Broadcasters say multichannel video programming distributor carriage of ATSC 3.0 will be voluntary but are insisting on clauses requiring such carriage in retransmission consent negotiations, said the American Television Alliance in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142 Monday. “ATVA’s concerns about the ‘voluntary’ nature of ATSC 3.0 carriage reflect the real-world experiences of ATVA members,” the letter said. “As the Commission considers claims made by the broadcast industry in this rulemaking, we urge it to examine the apparent disconnect between such claims and broadcasters’ actual conduct in negotiations.”
Preliminary work to repack broadcasters after the incentive auction has begun and is going smoothly, said engineers, broadcasters, antenna manufacturers and industry officials in recent interviews. But they said that’s likely to change, both in April when the 39-month countdown clock on the repacking starts ticking and when it comes time to install all the new broadcast equipment stations will need to transition to their new channel assignments. A lack of experienced tower crews and the sheer amount of work needed is going to create a bottleneck, numerous industry officials said.
Consumers Union, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge share FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's concerns about the proposed ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard's impact on the public, representatives of those consumer advocacy groups told her Chief of Staff David Grossman. Will consumers still be able to get HDTV via ATSC 1.0, asked CU, OTI and PK, saying they agree with Clyburn that "broadcasters’ public interest obligations, including the required number of hours of video description and children’s programming, should apply independently to both the ATSC 3.0 transmission and a station’s 1.0 stream." The commissioner made the comments when voting last month on a 3.0 NPRM (see 1702230060). Consumers could benefit from TV outlets broadcasting video content to smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, the advocates said, though they worry stations could try to use leverage over retransmission consent "to coerce" pay-TV providers to carry 3.0 programming. Broadcasters mustn't be allowed to use 3.0 to "foreclose open and unlicensed public access to the vacant TV band spectrum that is not licensed and in use for free over-the-air local broadcast content," said CU, OTI and PK. Don't "allow private licensees to foreclose the spectrum commons by demanding increased restrictions on TV White Space devices to purportedly protect non-free ancillary or ATSC 3.0 data services," the three said in a filing posted Friday in docket 16-142. NAB didn't comment Friday. The association has said the transition to 3.0 would be voluntary and offer many benefits.
Nexstar Media and Sinclair agreed to create a consortium designed to let broadcasters compete with wireless companies using both ATSC 3.0 and current broadcast advertising, said a news release from the TV station owners and broadcast executives in interviews. The consortium, which “will promote spectrum aggregation, innovation and monetization,” will be jointly owned and controlled by Sinclair and Nexstar, the firms said. It's “non-exclusive” and the consortium “is intent on exploring the inclusion of other television broadcasting entities,” they said.
The FCC will “breathe life” into Section 7 of the Communications Act and will determine within a year whether any proposal for a new technology or service is in the public interest, Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday in a speech at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, webcast from Pittsburgh. The agency posted Pai’s remarks. Pai said he's directing staff to follow Section 7 and is charging the Office of Engineering and Technology with making sure the FCC adheres to the law.
Notice of the FCC NPRM on ATSC 3.0 was published in Friday's Federal Register. Comments on the TV standard (see 1702230060) in docket 16-142 are due May 9, replies June 8, said an FCC public notice and the FR notice. The May 9 deadline falls a week before ATSC members convene for their annual broadcast TV conference.
The AWARN Alliance and One Media demonstrated how ATSC 3.0 will enhance emergency alerting, for FCC Media Bureau acting Chief Michelle Carey and staff, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-142 Tuesday. Officials from NAB, Monroe Electronics and Sinclair attended, the filing said. “These demonstrations showed how the Next Gen standard moves far beyond simple text messages on receive devices to display photos of missing children, kidnapping suspects, vehicle identity and location maps.” The “limited technical proceeding” on ATSC 3.0 “should not be the vehicle to expand programming obligations or other rules not directly tied to the optional, voluntary use of the new standard,” said the alliance, which along with CTA, NAB and others petitioned the FCC to OK 3.0. In its own ex parte filing on the Monday meeting, One Media said the simulcasting proposed in the ATSC 3.0 NPRM is "adaptable on a market-specific basis without government involvement and protects both viewers and MVPDs by continuing to offer the existing programming without change."
Though ATSC 3.0 for now is earmarked for deployment only in South Korea first and the U.S. next, its suite of standards “anticipates application in different regions of the world, and is therefore designed to intrinsically accommodate regional variations,” says ATSC 3.0’s A/300 document, just approved as a candidate standard and posted to the ATSC website. ATSC President Mark Richer at last year’s NAB Show previewed the A/300 “master document” as the “mother of all standards” because it “points to all the other documents” in the ATSC 3.0 suite (see 1604180080).
An order that would increase flexibility of channel sharing rules for broadcasters was circulated Thursday and will be on the agenda for the FCC’s March 23 commissioners' meeting, said a blog post by Chairman Ajit Pai. Under his transparency pilot program, the full text and an accompanying fact sheet were released. “The draft item would give low power TV and TV translator stations more options to stay in business and continue broadcasting essential news and information to the public,” Pai blogged.
Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders left Thursday’s hearing on spectrum value with intentions to focus on the FCC and what can happen on the regulatory front, they told us. Policymakers need to keep their eye on the ball about freeing additional spectrum, with priority on licensed and unlicensed use, witnesses told senators, part of what was initially believed to be a Spectrum 101-style introduction for newer Commerce Committee members. Several showed up to ask about spectrum, the digital divide and their interests.