive vice president-strategic and legal affairs, in an FCBA CLE on the new television standard Tuesday.
Both broadcast items scheduled for Thursday’s commissioners' meeting, on ATSC 3.0 and the 40-mile limit for FM translators (see 1702020060), are expected to be approved unanimously, industry and FCC officials told us. The final version of a draft order that would do away with the 40-mile limit on locating an FM translator is expected to show little change from the version released by the FCC when it went on circulation, but the draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 is still in flux, said an official. The final NPRM is seen as likely to include some questions on issues raised by the American Cable Association and American Television Alliance (see 1702140065), but not many other substantive changes, said broadcast and pay-TV officials.
The FCC should reject requests from pay-TV groups to “impose additional regulatory burdens” on the ATSC 3.0 transition, NAB told aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly in a meeting Wednesday, said an ex parte filing in docket 16-142. Inquiries into capacity issues for multichannel video programming distributors and other questions raised by the American Cable Association and the American Television Alliance (see 1702090057) aren't necessary for “a voluntary transition that does not require MVPDs to carry programming transmitted using the Next Gen standard,” NAB said. The FCC also shouldn't intervene in retransmission consent negotiations over ATSC 3.0, the broadcast association said. “If ACA’s members are aggrieved by specific actions during their negotiations, they are free to allege a violation of the Commission’s good faith negotiation standard and prove that claim on a fact-specific basis,” said the broadcaster group. “Instead, ACA asks the Commission to put a regulatory thumb on the scale to benefit cable companies by prejudging private contractual negotiations. That is not the Commission’s role.”
Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler promised the incentive auction would be an “extravaganza,” but it didn't deliver, NAB President Gordon Smith said on C-SPAN's The Communicators, scheduled for broadcast over the weekend. “It was nothing of the case,” Smith said, saying the lower-than-expected results of the auction show the spectrum crunch it was meant to alleviate never really existed. Smith said promises of large payouts to broadcasters and to the Treasury weren't fulfilled. Broadcasters will receive around $10 billion from the auction, and the Treasury over $6 billion (see 1702100064). Those numbers are smaller than was promised, Smith said: Those promises were “bravado.”
Eight independent programmers expressed concern with the FCC draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0, said a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142. The agency should address concerns that the American Cable Association recently raised about carrier capacity to carry the new standard (see 1702140065), said the programmers, which include Aspire Channel, Cinémoi, Herring Networks, MAVTV Motorsports Network, Ride Television Network and KSE Media Ventures on behalf of the Outdoor Channel and other such programmers. “As programmers unaffiliated with the largest conglomerates, our offerings will be at particular risk should the transition to ATSC 3.0 compel [multichannel video programming distributors] to eliminate cable channels” because of a carriage squeeze, the programmers said. Independent programmers “would likely be the first to go in systems where capacity is limited,” the letter said. “Such an outcome should concern anyone interested in preserving the diversity of media voices.” ACA met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly on similar issues Thursday, said an ex parte filing.