Disney cited FCC findings that commercial DTV receivers aren’t up to snuff, in reply comments it filed last week in an FCC review of the DTV transition. In late March, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology found that of the commercially available receivers it put through an interference rejection threshold study none met ATSC guidelines that are more lax than the “receiver performance assumptions on which current DTV interface protection criteria are based.” For Disney, that means New York viewers may have problems picking up a DTV signal from its WABC-TV New York station, it said. It asked the commission for leeway for Zone I VHF channel stations like WABC-TV to reach private interference agreements with other broadcasters.
Broadcasters and cable operators want flexibility making the digital transition, they told the FCC. TV stations asked permission to reduce or terminate analog service, while NCTA said cable operators want to choose how to carry DTV signals. Broadcast networks and NAB were among parties asking the FCC to ease requirements that stations get construction permits so transmitters and other gear can meet specifications in the DTV table of allotments. The table was released by the agency last week. The requests for flexibility came in response to a rulemaking asking how the agency should monitor compliance with DTV rules (CD May 22 p5).
The FCC should revise its DTV rules to take into account developments in the ATSC DTV standard, ATSC President Mark Richer and Chairman Glenn Reitmeier said in a filing. Mainly, the rules should reflect the fact that ATSC has divided the DTV standard into six parts -- DTV Systems, RF/Transmission System Characteristics, Service Multiplex and Transport Subsystem Characteristics, MPEG-2 Video System Characteristics, AC-3 Audio System Characteristics, and Enhanced AC-3 Audio System Characteristics, they said. Furthermore, ATSC is developing new technologies that improve on the DTV standard, such as the ability to broadcast TV signals to mobile and handheld devices, they said. The group is working on a “ATSC 2.0” standard that will incorporate non-realtime transmission and interactive TV capabilities with enhanced fixed indoor reception features, they said.
Broadcasters are meeting Thursday and Friday to complete an “aggressive” work plan for developing a standard for mobile DTV, said Mark Aitken of Sinclair, chairman of the specialists group to develop a mobile DTV standard for the Advanced TV Systems Committee. “We've got the whip out, and a lot of highly motivated people,” Aitken said, referring to the perceived need for broadcasters to get into mobile TV before the cellular industry can dominate it.
Partnerships among companies that submitted mobile broadcast technology to ATSC must occur sooner rather than later to have a mobile/handheld standard for U.S. broadcasters in place by the February 2009 analog TV cutoff, industry sources said. Some of those companies are open to and exploring alliances, we were told. Though deals were predicted, none materialized before detailed proposals went to the committee earlier this month (CD July 5 p4).
An FCC proposal to require cable operators to distribute must-carry TV stations’ digital signals in standard definition digital, analog and HD when available would violate operators’ rights under the Constitution, cable operators and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said in comments filed this week. An April rulemaking sought comments on a plan to let cable operators choose between distributing multiple formats of a must-carry station’s signal or converting their systems to all-digital before analog broadcast shutoff in 2009. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association of Maximum Service TV praised the FCC plan in joint comments. Qwest called the proposal “reasonable.”
Among 10 groups that sent ATSC initial mobile broadcast technology proposals last month (CD June 25 p7), some probably are looking at combining parts of their proposals to boost chances their technologies will be picked for the standard, said Mark Aitken, Sinclair director of advanced technologies and head of the committee overseeing the mobile/handheld standards work at ATSC. A committee request for proposals initially drew offerings by Nokia, Mobile DTV Alliance and Qualcomm, each pushing modulation schemes not compatible with ATSC’s. Those filers “may be working with technology players directly tied to the ATSC modulation standard and engaged in discussions about joint offerings,” Aitken said.
Nine companies and an industry consortium sent ATSC mobile DTV pitches of varying detail, as it begins work on a standard U.S. broadcasters will use to transmit their digital signals to handheld and mobile devices. Submissions came from a wide range of players. Known candidates like Samsung with Rohde & Schwarz, LG with Harris, and Micronas all sent drafts. So did Nokia, Qualcomm, Thomson, DTS Inc., Coherent Logix, Coding Technologies and the Mobile DTV Alliance.
Technology companies working on mobile broadcasting systems should submit their work to ATSC by Thursday, a group of broadcasters urged in an open letter. The Open Mobile Video Coalition, whose members include Fox, NBC, Tribune, Sinclair, Ion and others, is hoping to avoid another “AM Stereo debacle,” it said in the letter. “One of the major threats to the successful and timely introduction and adoption of new mobile video products and services is a marketplace ‘format war’ among incompatible approaches,” the group said. Timing is critical and the industry can’t afford to wait any longer to develop mobile video, it said: “Technologies that miss the deadlines of the ATSC process are unlikely to be looked upon favorably by Coalition members.” Initial responses to ATSC’s request for proposals (RFP) on developing a standard for mobile and handheld broadcasting within stations’ digital spectrum are due Thursday. Detailed proposals are due July 6.
Latin America is at “the forefront of global WiMAX deployment,” with networks in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Venezuela, market research firm Research & Markets said in a new report. It said 80% of Latin American broadband subscribers are in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The most prevalent broadband technology is ADSL, the report said. Mexico was the first to offer HDTV in 2005, on the ATSC standard. Brazil uses ISDB; Honduras, ATSC. Mobile phones have overtaken fixed lines in every Latin American country but Cuba, the report said. Paraguay leads the trend, with 10 mobile phones for every fixed line. GSM has about 69% market share in Latin America, R&M said, while CDMA is growing “sluggishly;” TDMA is “on its way out.” -- www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c58021