The FCC is expected to approve a draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on rules for ATSC 3.0 “broadcast internet” (see 2005180066) at Tuesday’s meeting with few changes. Commissioners already voted to approve a separate order that largely won't allow broadcasters to use vacant TV bands for the 3.0 transition but permits waivers of simulcast rules.
A petition asking the FCC to change the rules for the signals FM boosters are allowed to transmit to make geotargeted radio ads and content possible is widely supported and considered a likely candidate for eventual FCC approval, said broadcasters and their lawyers in recent interviews. Some big broadcasters have concerns, but that may not derail the whole proceeding, stakeholders said.
The draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on not applying broadcast ownership rules to ATSC 3.0 datacasting should seek comment on whether a broadcast stream in standard definition satisfies FCC minimum requirements for TV stations, said the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. It's filing posted in docket 20-145 Monday. OTI spoke with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. OTI broadly supported the drafts, saying the NPRM should also gather information on increasing the fee for broadcasters providing ancillary services such as datacasting: “A better question would be whether the fee should be substantially higher than 5 percent given the enormous potential value of TV spectrum.” Questions in the draft NPRM about setting that fee to zero don’t seem to jibe with congressional intent, OTI said. The proceeding’s use of the term “Broadcast Internet” is misleading, the group said. “Nothing in the NPRM seems oriented to encouraging broadcast station licensees to use their spectrum to broadcast new services -- ATSC 3.0 or otherwise -- but instead seems oriented to pave the way for them to aggregate and lease out their spectrum.”
ATSC 3.0 broadcasts went live on four Las Vegas TV stations Tuesday, said BitPath, the new name for what had been the consortium SpectrumCo. The stations airing the NextGenTV feed are Sinclair's KSNV and KVCW, Nexstar’s KLAS-TV and E.W. Scripps’ KTNV-TV. This is the first multi-station full-power deployment of the new standard, said BitPath. The stations are working together to also air their 1.0 streams, it said. “We look forward to cooperating with other broadcasters to roll out this new technology across the country,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook. Using the same technology that powers NextGenTV, BitPath "will launch innovative new services and bring important new revenue streams to broadcasters," said BitPath CEO John Hane. Las Vegas stations had planned to go live with 3.0 during the 2020 NAB Show, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event's cancellation (see 2005140066).
The FCC Media Bureau opened docket 20-145 on a draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 for datacasting, said a public notice Wednesday. The items are for commissioners' June 9 meeting (see 2005180066).
A draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 datacasting set for the commissioners' June 9 meeting “makes it clear the FCC is looking to be very flexible about opening up services beyond traditional TV,” said NAB Senior Vice President-Technology Lynn Claudy during the teleconferenced annual ATSC meeting Wednesday. Claudy, the group's chairman, said “it’s nice to know data broadcasting can begin at scale.” The FCC’s draft items (see 2005180066) use the term “broadcast internet” -- a phrase promoted by Commissioner Brendan Carr -- which Claudy said emphasizes the convergence trend among communications technologies. The pandemic is causing delays in the 3.0 transition, but ATSC President Madeleine Noland said she expects U.S. broadcasters to “substantially achieve” their stated deployment goals for 2020. Noland said the pandemic affected deployment in 3.0 pioneer South Korea, though the country is still expected to offer the standard in 95% of the country “in coming years.” The rollout of 3.0-capable TVs in the U.S. also was affected by the pandemic-related shuttering of brick-and-mortar stores, but the consumer electronics industry has seen “strong initial interest” in the devices, said John Taylor, LG senior vice president-public affairs and communications. Noland lamented the pandemic-caused loss of trade shows as venues to spread the word on the new standard, saying the group’s NextGen Broadcast Conference is still set for Aug. 27-28. That event will happen only if local restrictions and COVID-19 concerns allow it to proceed, she said.
A draft declaratory ruling circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Tuesday clarifies that industry can swap out antennas and other infrastructure on towers without delay under the 2012 Spectrum Act. Commissioner Brendan Carr told us Tuesday that despite the early resistance (see 2005110029) some local governments support the infrastructure clarification and the pandemic underscores the need for building infrastructure quickly.
LG sees many automotive applications on the ATSC 3.0 road map, John Taylor, senior vice president-public affairs and communications, told a CTA-NAB webinar Monday. “The automotive makers that we’re speaking to” see big opportunities for 3.0 in “backseat entertainment” and the technology’s “one-to-many architecture,” he said.
The FCC’s June 9 agenda item saying some ownership limitations doesn't precisely apply to TV broadcasters banding together to use ATSC 3.0 to lease their spectrum for wireless uses isn’t a new policy but more of a clarification, said Commissioner Brendan Carr and industry attorneys in interviews. The item includes an NPRM seeking comment on other rule changes that could help datacasting.
Commissioners will act at their June 9 meeting on CTIA and Wireless Infrastructure Association proposals for more changes to wireless infrastructure rules designed to accelerate siting of towers and other 5G facilities, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday. The move was expected, as is a fight from local and state governments (see 2005110029). Pai will also ask commissioners to approve auction procedures for Phase I of the FCC's 10-year, $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and proposed an NPRM on the use of very high-band spectrum. ATSC 3.0 also is on the agenda (see 2005180066).