Broadcasters Want ATSC 3.0 NPRM by Oct. 1

The FCC should launch a rulemaking on the ATSC 3.0 transition by Oct. 1, said numerous broadcasters in reply comments posted Monday and Tuesday in docket 16-142. “Time is of the essence,” said a joint filing from petitioners NAB, CTA, America's Public Television Systems and the AWARN Alliance. “Broadcasters, the consumer electronics industry and broadcast equipment manufacturers are ready to move forward if the Commission will just let them.” Initial comments included a cable focus on carriage burdens from 3.0 (see 1605270054).

Broadcasters and consumer electronics maker LG urged the FCC not to delay the process with inquiries into broadcaster obligations proposed by pay-TV interests. “Delaying the implementation of ATSC 3.0 is unnecessary, unwarranted, and contrary the public interest because the Physical Layer -- the only layer of the Next Generation TV standard that requires Commission approval -- is on the cusp of completion,” LG said.

The Oct. 1 deadline was the focus of comments by nearly every broadcaster in the proceeding, including E.W. Scripps, Tegna and Sinclair. Moving quickly is important because it's the best chance for broadcasters to be able to coordinate their upgrade to ATSC 3.0 with the post-incentive auction repacking effort, said One Media and numerous broadcasters. Allowing broadcasters to coordinate those processes would “meet the twin public interest goals of avoiding duplicative investments and bringing new services to the viewing public as quickly as possible,” One Media said. It's part of Sinclair.

The ATSC 3.0 transition must not disrupt the timeline for or add costs to the repacking, CTIA commented. “Neither Congress in the Spectrum Act nor the Commission at the time it adopted rules envisioned that a technology upgrade would accompany the repacking,” CTIA said. “The ATSC 3.0 transition should not impact in any manner the 39-month transition set for the broadcast incentive auction repacking process.”

Moving rapidly on ATSC 3.0 will also allow a comprehensive consumer education effort, said a filing from the big four network affiliate associations. “Consumer education will be an important key to a successful technical transition -- a lesson learned during the DTV transition,” said the affiliate groups. “Adopting rules to implement the ATSC 3.0 standard now will allow consumers to understand what is happening to their television sets and the potential new service enhancements that await them.”

Numerous commenters resisted requests by the American Cable Association and pay-TV carriers to tie the ATSC transition to retransmission consent or delay the transition to study the matter through another notice of inquiry. The FCC should “resist efforts to tether a request for approval of a new transmission standard to unrelated issues, such as retransmission consent,” NAB said. “It should also reject calls for delay intended to stifle innovation and competition, or to expand Petitioners’ request into a complete overhaul of broadcasters’ already market-leading public service obligations.” The ATSC 3.0 petition doesn't suggest “that any broadcaster advancing to Next Generation TV would be absolved of its current public interest obligations,” Sinclair said. “Many commenters seek to expand unnecessarily the scope of the Next Generation TV NPRM by introducing issues unrelated to the core technological evaluation at hand,” Sinclair. “The Commission should ignore these proposals as regulatory opportunism,” said a joint filing from Meredith, Gray Television and Hubbard Television. Implementing ATSC 3.0 won't create new costs for pay-TV carriers because the standard is voluntary, said the ATSC-backing mobile DTV broadcaster group Pearl TV.