ATSC 3.0 Backers Aiming to Create 'Beachhead' in Home, Rather Than Mobile
Broadcasters and ATSC 3.0 advocates are focused on establishing a “beachhead” in the home and in TVs rather than on mobile uses or chips in handsets, said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle at an FCBA event Tuesday. Consortiums Pearl and Spectrum Co see 3.0 consumer devices rolling out in 2020, she said.
A receiver conformance program with an accompanying logo and branding effort loom this month, said Schelle. Broadcasters and consumer tech manufacturers “want to make sure the devices work,” she said. CTA plans to discuss 3.0 go-to-market strategies, including the logo program and receiver compliance testing, Sept. 26 during its Technology & Standards Fall Forum Los Angeles.
Schelle compared rollout of compatible devices to the gradual primacy of Wi-Fi-enabled TVs, saying devices that are able to receive both the current and new standards will be available even though most stations will still be transmitting 1.0. Spectrum Co President John Hane believes many markets will have a majority of 3.0 stations within five years, with a few “lighthouses” on 1.0. It will take longer, possibly 10 years, until the whole nation is blanketed in 3.0 and the original standard is retired, Hane said. South Korea has a hard date of 2027 for the phaseout of 1.0, said ATSC President Madeleine Noland.
Pearl expects 3.0 receivers to “soft launch” in Q2 of 2020, with launch in Q2 2021, it said in presentations last week to aides for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology also attended briefings, said the filing in docket 16-142. The filing predicts 3.0 will be available in 40 markets by Q4 2020, 75 by Q4 2021, and 100 by Q4 2022. Some from Cox Media, Fox and Nexstar also attended.
Until the transition gains momentum, there likely won’t be enough capacity for Spectrum Co’s long-term goal of monetizing broadcast spectrum to transmit data, Hane told FCBA. Most markets will likely have two or three 3.0 stations to start, which won’t provide enough capacity to “go to market,” he said. In early days, there may be enough capacity for some low-data applications, he said. Broadcasters today monetize their extra spectrum by hosting multicast channels, and if Spectrum Co can bring in more revenue to stations than digital subchannels, “it will be an easy call,” Hane said.
As markets transition to the new standard and stations shift back and forth between hosting or being hosted by 1.0 and 3.0 lighthouses, customers will have to frequently rescan their sets, said Meredith General Counsel Joshua Pila. The incentive auction repacking prepared them to do so, but broadcasters will need to inform consumers about the rescanning, he said. Rescanning announcements in the Pearl’s Phoenix test market helped to promote 3.0 by generating viewer questions about where and how they can buy the new tech, Schelle said.
The transition could take much longer for rural markets that have one or two stations, Hane and Schelle said. Stations that can’t find partner stations that will allow them to simulcast in both 3.0 and 1.0 would likely have work something out with low-power TV sharing partners or wait until 3.0 is ubiquitous to “flash cut” to the new standard. A request by noncommercial TV stations for a waiver of the simulcast requirements hasn’t been acted on by the FCC, said Gray Miller's Megan Miller.