If FirstNet doesn't work with America’s Public Television Stations, the FCC "may wish to engage through oversight or other action to ensure that the nation’s first responders have the full benefit of public television’s datacasting capability," APTS told Public Safety Bureau staff in a filing for docket 19-254. "APTS seeks first and foremost to work with FirstNet and AT&T in a cooperative approach." FirstNet didn't comment Monday. “In an ideal world, the Commission would encourage the integration of datacasting and, if necessary, mandate that ATSC 3.0 broadcast chips be included in all public safety phones and devices,” the public broadcaster group said. “Such action would allow for a transparent hand-off of datacasting from public TV broadcast stations to the public safety LTE network allowing for a two-way mobile communications path.” Friday, FirstNet Executive Director Edward Parkinson said at CES FirstNet has more than 1 million connections. "We’ve seen commercial carriers competing like they never have before to gain public safety’s business,” he said: “We’ve seen industry rising to the occasion for our first responders with new devices, apps, and solutions."
Sony’s decision putting ATSC 3.0 compatibility in its X900H series of LED-backlit 4K LCD TVs leaves it alone among the three TV vendors introducing 3.0 goods at CES in not reserving NEXTGEN TV (see 2001080031) for the upper-most tiers of their 2020 premium product lines. LG is building 3.0 compatibility into its higher tiers of 8K and 4K OLED TV products, and Samsung is emphasizing 3.0 capability in its top-of-the-line 8K QLED TVs for 2020 (see 2001060026).
The Patent and Trademark Office declared dead two December 2018 applications from Sharp’s Japanese parent company to trademark “NXT-GEN” for consumer TVs and monitors, agency records show. Both applications, one for a plain-text trademark, the other for a stylized logo, got provisional PTO approval June 4, pending Sharp’s filing of a statement of use (SOU) within six months or a request for a deadline extension. PTO ruled the applications abandoned Monday after Sharp filed neither by the Jan. 4 deadline. Agency rules require the SOU to prevent companies from hoarding trademarks they have no intention to commercialize in order just to keep them out of competitors' hands. Abandonment of the Sharp applications appears to render moot a possible controversy in CTA’s effort to register the NEXTGEN TV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0 consumer products (see 1910020024). CTA risked “potential refusal” of its Sept. 25 trademark request because Sharp’s NXT-GEN filings were “prior-pending applications,” and there would have been “a likelihood of confusion between the marks,” the agency notified CTA Friday, three days before Sharp's applications died. Had they survived, CTA’s application would have faced “suspension” at the agency pending “final disposition” of the Sharp docket, said PTO. Sharp didn’t comment Wednesday on why it let its applications lapse, nor did CTA on averting the possible controversy.
TV stations that must change frequencies following the incentive auction continue (see 1908090050) to make their phase deadlines by shifting their signal to interim antennas that don’t reach all viewers, said broadcasters, FCC officials and antenna manufacturers in recent interviews. Phase seven -- out of 10 -- of the post-incentive auction repacking ends Jan. 17.
LG TVs dating to the 2016 model year have Disney Plus backward compatibility through a firmware update, the consumer electronics manufacturer announced at CES in Las Vegas. The plan for Apple TV Plus compatibility is to be determined. The company also disclosed its U.S. ATSC 3.0 plans (see 2001060026).
LG will build ATSC 3.0 TV functionality into six of its most premium OLED TV models for 2020, said the company Monday at CES in Las Vegas. “Nextgen TV represents the marriage of broadcast and broadband,” Tim Alessi, head-LG home entertainment product marketing, told a news conference. “We expect local stations in more than 60 markets” serving up to 70 percent of the viewing population “to launch some type of Nextgen TV services in 2020,” he said. LG and Samsung were first to announce 3.0 consumer products for the U.S. market. Both were heavily involved in 3.0 standards-setting and worked aggressively to bring 3.0 TVs to South Korean consumers in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Samsung will build 3.0 functionality across its 2020 8K QLED TV line, it said Sunday. Samsung will be “excited to see” how 3.0 “steers our broadcast partners into developing content and experiences for our 8K ecosystem,” it said.
More details about broadcasters' and consumer electronics' ATSC 3.0 rollout may come this week at CES. Secrecy beforehand shrouded the breadth and form of the first actual 3.0 consumer receivers to be introduced in Las Vegas for retail delivery later in 2020. An ATSC news release Friday heralded “NEXTGEN TV powered by ATSC 3.0" as a CES 2020 hallmark. The first U.S. consumer receivers with “integrated” 3.0 capabilities “are expected to be announced in the coming days,” said ATSC, a first-time CES exhibitor. The introductions will highlight “the key consumer benefits of enhanced audio and video designed to offer an immersive and effortless experience for the early adopters of the new system,” it said. LG, Samsung and Sony, three of the CE brands most active in the development of 3.0 standards, will appear. ATSC President Madeleine Noland will join CTA President Gary Shapiro and NAB President Gordon Smith in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Grand Lobby in a ceremony Wednesday “to commemorate the official launch” of 3.0 products at CES, said ATSC. Product introductions will support stations' rollout of 3.0 services in “60-plus U.S. markets this year,” it said.
ITU adopted ATSC 3.0 as an international recommended DTV standard, said Sinclair Thursday. The U.S. delegation starting in April pushed for that, the release said. The next step toward implementation involves updating “the ITU-sanctioned Digital Handbook” instructions for moving to 3.0, the broadcaster said. Sinclair Vice President-Spectrum Engineering and Policy Louis Libin chairs the ITU Rapporteur Group assigned to modify the Digital Handbook. “With initial U.S. deployments in place, we’re anticipating the first announcements of consumer receivers for the U.S. market in the coming days" at CES, said ATSC Board Chairman Lynn Claudy, NAB senior vice president-technology. "The decision by the ITU is yet another signal that digital terrestrial broadcasting has a bright future ahead,”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai names Monisha Ghosh, from National Science Foundation, chief technology officer ... Public Knowledge appoints Diego Rivera, ex-Equal Rights Center, director-finance and administration, and Tsion Tesfaye, ex-CeaseFirePA, communications justice fellow, launching Tech Policy Diversity Project ... Jenner & Block promotes to partners Christopher Lindsay, media and entertainment litigation, and Johanna Thomas, communications, internet and technology.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai becomes also Alphabet CEO; Alphabet CEO Larry Page and President Sergey Brin leave their roles, remaining shareholders and board members ... Wiley Rein promotes Henry Gola to partner, and Daniel Brooks and Kathryne Dickerson to of counsel, all telecom, media and technology ... Brendan Parets, ex-office of Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., rejoins Covington & Burling as special counsel-congressional investigations and lobbying, telecom, technology and judiciary ... Cable and communications lawyer Craig Gilley leaves Mintz for Venable.