PBS, APTS Want Noncommercial Educational Simulcast Exemption for 3.0 Transition

The FCC should exempt noncommercial educational TV stations from the simulcasting requirements of the ATSC 3.0 transition, PBS and America’s Public Television Stations told Media Bureau staff Tuesday, according to a filing posted Friday in docket 16-142. Only low-power TV stations currently are allowed to “flash-cut” to 3.0 -- full-power broadcasters must continue broadcasting substantially similar content in the current 1.0 standard along with a 3.0 broadcast stream. Commercial broadcasters are cooperating to host each others’ broadcasts to make the shift, but public TV officials argued NCE stations will have difficulty finding transition partners. “Without such an exemption, the simulcasting mandate will preclude many public television stations from pursuing a transition to ATSC 3.0,” the filing said. That will disproportionately affect noncommercial stations and rural communities, it said.