A second round of side-by-side tests of three mobile DTV systems being considered for adoption as an industry standard was to begin Saturday in Las Vegas. The tests, run by the Open Mobile Video Coalition on behalf of the Advanced TV Systems Committee, mark the latest phase of an aggressive schedule intended to allow broadcasters to offer mobile DTV service soon after the analog cutoff. Similar tests in San Francisco ended earlier in March. Meanwhile, engineers in Washington have been holding marathon meetings, including an eight-hour session last week at NAB’s office, a six-hour March 11 meeting at the PBS office and a 10-hour-plus March 10 meeting at Wiley Rein. ATSC’s board is to meet Tuesday at NAB.
Low power broadcasters shouldn’t disrupt DTV switch educational efforts by the rest of the industry, NAB CEO David Rehr wrote in a letter to Community Broadcasters Association counsel Peter Tannenwald. Rehr said his letter was prompted by a report in Communications Daily that CBA officials threatened to disrupt DTV education (CD March 3 p1). Unlike full-power broadcasters, low power and translator stations need not stop analog service in Feb. 2009. The CBA, which represents low power broadcasters, fears too many consumers will buy government-subsidized digital-analog converter boxes that won’t receive or pass through analog LPTV signals. “Surely CBA would rather work cooperatively to address the current issues facing low power television viewers in the digital television transition than this report suggests,” Rehr said.
Broadcast executives hope new mobile DTV technology will succeed, but some aren’t sure how the industry will take advantage of it, TV executives told investors at a Bear Stearns conference this week. Sinclair CEO David Smith -- a big supporter of efforts by the Advanced Television Systems Committee to set a mobile DTV standard before the DTV switch -- was the most upbeat among TV executives to address the Bear Stearns crowd. “You're going to see the next evolution of the availability of over the air TV on essentially every device that can be made,” Smith said. “It will in all probability be an enormous boon to the industry.”
The Mobile DTV Alliance will work more closely with U.S. broadcasters developing a mobile DTV standard through the Advanced TV Systems Committee, it said. Guidelines by the group call for support of multiple broadcast systems under a consistent service layer. “Looking to harmonize network technologies on the service layer, our new implementation guidelines cater to DVB-H-based broadcast systems today and will include ATSC-M/H based broadcast systems in the near future,” MDTVA President Walt Tamminen said in a news release.
Low-power broadcasters will imperil the digital transition if they succeed in getting the NTIA to change rules for DTV converter boxes (CD Feb 12 p2), CEA President Gary Shapiro told a Media Institute lunch Thursday in Washington. If the Community Broadcasters Association gets the FCC to decide that devices that don’t pass along analog signals are illegal, it “means a delay in the transition,” Shapiro said. “It would obliterate a multi-billion dollar investment by manufacturers” to produce dozens of models of boxes, some of which have the so-called passthrough features, said Shapiro: “We're asking the FCC to ignore the CBA’s petition.”
A group of broadcasters began a field test of three competing mobile DTV technologies being considered for an industry standard. The Open Mobile Video Coalition is doing the test in San Francisco this week for the Advanced TV Systems Committee, which will set the standard. Another round of field and lab tests will occur soon in Las Vegas, with a preliminary report due March 15 to ATSC, ATSC President Mark Richer said during a BIA Financial webinar. The coalition is confident its participation will help yield a standard for commercial deployment soon after the February 2009 DTV switch, said Dan Hsieh, a consultant to the group.
A wide range of industries should ensure TV viewers can keep watching low-power broadcasters after the digital transition for full-power stations, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wrote five lobbying groups. He outlined steps that consumer electronics retailers and manufacturers, satellite providers, cable operators and broadcasters should take for the signals of the more than 7,300 low-power stations to be widely seen after Feb. 17, 2009. The FCC late Wednesday released his letter to the heads of the CEA, Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, NAB, NCTA and Satellite Industry Association.
More money and policy coordination are needed to ensure consumers are ready for the Feb. 17, 2009, digital transition, House lawmakers said Wednesday in a Telecom Subcommittee oversight hearing. The hearing is the subcommittee’s fourth in the 110th Congress. The Senate has held three, postponing a fourth set for Thursday so members could attend services for the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D- Calif.). High on the list of DTV worries is the fate of viewers in areas served by low-power broadcasters not required to make the transition.
Retailers want to ensure that viewers of low-power TV stations can keep getting the signals after the full-power digital transition (CD Feb 12 p2), said Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition. Electronics stores will sell DTV converter boxes that pass- through analog signals as well as digital broadcasts and will also market splitters, Pearl told us late Monday. Both options will let over-the-air viewers keep getting low-power signals, which aren’t covered by an FCC-imposed transition deadline, after Feb. 17, 2009, he said. The most recent version of the retail coalition’s consumer guide, posted online last week, tells consumers about the low-power broadcasters, said Pearl. “Everyone -- retailers, manufacturers, broadcasters (both full and low power), the FCC and the NTIA -- have an interest in making sure the public is fully informed of their options to help them get through the transition,” he said. But an ad run by low-power stations telling viewers that they must buy a device with an ATSC and NTSC tuner is “misleading,” said Pearl. Those devices can’t be bought with the $40 converter box coupons that the NTIA will send out starting next week and may cost more than $150 or require a new set, he added.
Government and industry officials have gathered twice at the FCC this month to discuss how they can ensure that people who watch low-power TV stations keep getting their signals after the digital transition, said a half-dozen participants. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin requested the meeting so a wide range of those involved in the transition could discuss how to publicize NTIA-certified converter boxes that pass through analog signals, they said. The NTIA already has certified three boxes that can do this as eligible for $40 coupons that it will start sending to consumers Feb. 18, and it expects to certify others (CD Feb 11 p4) OR (CED Feb 11 p4). But low- power broadcasters are concerned that most of the more than 30 NTIA-certified boxes can’t do pass-through, and they filed a complaint on the matter with the FCC Dec. 7.