No Repacking Crunch Yet; Broadcasters Concerned About Later, Eye ATSC 3.0

Preliminary work to repack broadcasters after the incentive auction has begun and is going smoothly, said engineers, broadcasters, antenna manufacturers and industry officials in recent interviews. But they said that’s likely to change, both in April when the 39-month countdown clock on the repacking starts ticking and when it comes time to install all the new broadcast equipment stations will need to transition to their new channel assignments. A lack of experienced tower crews and the sheer amount of work needed is going to create a bottleneck, numerous industry officials said.

“The physical installation of this stuff is not an easy task,” said Sinclair Vice President-Advanced Technology Mark Aitken. That difficulty is “compounded by the fact that you want to remain on the air,” he said. NAB meanwhile Friday filed a petition asking the FCC to revise parts of the post-incentive auction transition plan, saying the hard work is just starting (see 1703170055).

Broadcasters already know their own channel assignments, and that means they can already begin work on the repacking, even though the closing and channel reassignment (CCR) public notice -- which will contain the repacking information for every station (see 1703130058) -- hasn’t been released, said broadcast engineer Robert duTreil, president of broadcast engineering consultancy duTreil Lundin. With the information broadcasters have, it’s possible to begin considering initial designs for a new antenna, and stations have begun considering the addition of features that would be beneficial for the transition to ATSC 3.0, such as elliptical polarization, he said.

Though broadcasters will likely need the information from the CCR to finalize antenna orders, Dielectric Antenna Sales Executive Christine Zuba said she received hundreds of emails when stations received their channel assignments, all requests for information on antennas and equipment. “Most major groups” (commonly owned stations) are well into the antenna design process for repacked stations, Zuba said. Dielectric has been ramping up for the repacking and has the capabilities to make 500 antennas a year for the next two years, she said. Though auction watchers predicted a repacking resource crunch for years, duTreil and Zuba said it hasn't appeared. The FCC didn't comment.

That could change when the CCR is issued and the repacking deadlines become active, said numerous broadcast officials. Though major groups are contacting engineers now, there are many broadcasters who don’t fully appreciate what the repacking is going to require and haven’t been as proactive, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Francisco Montero. “There are a lot out there that don’t have their arms around this.” That’s likely to lead to a rush when the CCR is issued and the deadline dates for broadcasters in each phase to vacate their spectrum are issued, he said. Several other broadcast industry officials said they expect a rush on engineers and other repacking resources in the wake of the CCR.

A major bottleneck in repacking could come from the dearth of experienced tower crews, said numerous industry officials. Since the incentive auction became a likely reality, there have been “legitimate concerns regarding the number of companies and crews in broadcast tower work,” said National Association of Tower Erectors President Todd Schlekeway. And since the transition to DTV, there has been less work for broadcast tower crews, several industry officials said, a situation exacerbated by the FCC freeze on modifications before the incentive auction, they said.

The freeze caused “huge segments” of the broadcast equipment industry to die off or scale back, Aitken said. During that time, Sinclair bought Dielectric, whose parent had shuttered it (see 1306190058).

There are many crews trained at working on wireless towers, but broadcast towers can be ten times as tall and are a “completely different animal,” Schlekeway said. “We want to insure that the work is done safely by qualified companies.” It’s not clear if the FCC’s 39 months will be enough time for the work that will need to be done and the resources available, he said. But the tower industry is “very pleased with the spike in work,” Schlekeway said.