Sinclair Broadcast signed a memo of understanding with Hyundai Mobis to develop and implement ATSC 3.0-enabled automotive business models in Korea and the U.S. The collaboration expands Sinclair’s coordination with the Korean market and the commitment to bring mobile services to the U.S., they said. Joint efforts will include geotargeting capabilities, enhanced GPS, software updates, in-vehicle entertainment, real-time emergency information and other public services, the companies said. Separately, Sinclair will demonstrate in the coming months an integrated automotive entertainment platform including music, talk radio and local television at a local Hyundai dealership in Baltimore, delivered through ATSC 3.0-enabled spectrum from local broadcast station WNUV-TV, it said.
Nexstar and E.W. Scripps had growing auto advertising in Q3, executives said on earnings calls Tuesday. Scripps reported Q3 revenue of $612 million, up 10% from the same quarter the prior year. Nexstar reported Q3 net revenue of $1.27 billion, a 9.7% improvement from Q3 2021. “This is the first quarter in years,” that auto ads have shown growth, said Scripps President-Local Media Brian Lawlor. “We’re starting to feel like the biggest pressure from supply chain is behind us." Nexstar CEO Perry Sook also said auto advertising has “returned to growth.” Sook said there's “pent-up demand” among car buyers, which could lead to “tailwinds” for Nexstar in 2023. Some broadcasters said last week auto manufacturers could face additional supply chain issues that might be reflected in ad purchases. Scripps CEO Adam Symson said the company has seen limited signs of “macroeconomic challenges” related to a downturn. National advertisers started to pull back "in anticipation of consumer weakness,” but local advertisers haven't, Sook said. Scripps, like several other broadcasters, reported fewer than expected political advertising dollars in Q3, partially because several candidates in Scripps markets who won primaries were popular with voters but not with advertisers such as political action committees, Scripps executives said. Nexstar met its political ad guidance, and Sook said Tuesday the company’s 2022 political ad dollars are close to beating the 2020 number, though that was a presidential election year. Sook also said Nexstar expects to announce a planned trial ATSC 3.0 project before Q1 2023.
Six Honolulu TV stations began broadcasting with NextGen TV, said Nexstar and BitPath Tuesday. KHII-TV, owned by Nexstar, converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions and is broadcasting its own programming in NextGen TV, plus that of the other participating stations: KITV (ABC), KGMB (CBS), KHON-TV (Fox), KHNL (NBC) and KIKU (Independent), they said.
Seven TV stations in Kansas' Wichita-Hutchinson market began broadcasting with NextGen TV this week, they said Wednesday. KAKE Wichita (ABC), KWCH-DT Hutchinson (CBS), KSAS-TV Wichita (Fox), KSNW Wichita (NBC), KPTS Hutchinson (PBS), KSCW-DT Wichita (CW) and KMTW Hutchinson (DABL) launched following a decade of development and months of planning by the local stations, they said. KSCW-DT, owned by Gray Television, and KMTW, owned by Mercury Broadcasting, have converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions and are broadcasting their own programming, plus that of the other participating stations.
As the broadcast industry moves toward widespread ATSC 3.0 deployment, broadcasters need to ensure consumers unable to afford new TV sets aren't left behind, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, per prepared remarks. "Are there low-cost converters or dongles that the consumer electronics industry can develop? Can they be distributed at community events that broadcasters frequently host or participate in?" he asked. The transition has gone on without the widespread government involvement that characterized the digital transition, "which is to be applauded," Starks said, but there might be a role for the FCC as it had in developing a congressionally mandated digital transition equipment subsidy program "or using our role as the regulator of television equipment." He said the collection of data about individual viewers that ATSC 3.0 would enable, while it's promising in the way it would better help broadcasters compete for advertising dollars, also raises privacy concerns. He said more clarity is needed about what data broadcasters plan to collect and how they will use it. Broadcasters just want "a level playing field" and privacy rules no different from other industries, said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle during a panel at the NAB Show in New York. ATSC 3.0 broadcasters will use tracking data to provide public services such as enhanced emergency information, said E.W. Scripps Vice President-Strategy and Business Development Kerry Oslund. "Some people who talk about that same data may also think about it from an advertising perspective," Oslund said. Scripps is built on "140 years of trust, and we're not going to throw it away by abusing that trust by reaching too far into the data quagmire," Oslund said.
Regulators and lawmakers need to create a more friendly regulatory environment for broadcasters if they want to preserve local journalism and continue living in a democracy, said Hearst Television President Jordan Wertlieb and E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson at NAB New York Wednesday. Panels at the event also touched on cybercrime, the advertising market and ATSC 3.0.
Pearl TV developed the FastTrack program to accelerate development and retail availability of low-cost upgrade accessory receivers for NextGen TV, it said at NAB Show New York Tuesday. The goal is to create a “diverse market of accessories” that will help bring NextGen TV features to 91% of households, Pearl TV said. Noting the ATSC standard “is not backward compatible,” Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle said, “This program helps solve that." The streamlined process enabled by the FastTrack program will allow for lower accessory price points, “making it more affordable and easier" for consumers to experience NextGen TV "even without an enabled television,” Schelle said. Some viewers with TVs bought before 2020 “have yet to enjoy the rich features of the standard,” said Rob Folliard, senior vice president-government relations and distribution, Grey Television. "Device makers can now address this issue with full support and guidance to manufacture and market compatible products that consumers need and want to enjoy over-the-air television service for free,” Folliard said. The program supports manufacturers interested in making devices that support the full NextGen TV feature set, including enhanced video, audio and interactive features, Pearl said. Device requirements will be updated continuously to help manufacturers as NextGen TV evolves, it said. NextGen TV is broadcasting in more than 50 markets, reaching 55% of U.S. households. It's expected to reach 75% of households by the end of 2023; by 2024, Pearl expects over 75% of all TVs sold to be dual HDTV/NextGen TV models. Having an affordable alternative to buying a new NextGen TV receiver without a built-in display "is essential to meet the portion of the potential viewing audience that does not have television sets that support the standard," Pearl said.
Advocates for blind and hearing-impaired individuals praised progress on making emergency information accessible but want further improvements, speaking during the FCC’s virtual Video Programming Accessibility forum Thursday. Viewers with significant hearing loss spend their days relying on closed captioning, and thus have high expectations for captions on emergency information, said Lise Hamlin, Hearing Loss Association of America director-public policy. Hamlin and other panelists said the ability to move captions around on the screen to avoid obscuring other information would greatly aid accessibility in emergencies. The graphic displays of emergency information used by newsrooms often originate as data, so it should be possible to incorporate that data into additional audio streams, said Anil Lewis, National Federation of the Blind executive director-blindness initiatives. Broadcasters have to balance screen real estate with the need to display graphics in ways their audience can understand, said ABC-owned stations Vice President-Technology Pat Stahl. ATSC 3.0 should provide additional options for offering accessible emergency information, said NAB Vice President-Engineering and Technology Policy Kelly Williams and Televisa Univision Senior Vice President-Local Media Engineering Javier Garcia. The new standard allows a multitude of additional audio streams and could allow notifications to warn viewers when alternative aural information is available, said Williams. The difficulty of switching between a primary audio stream and a secondary one is a common complaint among the visually impaired, said Kim Charlson, executive director-Perkins School for the Blind library. For consumers, there shouldn’t be any distinction between online and over-the-air content for accessible emergency information, Charlson said. "The consumer should have the same expectation," she said.
Broadcasters need flexibility in hosting arrangements for their ATSC 1.0 multicast channels to preserve service during the ATSC 3.0 transition, said NAB, Fox, NBCUniversal and Paramount in a call with FCC Media Bureau staff Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-142 Tuesday. The broadcasters and content companies emphasized the need for the agency to allow “lateral hosting,” where a station broadcasting in 1.0 hosts some multicast channels on another 1.0 station in the market during a transition to 3.0. An FCC proposal to clarify 3.0 multicasting rules didn’t include provisions for lateral hosting, but such arrangements would be vital for launching the new standard in the New York market, the filing said. “While such arrangements are unlikely to be any broadcaster’s first choice, broadcasters engaged in channel mapping and planning for market launches have emphasized that lateral hosting will likely be essential in some markets,” the filing said. Permitting lateral hosting won’t make things more difficult for viewers, and broadcasters would use the arrangement sparingly because of its complexity, the filing said. “Absent a specific and concrete reason to believe there is an urgent countervailing public interest consideration, the Commission’s approach with respect to the ATSC 3.0 transition should be to provide broadcasters with as much flexibility as possible,” the filing said.
The FCC should continue to monitor licensing and patent issues around ATSC 3.0 “to ensure patentees’ adherence to the requirement that patentees make declared essential patents licensable and available" on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms said the Alliance for Automotive Innovation in comments posted Thursday in docket 16-142. “These terms should include licensing such patents to all interested implementers, regardless of location in the supply chain, at a royalty based on the value of the smallest saleable unit and without the threat of injunctive relief,” the filing said. The FCC should consider issuing requests for information on licensing practices to the MPEG LA patent pool on 3.0 and individual 3.0 patent holders, the filing said. Several commenters in the 3.0 proceeding urged the commission to steer clear of regulating 3.0 patent issues, with a few expressing doubt that the FCC has the regulatory authority to do so.