LAS VEGAS -- ATSC 3.0 market tests won’t end with the model market project Pearl TV is running in Phoenix and Sinclair’s single-frequency-network trials in Dallas, Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle said at a Tuesday NAB Show workshop on maximizing 3.0's future business potential. Phoenix and Dallas “are just the markets today,” she said.
LAS VEGAS -- Life for wireless mic operators may grow more complex once TV stations reshuffle frequencies, an engineer at a maker of mic systems said at the NAB Show. Spectrum for such transmissions may grow more scarce and there may be more competing uses, these and other comments Tuesday suggested.
LAS VEGAS -- Pearl TV and Sinclair used the early hours of the NAB Show to tout expansions of the ATSC 3.0 trials they're running in their two test markets. The Pearl-led Phoenix “model market” project (see 1711140053) announced the addition of nine more collaborating companies, while Dish Network, with Sinclair's urging, joined the Sinclair-led consortium of Nexstar, Univision, American Tower and Cunningham Broadcasting -- newly named the Spectrum Co. -- that’s running 3.0 single-frequency-network (SFN) trials at three sites in the Dallas area (see 1801170053).
LAS VEGAS -- The FCC Media Bureau is “outlining” NPRMs on dispensing the additional repacking reimbursement funds, will soon issue a public notice announcing a secondary reimbursement allocation, and is planning to tackle kids' video rules and retrans reform in 2018, said Media Bureau Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman on a panel at the NAB Show Monday. The commission is also “actively working” on policies to address interference between FM translators and full power stations, Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner said.
LG Electronics is the first TV maker to join the ATSC 3.0 “model market” project in Phoenix (see 1711140053), said the company Thursday. It will supply the first 3.0 receivers for the project, which is being spearheaded by Pearl TV and supported by 10 TV stations in the market to show how the standard “can be deployed while maintaining existing digital TV service for viewers,” it said. LG receivers "will be tested by local broadcasters and consumer focus groups" as the model market project "ramps up this summer," it said. Though just before CES Pearl announced a “collaborative project” for the Phoenix model market with another TV maker, Sony Electronics, that was for the development of a 3.0 “channel navigation tool,” not TV receivers (see 1801050035).
The post-incentive auction repacking’s recent cash infusion, construction process and looming phase deadlines are expected to dominate discussions at the NAB Show, which begins Saturday, broadcasters and their legal representatives said in interviews. NAB expects attendance to approach 100,000, a spokesman said. Exhibitions will feature about 1,700 companies, including 244 first-timers, the association said.
Programming for ATSC’s annual Broadcast TV Conference in Washington isn't complete, but the May 23-24 event is open for registration and does have a theme -- “Road to ATSC 3.0: Destination Next Gen TV.” A newly posted registration page bills day one as a 3.0 “implementation review” and day two as the Next Gen TV Conference. The event is ATSC’s first annual meeting since the FCC in November authorized 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) and framers completed work on the last of 3.0's suite of standards in January (see 1801090056). "Road to ATSC 3.0" also will be the name of the exhibit sponsored by ATSC, CTA and NAB in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center during next week's NAB Show, said ATSC President Mark Richer in the April issue of the group's monthly newsletter The Standard, which was released Monday. The exhibit will highlight early 3.0 deployments, said Richer. More than 40 exhibitors will showcase 3.0 technology on the NAB show floor, he said.
Four more broadcast equipment and services suppliers will participate in the Phoenix “model market” initiative for deploying ATSC 3.0, said Pearl TV in a Tuesday announcement. Dielectric will supply UHF bandpass filters to Phoenix TV stations participating in the initiative, Enensys is supplying its 3.0 broadcast gateways, GatesAir the latest generation of its Maxiva TV transmitters, and Triveni Digital is providing its Broadcast Services Management Platform content distribution systems, said Pearl. Harmonic announced Tuesday it will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processors (see 1803270006).
Petitions for Reconsideration of the FCC’s ATSC 3.0 order from NCTA and the American Television Alliance (see 1803060053) are being published in Thursday’s Federal Register. Oppositions are due April 13, replies April 27, the FR said.
Video delivery products and services supplier Harmonic is joining Pearl TV and its team of “ecosystem partners” deploying ATSC 3.0 field trials in the Phoenix “model market” of 10 TV stations (see 1711140053), said Harmonic in a Tuesday announcement. Harmonic will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processor, it said. The Phoenix testbed initiative is “the first time that a single market will test the ATSC 3.0 standard and provide a framework to the industry," said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle in a statement. Partnering with companies like Harmonic can help Pearl TV “validate groundbreaking improvements for over-the-air broadcasting and experiment with innovative use cases that ATSC 3.0 enables,” she said.