Charter, NCTA Push FCC for ATSC 3.0 Strictures

The FCC should increase ancillary service fees for broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 to provide wireless bandwidth and examine whether such uses still constitute broadcasting, said Charter Communications in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142. If the FCC decides “interactive television services are not ‘broadcasting’ then the Commission should clarify that broadcasters may not compel MVPDs to carry such non-broadcasting services as a condition of granting ATSC 3.0 retransmission consent,” said Charter. The FCC should increase the ancillary services fees to reflect “the dramatic increase in the value of spectrum licenses” since the fee was last set 18 years ago and account for the lucrative uses ATSC 3.0 will allow, Charter said. Charter also asked the FCC to restrict how much a simulcast ATSC 1.0 signal is allowed to differ from a 3.0 signal, to restrict low-power stations from “flash-cutting” to the new standard, and to bar broadcasters from making carriage of a 1.0 signal contingent on MVPDs agreeing to carry a 3.0 signal, Charter said. NCTA also said broadcasters should be prevented from requiring carriage of 3.0 in retransmission consent negotiations, in a Wednesday meeting with Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey, according to an ex parte filing. The FCC shouldn’t let simulcast rules for the new standard sunset after three years as NAB requested, NCTA said. “The Commission must continue to require simulcasting until it determines that conditions warrant allowing a broadcaster to no longer provide an ATSC 1.0 signal.”