Pearl TV and its partners in the ATSC 3.0 Phoenix model-market project will use this week’s NAB Show New York to showcase publicly for the first time the common “application framework” they developed and hope to promote as an open industry standard for 3.0's nationwide deployment, Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle told us Monday. The framework “gives the CEs comfort that when they sell a television set in Chicago, the consumer experience on their set will be the same in Charlotte,” said Schelle of consumer electronics makers.
The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on a joint petition from NAB and America’s Public Television Stations proposing relaxing interference rules to make it easier for broadcasters transitioning to ATSC 3.0 to use distributed transmission systems (see 1910040038), said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Comments are due in docket 16-142 on Nov. 12, replies Nov. 27. The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition expressed concern about the proposed changes (see 1910070071).
ATSC’s goal at NAB Show New York is “keeping the momentum going” for ATSC 3.0, “but also education,” which is why the “theme” of ATSC’s booth will be “Get Ready!” President Madeleine Noland told us Friday. As the 3.0 deployment gets closer, industry professionals responsible for the implementation are bound to have “a lot of questions,” she said.
A petition on relaxing interference rules to make it easier for ATSC 3.0 broadcasters to use single frequency networks (see 1910040038) has LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino “very concerned." In an emailed newsletter Monday, Gravino called for a “crowd sourced impact analysis” to gauge the effect of the petition on low-power TV, Class A and TV translator stations. He's seeking information on whether LPTV will be able to benefit from the proposal, whether any efforts have been made to study the effects on LPTV, and what will happen to LPTV stations “displaced” by the signals from distributed transmission systems outside their full-power station’s contour. “During the next two years LPTV will still be moving around, and many with government funding to move,” Gravino emailed us. “While I am very concerned about this Petition, I am open to seeing to how it could benefit us, also.”
The FCC should seek comment on relaxing restrictions on distributed transmission systems (DTS) to let stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0 better use single frequency networks, said a petition for rulemaking from NAB and America’s Public Television Stations posted in docket 16-142 Friday. Changing the rules to allow broadcasters to set up SFNs on the edges of their station contours would improve coverage throughout station coverage areas, increase spectrum efficiency, and reduce the need for TV translators, they said. NAB and APTS want the FCC to seek comment on redefining station coverage areas to allow DTS transmitter signals to reach outside the service area of a station’s central transmitter, so they can better fill in gaps in the edges of an outlet’s coverage. The rule change won’t result in more interference for low-power TV stations, the groups said. “Stations could enhance service to viewers by improving coverage throughout their service areas and offering improved mobile coverage without the risk of encroaching on the service of stations in adjacent markets.” Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald said more flexibility for DTS is probably a good thing for the public, but that it’s not clear what the proposal could mean for LPTV. Low-power s could lose some viewers outside their protected contour to interference from DTS transmitters, he said. “If the FCC encourages DTS to replace translators, new channels could open up that would benefit LPTV stations.”
A declaratory ruling prohibiting charging higher 911 fees for VoIP subscribers than for legacy phone services circulated on the 8th floor Wednesday. It would resolve jurisdiction issues over such fees, says the FCC draft Friday on docket 19-44. Also released for the Oct. 25 meeting were a draft cable TV effective competition order for parts of Massachusetts and Hawaii, the 800 MHz rebanding draft order, a draft NPRM for removing broadcast antenna siting rules that don’t appear to have ever been successfully used, a draft order on measuring broadband performance of Connect America Fund recipients and a draft order regarding telecom tariffs (see 1910030061).
CTA applied to register the NEXTGEN TV logo as a certification mark Sept. 25, the day before introducing it publicly as the linchpin of the industry’s go-to-market strategy for ATSC 3.0 TVs (see 1909260021), said newly posted records at the Patent and Trademark Office. The logo “is intended to certify that the goods to which the mark will be applied have been evaluated to meet certain use and performance standards, namely that the goods are ATSC 3.0 standard compliant,” said the application that Wiley Rein filed on CTA’s behalf. The association will “later provide” a copy of the “standards governing the use of the certification mark on or in connection with the goods/services in the application,” it said. Details remain murky on the performance metrics that would minimally qualify a TV to bear the logo.
Verance landed adoption of its ATSC 3.0-specified Aspect watermarking for HbbTV’s “application discovery over broadband” platform, said the technology supplier Tuesday. The move will “facilitate” interoperability and give manufacturers and programmers “global scale and cost efficiencies,” said Verance.
In choosing NEXTGEN TV for the go-to-market messaging behind ATSC 3.0 consumer products to be introduced in 2020 (see 1909190066), CTA "ended up with a name and a logo I think we are very happy with and have reviewed with partners,” Brian Markwalter, senior vice president-research and standards, told us. “The collective industry is excited.”
The Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance met with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Sept. 12, said a filing posted in FCC docket 16-142 Thursday. The meeting was an update on advanced emergency alerts and ATSC 3.0. AWARN met with the offices of Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Mike O’Rielly last month (see 1908230039).