NAB raised concerns and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council supported a Land Mobile Communications Council petition asking the FCC to modify its Part 90 rules on sharing of TV channels 14-20 with the T-band to reflect the changes that have occurred due to the DTV transition. Comments were posted Thursday in RM-11915. The T-band is shared with public safety and gets the most use in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C. “The changes LMCC proposes could have the practical effect of increasing instances of harmful interference between television stations and land mobile operations in the T-band by allowing television stations and land mobile operations to operate in closer proximity to one another,” NAB said. It noted “occasional complaints concerning interference issues between television stations and T-band land mobile operators under the existing rules, including from LMCC itself.” NPSTC said “time is ripe” to update the rules. “The Commission is fortunate that the LMCC has done so much of the work required to initiate the rulemaking proceeding it has requested,” NPSTC said: “The LMCC petition is comprehensive and includes the background leading to the request, specific recommended changes to the rules, and the rationale for the recommendations provided. The petition even provides a succinct summary on the history of the T-Band spectrum sharing that began in the 1970s. This summary should be helpful as well in crafting the NPRM.” Los Angeles County noted the rules were last updated in the 1990s. “Experience gained from (1) combating interference from DTV operations (new since original rules were adopted), (2) the transition of some [land-mobile radio] systems from analog to digital (which is a continuing process), and (3) the lack of vacant channel options due to channel repacking -- all mandate that the Commission revisit equipment performance assumptions made over two decades ago,” the county said. Issue an NPRM “at the earliest opportunity,” urged the Enterprise Wireless Alliance: T-Band applicants “must comply with a rule that protects television station contours as though they still were operating in NTSC [National Television System Committee] format even though they are required to operate in ATSC [Advanced Television Systems Committee] format. In the interim, television stations are receiving greater than necessary protection while, conversely, affected land mobile systems are not able to derive maximum use of T-Band spectrum.”
At Tech Oversight Project, executive director is Sacha Haworth, ex-American Bridge 21st Century, and deputy executive director-communications director is Kyle Morse, ex-Trump War Room ... Disney promotes Trisha Husson to head-strategy, business operations and finance, Disney General Entertainment; Eric Marcotte adds oversight of strategy and business operations team as senior vice president.
Though ATSC “is not directly involved in patent licensing, we are pleased to hear the announcement of the ATSC 3.0 patent pool” by MPEG LA (see 2201200058), emailed ATSC President Madeleine Noland Friday. “Recognizing that patent pools often add licensors over time, we are delighted to see this group of thirteen licensors working together to simplify and accelerate ATSC 3.0 adoption into an expanding line-up of NextGenTV products.”
Thirteen licensors populate the one-stop patent pool for ATSC 3.0 technologies that MPEG LA launched Thursday, as was expected recently after about three and a half years of development (see 2112100004).
ATSC 3.0's backers need to focus on attracting consumers, advertisers and consumer tech OEMs to the new technology, said executives from E.W. Scripps, Sinclair, Nexstar, and BitPath in a virtual panel Thursday. “A lot of these OEMs need to understand in a much deeper way what’s in it for them,” said Kerry Oslund, Scripps vice president-strategy and business development. If broadcasters don’t ensure that ATSC 3.0 early adopters see “a tangible difference,” 3.0 “will be 3DTV all over again.”
Consumer "acceptance" of ATSC 3.0 is “rapid,” said Pearl TV representatives, including Managing Director Anne Schelle, on a Jan. 14 call with an aide to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington about the progress in deploying the new standard, according to a filing posted Wednesday in docket 16-142. ATSC 3.0 services are in “over 46 markets” and 35 more will launch in 2022, said Pearl: "In less than two years, nearly 3 million NextGen TV receivers have been sold, and it is projected that 4.5 million sets will be sold this year as more consumers upgrade to smart TVs. This rapid acceptance of the technology is one of the fastest penetration rates for a new consumer technology."
A survey by an ATSC 3.0 industry group shows consumer demand for the technology's enhanced emergency information capabilities, said Sinclair and subsidiary One Media, which sponsored the research. The survey, done by the NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance, showed “almost two-thirds of American consumers” want geotargeted alerts. Over half want the ability to curate which alerts are received and the ability to opt in to a stream of emergency information. “Almost two thirds of American consumers said they would pay an extra $5” for a mobile phone with enhanced emergency information and “almost half said they would pay an extra $10,” the release said.
The Evoca-branded pay-TV service using ATSC 3.0 entered its fourth market Thursday when it lit up Idaho's KVUI and KPIF, both Pocatello, emailed a spokesperson. Parent company Edge Networks launched Evoca in Boise in August 2020 (see 2008210021). It’s now also available in Phoenix and Colorado Springs.
Five TV stations in Washington, D.C., began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0, with Howard University’s noncommercial station WHUT-TV hosting the signals of Sinclair’s WJLA-TV, NBCUniversal’s WRC-TV, Fox’s WTTG, and Tegna’s WUSA. “It’s gonna take time to infiltrate the market” with 3.0 receivers, said WHUT General Manager Sean Plater in an interview. “Step one was to get stations on the air." Viewers of WHUT’s 1.0 signal won’t see a difference in their feed, Plater said. “That’s one of the first things we checked.” NAB worked with Howard to create an ATSC 3.0 “learning lab” and certificate program at the school, said NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny in a video presentation Thursday. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks appeared in the video, praising NAB for creating educational opportunities for Howard University students with the new standard. Matheny highlighted one student, Sulaiman Bastien, who created an 3.0 app in connection with the program. Plater said one reason broadcasters emphasized getting 3.0 online in Washington is to make the tech easy for lawmakers to access. “We want to make sure they can see it up close and personal.” Outgoing NAB CEO Gordon Smith said 3.0 will be broadcasting in 35 markets by year's end.
ATSC 3.0 continued to “gain momentum” in 2021, with dozens of U.S. cities launching NextGenTV services, blogged ATSC President Madeleine Noland Monday. She estimated nearly 200 3.0 channels are available in more than 40 cities, supported by 70 compliant TV models from LG, Samsung and Sony: “Broadcasters are taking full advantage of this momentum, offering services with better video quality, enhanced dialog control with Voice+, interactive applications and more, while promoting new services.”