Wait for FCC License Form Risks Slowing ATSC 3.0 Progress, Says SpectrumCo

First steps in the ATSC 3.0 switch could be delayed by lack of an FCC license application form for the new standard, said Spectrum Consortium President John Hane at America's Public Television Stations Summit Tuesday, responding to our questions. SpectrumCo has over a dozen markets that could begin to transition by late summer, but that's unlikely if the document isn't released in the next few months, Hane said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday the Media Bureau expects the form to be completed by Q2 (see 1902220047). Hane said it has been a year and half since the agency authorized the standard and he's not holding his breath. “Some IT work still needs to be done in terms of designing a new form in our licensing and management system,” Pai said Friday. The FCC and Media Bureau didn't comment

ATSC 3.0 advocates were hopeful the application process would be finished sooner, One Media Executive Vice President-Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz told us. He believes Pai is committed to 3.0. Fritz expects the form in the next few months. “We really do need the form,” Fritz said.

Without the licensing and management system form, stations have been able to switch to 3.0 broadcasts in experimental test markets, but it's difficult to proceed with marketwide channel sharing and simulcasting needed for a real transition, Hane said. “We've been limping along” with FCC special temporary authority grants, Fritz said. Spectrum Co wants to launch the standard in more than a dozen markets before 2020's NAB Show, Hane said. Since broadcasters have notice requirements to MVPDs and other constraints, a later application form approval could affect that timeline, he said

Those dozen markets are mostly the ones where SpectrumCo members such as Nexstar and Sinclair have duopolies and are places with enough stations ready to make the switch, Hane said. Cooperation among multiple stations is needed to provide the bandwidth for simulcasts of both 3.0 and the FCC-required ATSC 1.0 signal, said NAB Vice President-Technology Education Skip Pizzi at Tuesday's summit.

SpectrumCo wants to transition markets soon to solve the “chicken and egg problem” and encourage consumer electronics companies to produce 3.0-compatible TV sets and receivers, Hane said. “TV makers like us are waiting for critical mass,” said LG Electronics Senior Vice President John Taylor. He said some receivers will likely be available in the U.S. next year.

Transitioning markets to 3.0 likely will involve costs and tradeoffs because of the simulcasts, Hane told public TV broadcasters. Broadcasters will need to balance signal quality with expenses -- hosting multiple channels on a single station will affect quality, and transmitting a signal to a host broadcaster with more capacity likely will cost more, he said. “All of us are struggling with what the right tradeoffs are.”

Public TV broadcasters are enthusiastic about opportunities that could come from 3.0, and need to be able to explain the new tech and associated costs to stakeholders, said lawyer Meg Miller of Gray Miller. Public TV broadcasters are generally very careful about costs, she said. Such outlets traditionally have been leaders in technology, said Elissa Orlando, senior vice president-TV and news at WXXI, licensee of WXXI-TV Rochester. “There is no free lunch,” Hane said.