CTA, NAB, Others Petition FCC To Authorize ATSC 3.0's Physical Layer

Trade groups representing broadcasters, tech companies and others jointly filed a petition for rulemaking Wednesday asking the FCC to allow broadcasters to begin using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard. “This enhanced digital IP-based standard will create the bedrock for continuing innovation by the television industry for decades to come,” said the petition filed by America's Public Television Stations (APTS), CTA, NAB and a group of broadcasters and electronics companies called the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, which was officially formed Tuesday (see 1604120069).

The petition asks the FCC to allow broadcasters to fulfill their broadcasting obligations “arranging for the simulcast of that signal in the current DTV standard on another broadcast facility serving a substantially similar community of license” while they transition. “It will require a lot of industry cooperation,” one broadcaster told us.

As expected, the petition asks the FCC to approve only ATSC 3.0's physical layer. ATSC President Mark Richer in late March told us there is a “strong consensus building in the industry” for the approach of seeking FCC authorization only of ATSC 3.0's physical layer, but leaving ATSC 3.0's other layers for industry to implement and figure out on a voluntary basis (see 1603280043). He predicted then that broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers would soon “take the lead” at the FCC in “a unified approach.” Several broadcast industry officials told us the petition’s contents were floated by FCC officials before filing. The petition comes days before the opening of the NAB Show in Las Vegas, where ATSC 3.0 will be prominently featured, and three weeks after ATSC members approved a ballot raising the critical "bootstrap" feature of ATSC 3.0's physical layer to the status of a full standard.

The voluntary, market-driven transition plan is intended to be palatable to the commission, broadcast attorneys and broadcasters told us, though they also said FCC rules about spectrum and multiple ownership would make a broad mandatory transition like the DTV effort nearly impossible. “No additional spectrum is required or requested, and Next Generation TV services can be deployed within a station’s existing coverage contour without causing interference to current DTV stations,” the petition said. The simulcasting is necessary since ATSC 3.0 equipment isn't backward compatible with current TV, the petition said.

The petition asks the FCC to approve the physical layer of ATSC 3.0 as “a new, optional standard for television broadcasting,” to approve rule changes that will allow a simulcast on another broadcaster’s bandwidth to fulfill broadcast obligations while transitioning to 3.0, and to specify that broadcasting 3.0 is considered TV broadcasting. Transitioning to ATSC 3.0 will allow broadcasters to offer superior reception and picture, interactivity, integration with IP services, datacasting, geo-targeting and advanced emergency alert system capability, the petition said.

The simulcasting transition plan is expected to involve private deals between broadcasters, whether to trade hosting duties while transitioning or for more conventional compensation, one broadcaster told us. Many smaller stations and low power stations would probably rather “flash cut” from the old standard to the new, Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald told us, since their current broadcast operations are perceived as having less value than would be possible under the new standard.

The FCC declined to comment about under what sort of timeline it will consider the petition. Industry officials told us it was theoretically possible for the petition to be granted in time to coincide with the post-incentive auction repacking, though they also said the repacking timeline itself is no longer clear.

The new standard’s enabling of the AWARN system “has the ability to save lives with its remarkable public safety enhancements, even if the cellular network is congested and the electric grid is down,” emailed AWARN Alliance Executive Director John Lawson. The new alliance (see 1604120069) includes Zenith and Pearl TV, which itself is made up of broadcasters including Hearst and Sinclair. “In the future, broadcasters can be a source of rich-media emergency alerts that offer video, storm tracks, evacuation maps, multilingual alerts, specific instructions, and even the ability to ‘wake up’ consumer devices -- if ATSC 3.0 is fully implemented,” Lawson said. “Freeing the broadcasting industry as a powerful engine of innovation has been Sinclair’s long-sought goal,” Sinclair CEO David Smith said. “This petition is an important first step, and our hope is that the FCC will move with great speed to unleash that innovation.”

“Our viewers will be the beneficiaries of new services ranging from breathtaking picture quality to in-depth emergency alerts and more personalized program content,” NAB CEO Gordon Smith said. “Our television manufacturers are excited to partner voluntarily with broadcasters, the public safety community and the ATSC to usher in this exciting new Golden Age of television technology,” CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said. “The FCC's timely adoption of the new standard may also help public television stations save money by combining some of the investments needed to deploy the new standard and to affect the repacking transition required by the broadcast spectrum auctions,” APTS CEO Patrick Butler said.