Two of ten companies offering mobile DTV technology for consideration in ATSC development of an industrywide standard have combined their proposals. That creates a third contender in what had been viewed as a two-horse race. Zurich-based Micronas and Thomson Grass Valley have merged their mobile DTV proposals, ratcheting up competition to technologies from Samsung and Rohde & Schwarz and Harris and LG. Broadcasters hope to nail down a standard in time to offer in-band mobile DTV service by the February 2009 analog cutoff. Thomson said it will take the lead in management and the presentation layer of the technology; Micronas will focus on the physical layer.
TV broadcasters’ role in U.S. mobile DTV remains unclear, despite their ambitious efforts to set an industrywide technological standard and introduce a service in 2009, said industry figures. Questioning whether stations will invest in mobile DTV gear, some note hurdles to stations’ introduction of paid services. But broadcasters are seen as having a leg up on rival mobile video services because they have a better grasp on programming than phone companies, including mobile carriers.
Disney cited FCC findings that commercial DTV receivers aren’t up to snuff, in reply comments it filed last week in an FCC review of the DTV transition. In late March, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology found that of the commercially available receivers it put through an interference rejection threshold study none met ATSC guidelines that are more lax than the “receiver performance assumptions on which current DTV interface protection criteria are based.” For Disney, that means New York viewers may have problems picking up a DTV signal from its WABC-TV New York station, it said. It asked the commission for leeway for Zone I VHF channel stations like WABC-TV to reach private interference agreements with other broadcasters.
Broadcasters and cable operators want flexibility making the digital transition, they told the FCC. TV stations asked permission to reduce or terminate analog service, while NCTA said cable operators want to choose how to carry DTV signals. Broadcast networks and NAB were among parties asking the FCC to ease requirements that stations get construction permits so transmitters and other gear can meet specifications in the DTV table of allotments. The table was released by the agency last week. The requests for flexibility came in response to a rulemaking asking how the agency should monitor compliance with DTV rules (CD May 22 p5).
The FCC should revise its DTV rules to take into account developments in the ATSC DTV standard, ATSC President Mark Richer and Chairman Glenn Reitmeier said in a filing. Mainly, the rules should reflect the fact that ATSC has divided the DTV standard into six parts -- DTV Systems, RF/Transmission System Characteristics, Service Multiplex and Transport Subsystem Characteristics, MPEG-2 Video System Characteristics, AC-3 Audio System Characteristics, and Enhanced AC-3 Audio System Characteristics, they said. Furthermore, ATSC is developing new technologies that improve on the DTV standard, such as the ability to broadcast TV signals to mobile and handheld devices, they said. The group is working on a “ATSC 2.0” standard that will incorporate non-realtime transmission and interactive TV capabilities with enhanced fixed indoor reception features, they said.
Broadcasters are meeting Thursday and Friday to complete an “aggressive” work plan for developing a standard for mobile DTV, said Mark Aitken of Sinclair, chairman of the specialists group to develop a mobile DTV standard for the Advanced TV Systems Committee. “We've got the whip out, and a lot of highly motivated people,” Aitken said, referring to the perceived need for broadcasters to get into mobile TV before the cellular industry can dominate it.
Partnerships among companies that submitted mobile broadcast technology to ATSC must occur sooner rather than later to have a mobile/handheld standard for U.S. broadcasters in place by the February 2009 analog TV cutoff, industry sources said. Some of those companies are open to and exploring alliances, we were told. Though deals were predicted, none materialized before detailed proposals went to the committee earlier this month (CD July 5 p4).
An FCC proposal to require cable operators to distribute must-carry TV stations’ digital signals in standard definition digital, analog and HD when available would violate operators’ rights under the Constitution, cable operators and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said in comments filed this week. An April rulemaking sought comments on a plan to let cable operators choose between distributing multiple formats of a must-carry station’s signal or converting their systems to all-digital before analog broadcast shutoff in 2009. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association of Maximum Service TV praised the FCC plan in joint comments. Qwest called the proposal “reasonable.”
Among 10 groups that sent ATSC initial mobile broadcast technology proposals last month (CD June 25 p7), some probably are looking at combining parts of their proposals to boost chances their technologies will be picked for the standard, said Mark Aitken, Sinclair director of advanced technologies and head of the committee overseeing the mobile/handheld standards work at ATSC. A committee request for proposals initially drew offerings by Nokia, Mobile DTV Alliance and Qualcomm, each pushing modulation schemes not compatible with ATSC’s. Those filers “may be working with technology players directly tied to the ATSC modulation standard and engaged in discussions about joint offerings,” Aitken said.
Nine companies and an industry consortium sent ATSC mobile DTV pitches of varying detail, as it begins work on a standard U.S. broadcasters will use to transmit their digital signals to handheld and mobile devices. Submissions came from a wide range of players. Known candidates like Samsung with Rohde & Schwarz, LG with Harris, and Micronas all sent drafts. So did Nokia, Qualcomm, Thomson, DTS Inc., Coherent Logix, Coding Technologies and the Mobile DTV Alliance.