LAS VEGAS -- As a pre-CES media advisory Friday said heads of ATSC, CTA and NAB will convene in a “milestone ceremony” on the show's opening morning to commemorate completion of the last of the suite of ATSC 3.0 standards, broadcast consortium Pearl TV announced a “collaborative project” with Sony Electronics to develop a “channel navigation tool” to be deployed and tested in the Phoenix “model market” of 10 TV stations (see 1711140053).
LG is the first TV maker to complete “initial field tests” of the Verance Aspect audio watermark for ATSC 3.0, said Verance in a Wednesday announcement. The tests were conducted using the current 1.0 standard in collaboration with Fox and NBC in the Phoenix market, Verance said. That's where broadcast consortium Pearl TV announced plans mid-November for a 3.0 “model market” involving 10 TV stations to “help foster industry consensus and drive ecosystem development” (see 1711140053).
Despite 2017 being a particularly active year for retransmission consent negotiations, cable and broadcast experts weren’t expecting a notable wave of new blackouts on Jan. 1 triggered by contracts that expired Dec. 31. The end of 2016 had a slew of retrans disruptions, and there were worries about sizably more at the end of 2017 (see 1701030046). Alaska's GCI emailed customers last week that they might lose local ABC and CW stations from their cable lineups on Jan. 1 and the local Fox station on Jan. 15 due to a retrans impasse with the stations' ownership.
Comments on the ATSC 3.0 Further NPRM are due Feb. 20, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. Replies are due March 20. The FNPRM seeks comment on possible exceptions and waivers to the new standard’s simulcasting requirement, on broadcasters using vacant channels in the broadcast band during the transition, and tentatively concludes that simulcasting shouldn’t affect a station’s significantly viewed status. The actual ATSC 3.0 order hasn’t yet been published in the Federal Register, and the agency will issue a PN when it is, the bureau said.
Sinclair’s proposed buy of Tribune is a threat to competitive wireless carriers, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a series of meetings at the FCC. “CCA described the concrete, transaction-specific injuries to mobile broadband competition that would ensue if the transaction were approved,” said a filing in docket 17-179. “Sinclair has a demonstrable incentive to exploit its position as a 600 MHz incumbent to deny wireless carriers the nearly $20 billion worth of spectrum they have purchased unless Sinclair’s preferred ATSC 3.0 technologies are incorporated into wireless handsets.”
MediaTek is the first SoC supplier to finish “evaluation tests” of Verance’s Aspect audio watermarking for ATSC 3.0, the companies announced. At CES, they'll do “joint demonstrations” of MediaTek's DTV platforms integrated with the Aspect watermark, they said Tuesday. The FCC's Nov. 16 vote authorizing 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) “paves the way for taking broadcasting to the next level,” they said. Verance is developing “go-to-market” partnerships for Aspect with consumer electronics companies and chipmakers, they said. ATSC’s "S33" specialist group on management and protocols picked Verance’s audio watermarking technology for 3.0 nearly three years ago (see 1504030030). It’s in the A/334 document on “audio watermark emission,” which ATSC approved as a final 3.0 standard in September 2016.
Reviewing broadcaster requests to own top-four duopolies on a case-by-case basis better reflects the media market and provides a clearer procedure than the general waiver process, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter last month and recently released to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., declining to postpone approval of the media ownership reconsideration order (see 1711160054) and ATSC 3.0 (see 1711160060). Both items were approved 3-2 at commissioners' November meeting. Eshoo’s request for delay was denied because both items serve the public interest, Pai said. He defended provisions in the 3.0 order that sunset the requirement that 1.0 simulcasts be substantially similar to broadcaster's 3.0 feeds and that low-power TV stations are exempt from simulcasting requirements. LPTV stations would have a hard time finding simulcast partners, so ending the substantially similar provision after five years won’t end broadcaster obligations to simulcast, Pai said. “The Commission will decide in a future proceeding whether and, if so, when it would be appropriate for broadcasters to stop simulcasting in ATSC 1.0.”
ATSC’s A/331 document on signaling, delivery, synchronization and error protection was approved Dec. 6 as a final 3.0 standard, said Monroe Electronics, which said the Advanced Emergency Alerting (AEA) specification “is based primarily on designs” it submitted. The document “specifies the technical mechanisms and procedures pertaining to service signaling and IP-based delivery of a variety of ATSC 3.0 services and contents to ATSC 3.0-capable receivers over broadcast, broadband and hybrid broadcast/broadband networks.” South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute contributed IP, as did Fraunhofer, LG, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony and Technicolor. The AEA spec "is part of a non-proprietary standard," Ed Czarnecki, Monroe senior director-strategic and government affairs, told us Tuesday. "Our goal was to contribute an element in ATSC 3.0 that would enhance the overall value of next-gen TV.” AEA's messaging feature of A/331 will enable broadcasters “to leapfrog to IP-based, mobile, customizable, and media-rich emergency notifications to their audiences, with the potential for a range of first responder and public safety services,” said Czarnecki in a statement. It “will enable a vastly improved user experience for TV viewers when it comes to emergency alerts, whether they're watching through receivers on fixed screens, mobile phones, or portable devices such as tablets or vehicle-mounted displays,” said Monroe. Following FCC Nov. 16 authorization of 3.0 voluntary deployment, the goal of the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance is to have a "beta solution” on emergency alerting by early 2019 available for stations launching 3.0 broadcasts beginning in 2019 (see 1711200023).
Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council's Kim Keenan resigns as president-CEO to "pursue another business opportunity," MMTC spokeswoman says; Maurita Coley Flippin named interim president-CEO and continues doing chief operating officer-executive vice president duties ... Internet Association hires Amy Murphy, who advised the now-retiring Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, as manager-federal government affairs ... Disney hires from Channel Media Solutions Mike Napodano as senior vice president-chief technology officer, Disney|ABC Television Group.
Wayne Luplow to retire in early January after a 53-year career at Zenith, including as one of the framers of HDTV; will remain a consultant on ATSC 3.0 and other issues and keep his ATSC board seat as a representative of IEEE ... Entercom re-adds Nichole Hartman, ex-Cox Media Group, as senior vice president-market manager, Chattanooga and promotes Claudia Menegus to senior vice president-market manager, Orlando ... Univision Communications moves up Dominic Fails to senior vice president-local media sales, for radio business nationwide.