Sinclair and Nexstar agreed to share spectrum during the ATSC 3.0 transition in the 43 markets where they both own stations, they said in a news release Thursday. The coordination deal involves “a plan to spearhead the transition” in the 54 markets where only one of the companies has a station. Under the agreement, the broadcasters would share their spectrum within their markets, “with some spectrum remaining as 1.0 and other spectrum migrated to ATSC 3.0,” the two TV station owners said. “Specific market roll out schedules and sharing arrangements are in development in anticipation of the FCC approval of the new ATSC 3.0 standard by the fourth quarter.”
ATSC 3.0 includes “the accessibility tools” necessary to comply with FCC rules for closed captioning, said NAB and CTA in a meeting with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and staff from the Media Bureau, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Office of General Counsel Thursday, an ex parte filing said. It said the 3.0 petition was intended to show that the agency has “previously approved technologies closely related to the Next Gen TV standard for closed captions in the past,” not “elide the requirements of Section 79.1 with respect to the types of programming that must be captioned.” ATSC 3.0 devices “will fully meet their accessibility obligations,” CTA and NAB said Monday in docket 16-142. The A/343 document, approved as a final ATSC 3.0 standard in December, defines the required technology for closed caption and subtitle tracks over multiple transports.
A proposal to reserve vacant channels in the TV band for unlicensed use would make it hard for broadcasting to transition to ATSC 3.0, broadcasters and broadcast attorneys told us. Many of the new capabilities expected out of the new TV standard would require broadcasters to upgrade their facilities to use single frequency networks, a change that would become extremely difficult if vacant channels are reserved for unlicensed use, they said.
There are opportunities and challenges with new features in Ultra HD TVs that are similar to those in the transition from NTSC to ATSC TV 20 years ago, but 4K resolution isn’t the right message to convince consumers to upgrade, CE Week in New York heard Thursday. TV marketers promised consumers 4K was going to be “amazing,” said Joel Silver, president of the Imaging Science Foundation, but “if you looked at 4K from a normal viewing distance, it looked the same as 2K,” he said. Silver cited the various sources from Ultra HD Blu-ray to premium streaming channels, along with HDR and wide color gamut, and said: “We’ve got amazing things happening, and no one knows how good we are." After “crying wolf” for so many generations of TVs and telling consumers they’re going to love the next big thing, “this time we’re actually telling the truth,” he said. Tim Alessi, senior director-product marketing for LG home entertainment products, addressed the challenge of getting consumers interested in TVs when they’re increasingly watching TV content on mobile devices: “The TV is still a family communal activity. People aren’t gathering around their iPad to watch the Super Bowl." Value Electronics President Robert Zohn told us that for consumers, “it’s all about the content.” They can have music on the go, and they’ll get the premium experience when they’re home, he said.
The FCC “has the opportunity to seize the momentum” from the end of the incentive auction “to transition ATSC 3.0 through an organic, market-driven process,” CTA told members of the Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology in Tuesday meetings, said an ex parte notice filed Thursday, and posted Friday in docket 16-142. The petition asking the commission to allow broadcasters to transmit using ATSC 3.0's physical layer "was filed over a year ago," in April 2016 (see 1604130065), “but industry still does not have the certainty needed to move forward,” CTA said. The South Korean transition to ATSC 3.0 is “driving industry” to deploy TVs with dual ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 tuners, and “the current prevalence of smart TVs will smooth the consumer transition to ATSC 3.0,” it said. ATSC, CTA and other standards organizations “are working in parallel to develop standards and best practices for the transmission standard ATSC 3.0 that will continue to allow industry to meet its legal and regulatory obligations, including those related to accessibility,” it said. CTA would like "for the FCC to issue its Order soon" on ATSC 3.0's final rules, said Julie Kearney, vice president-regulatory affairs, Friday when asked what sort of certainty CTA seeks from the commission. "We know that it hopes to, but we really want it issued," Kearney said of the order. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in February he hoped to have the order authorizing ATSC 3.0 as a final voluntary standard by year-end, while Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said authorization of the final standard could occur “hopefully by Halloween" (see 1702230060).
“Lots of parties,” not just LG Electronics, contributed intellectual property to the A/322 document on ATSC 3.0 physical-layer protocol, John Taylor, LG senior vice president-public affairs, emailed us Wednesday, denying that IP royalties are what’s motivating his company to lobby the FCC to include A/322 in 3.0 rules. He responded to Pearl TV comments recently at the FCC that arguments by the few parties that support mandating A/322 in the final rules “are not persuasive, in particular because some parties may stand to benefit from their intellectual property interests in A/322” (see 1706300003). “Multiple parties have IP in A/321, too,” said Taylor. “We expect to collect royalties for essential patents whether the FCC includes A/322 or not.” LG “of course” has pledged to adhere to the ATSC’s RAND policy,” he said of licensing LG patents on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. LG and its Zenith “have a great relationship with Pearl and other broadcasters,” Taylor said. “This isn’t a big dispute, just a difference of opinion.” LG regards as “unfounded” Pearl’s argument that manufacturers would bypass A/321 if both that and the A/322 documents were mandated in the final rules, leaving devices orphaned, he said. The company disagrees with critics like Sinclair that argue that mandating A/322 in the final rules would thwart innovation (see 1707040001).
The FCC should limit broadcaster use of temporary channels during the ATSC 3.0 transition to ensure there’s room for low-power TV stations and translators displaced by the incentive auction, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition in a meeting last month with Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 16-142.
The FCC’s vacant channel proceeding hangs over low-power TV “like the Sword of Damocles” and should be terminated, said the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance in a meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-268. LPTV stations and translators are now “on the verge” of deciding whether to make “very substantial investments” to survive the repacking, ATBA said. “The vacant channel proceeding enormously compounds the difficulty of those decisions.” The FCC also should provide a path to permanent status for LPTV stations that survive the repacking, quickly approve ATSC 3.0 for all licensed TV broadcasters, open a second displacement window for unbuilt LPTV broadcasters, and “liberally” waive rules that require forfeiture if LPTV stations go dark for more than a year because of the repacking. “ATBA members understand that some of the conditions of repacking are beyond the FCC’s control,” the group said. “But there are a number of targeted steps the Commission can take that would materially improve the prospects for low power broadcasters through the repacking process.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service and other large originators of emergency alerts joined the advisory committee for the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, said an alliance news release Monday. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and APCO also joined the council advising the alliance, which focuses on public safety applications for ATSC 3.0. The AWARN Alliance and advisory committee members plan “to convene working groups” in the second half of 2017, and a beta version of AWARN alerts will be available for TV stations that broadcast in ATSC 3.0 in 2018, the release said.
Sinclair and its One Media subsidiary want the FCC to keep the A/322 document on ATSC 3.0's physical layer protocol out of the final rules for the next-generation broadcast system, they told the commission in Thursday meetings, according to an ex parte notice posted Monday in docket 16-142. The FCC “should avoid over-regulation to permit innovation,” Sinclair and One Media said. FCC rules “support maximum innovation by specifying interference requirements rather than technical standards,” and the companies believe the commission “should follow a similar approach here,” they said. The FCC need not “specify A/322 to ensure universal compatibility,” they said, calling on the commission to “specify” only the A/321 “bootstrap” document in the final ATSC 3.0 rules: “Equipment manufacturers build to industry standards -- and service providers use those standards -- in the ordinary course without any government mandates. Mandating A/322 would hamper innovation without any corresponding benefit.” LG Electronics has been the strongest proponent at the FCC for including the A/322 document in the final ATSC 3.0 rules (see 1706080054).