ATSC 3.0 Draft Order Expected Mid-November, Possible 3-2 FCC Vote Seen

An ATSC 3.0 draft order that requires that broadcasters offer “substantially similar” 1.0 and 3.0 simulcasts and doesn’t prevent the new standard from coming up in retransmission consent negotiations is widely expected to be ready for the FCC’s Nov. 16 commissioners' meeting, said industry officials. The Media Bureau is believed to be nearly finished preparing the order, with the aim of circulating it by Oct. 26, in time for the November agenda, industry officials said in interviews. Meantime, MVPDs and broadcasters are stepping up their lobbying on the 3.0 transition.

It’s not clear how the FCC Democrats will receive the draft order, but several supporters of the standard said they expect either a 3-2 vote, or 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s position being the most unclear. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is seen as a likely no vote, after a speech last week (see 1710120057) that said the FCC should “go back to the drawing board” on the transition plan.

“It could still be unanimous or a 4-1 vote because of the public interest benefits,” said John Lawson, executive director of the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance. Lawson's AWARN Alliance was an initial petitioner asking the FCC to authorize 3.0, along with NAB, CTA and America's Public TV Stations. Rosenworcel’s doubts about 3.0 should be a warning to broadcasters they need to ensure they deliver on the promised benefits of the new standard to public safety and the public interests, Lawson said.

Though broadcast industry officials said they were satisfied with the apparent direction of the FCC on 3.0, American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman said expected inclusion of a simulcasting requirement shows broadcasters are “losing ground.” Broadcasters had resisted a simulcasting rule, with NAB conceding on such a requirement in September (see 1709110032). “The commission is taking seriously the concerns about impacts on consumers and MVPDs,” Lieberman said. “That’s a positive.”

The draft order is expected to require broadcasters to simulcast in 3.0 and 1.0 during the transition, and will require the two transmission streams to be “substantially similar” in quality and reach, industry officials said. A requirement that the two broadcast streams be made nearly identical would seem to hamper broadcaster efforts to take advantage of the capabilities of 3.0 and raises questions about localizing content, said an advocate for the new standard.

The details of how similar the two broadcasts will need to be remain unclear, a pay-TV official said. That includes questions such as how large a change in contour is permissible and whether 1.0 broadcasts will be required to be in HD, pay-TV officials said. Market forces will keep broadcasters from degrading their 1.0 signal, a supporter of the new standard said. Broadcasters at the last ATSC conference expressed a strong preference for delivering better pictures to the viewing public almost immediately after launch, albeit through the use of 1080p, rather than 4K, with “enhancements” like high dynamic range (see 1705160044). However ATSC 1.0 is not capable of transmitting HDR images.

Broadcasters see ATSC 3.0 as the gateway for delivering better pictures to the viewing public almost immediately after launch, engineers told an ATSC conference Tuesday. Bandwidth constraints have many looking toward using 1080p with “enhancements” like high dynamic range in launching ATSC 3.0, at least as an “interim” approach, they said.

The draft order won’t prevent broadcasters from negotiating for 3.0 carriage as part of normal retrans negotiations, industry officials said. Market forces eventually will compel MVPDs to ask broadcasters to offer them the new standard, a 3.0 supporter said. It's not expected to include a tuner mandate, and won’t allow broadcasters to temporarily broadcast from vacant channels during the transition, industry officials said. Displacement windows for low-power TV and translators aren't expected to leave enough room in the vacant channels for that use, an industry official said. The FCC direction on whether to include the A/322 standard in final ATSC 3.0 rules along with the A/321 standard also isn't clear, industry officials said.

Tuesday, MVPDs with 3.0 concerns and one of its biggest backers, Sinclair, had filings posted on their recent lobbying of FCC staff in docket 16-142. "The Commission should avoid over-regulation to permit innovation," Sinclair told aides to Chairman Ajit Pai including Chief of Staff Matthew Berry. "The Commission does not need to specify A/322 to ensure universal compatibility." Sinclair said it seeks flexibility.

The American TV Alliance with lawyers from members American Cable Association, AT&T, Charter Communications and Dish Network lobbied aides to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "A properly crafted simulcast requirement is needed to ensure that the ATSC 3.0 transition does not cause widespread loss of television service or signal degradation," ATVA said earlier, in a filing it cited now. "We appreciate the fact that broadcasters appear to once again acknowledge this."