Numerous broadcast interests backed NAB's petition to clarify how multicast streams of TV stations simulcasting in the ATSC 3.0 transition will be treated under FCC licensing rule (see 2011100067). Public TV participation in next-generation broadcasting has been hampered and public stations might not get all the public interest benefits of ATSC 3.0 due to a problem with the 2017 ATSC 3.0 order, PBS and America’s Public Television Stations said Monday in docket 16-142. Public stations shouldn't have to choose between continuing to broadcast their existing multicast streams and taking part in next-gen key deployments, they said, backing NAB's petition for clarification on multicast streams and simulcasting. Those NAB-sought clarifications are needed so stations can "allocate scarce spectrum resources to meet consumer demand" during the years of transitioning to ATSC 3.0, Gray Television said. It said if not by clarification, the FCC should establish by rulemaking that a station transitioning to ATSC 3.0 can partner with one or more stations to host its multicast channels in ATSC 1.0 even where it won't simulcast all of those channels on its ATSC 3.0 signal. Those also filing comments in recent days backing NAB included Graham, Pearl and E.W. Scripps.
Nexstar Media began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 on its Denver stations KDVR and KWGN-TV, it said Wednesday. When all 2021 deployments of 3.0 are done, about a third of TV households reached by a Nexstar station will receive a NextGenTV signal, said Brett Jenkins, Nexstar executive vice president-chief technology officer.
Maintain the waiver process rather than relax rules to let broadcasters use ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission systems (see 2012110052), said New America’s Open Technology Institute in a call with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Monday, per an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 20-74. Proposed changes would “undermine the Commission’s recent Report and Order that expands rural broadband access leveraging television white space devices,” OTI said. If DTS deployments with more than minimum spillover beyond a station’s current contour are allowed, FCC should say such transmissions are unlicensed and don’t get interference protection, OTI said.
Pearl TV and its ATSC 3.0 partners in the Phoenix model market began initial testing over limited cable infrastructure through a cooperative effort with Comcast in Portland, Oregon. This “could give the industry a foundation for a ‘real world’ technical example of how to transmit ATSC 3.0 over hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure,” said Pearl Tuesday. Seven stations are on-air with NextGenTV in Portland, “so it makes sense to work with a major operator in the area like Comcast to determine what’s needed to distribute this new capability to cable customers,” said Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle. The first stages will develop the technical capability to pass along 4K content and later enable HDR10, wide color gamut and advanced immersive audio, said Pearl.
Microsoft, ACT|The App Association and business group Voices for Innovation want the FCC to shelve ATSC 3.0-connected rule changes to allow distributed transmission systems (DTS), but public TV and NAB say the rule changes would help finalize transition plans and serve viewers (see 2011100067). “Allowing the extension of the DTS signal beyond a station’s protected contour would adversely and unnecessarily impact the availability of television white spaces spectrum,” said Microsoft in a call last week with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, according to a filing in docket 20-74. “The proposed rule changes will provide unneeded service area expansions to broadcasters that will substantially reduce available spectrum for TV white spaces,” said Voices for Innovation in an ex parte filing posted Friday. The FCC's “laudable work” on TVWS “is already being placed in jeopardy” by the DTS proposal, said ACT. “Contrary to some claims, amendment of these rules would not change the interference protections to which broadcasters are entitled and would not change the size of ‘white spaces’ exclusion zones,” said NAB and America’s Public Television Stations in a call with Rosenworcel aides. “We urge the Commission to move forward with these technical changes.”
Five TV stations in the Detroit area will turn on ATSC 3.0, plus a program to test automotive applications for the new standard, said a news release Thursday. The stations involved are owned by Graham Media, E.W. Scripps, CBS and Fox. The broadcasters are also using a portion of their spectrum for “the Motown 3.0 Open Test Track” to provide research and development for the automotive industry to “road test proof-of-concepts and connected car solutions” using the IP capabilities of 3.0. Those tests involve using the spectrum to send data files to cars, the release said. Initial participants include LG Electronics, Amazon Web Services and LTN Global, the release said.
The FCC voted 5-0 to approve an order on ATSC 3.0 datacasting, but Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks concurred over concerns about consumer costs. “There comes a point -- and I think we’re getting there fast -- where we can no longer afford to ignore this issue,” said Rosenworcel. “We need to do more to figure out how we can help viewers reach this next generation of television technology.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr urged India to “embrace” ATSC 3.0 as a way to promote 5G, in a speech to the India Mobile Congress Wednesday. India’s mobile networks need capacity, which could be provided from the country’s “powerful but underutilized broadcast spectrum -- enhanced by ATSC 3.0,” Carr said. Indian companies “are playing a leading role in developing the mobile technology that will seamlessly merge broadcast spectrum into the next-gen wireless ecosystem,” he said. He listed recent steps the FCC took to assist the 3.0 transition and said it's “critical to identify and remove the overhang of unnecessary government regulations that would otherwise hold back the introduction and growth of new competitive offerings.”
The final version of the draft order on ATSC 3.0 datacasting is expected to be changed from the draft version to be more palatable to the agency’s Democrats, FCC and broadcast industry officials told us. One other media item added recently to the Dec. 10 agenda -- on a noncommercial educational station’s petition for reconsideration -- has already been voted on, and another on electronic Media Bureau fees isn’t considered controversial, an FCC official said.
Gray Television launched its first ATSC 3.0 station, said a news release Monday. WNXG-LD Tallahassee is a low-power station that simulcasts CBS, Me/My, Circle, Ion and Justice. “WNXG’s ability to broadcast four HD program streams and one standard definition stream with a very robust signal, and with ample spectrum remaining for additional program streams or other data services, significantly exceeds the current technical capabilities of the ATSC 1.0 transmission standard,” Gray said: This helps prepare the company for 2021 transitions to 3.0.