FCC Democrats Concur on ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Internet Proceeding

The FCC voted 5-0 to approve an order on ATSC 3.0 datacasting, but Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks concurred over concerns about consumer costs. “There comes a point -- and I think we’re getting there fast -- where we can no longer afford to ignore this issue,” said Rosenworcel. “We need to do more to figure out how we can help viewers reach this next generation of television technology.”

The approved version was changed from the draft, as expected (see 2012090003), to remove language the Democrats objected to that could have prevented a future consumer equipment subsidy program. “That door should be left open should the need arise in the public interest,” Starks said.

The final order bases ancillary fee calculation on the gross revenue of broadcasters, holds onto existing standards for broadcast service derogation, and adjusts the ancillary service fee for noncommercial educational stations to 2.5% while keeping commercial stations at 5%, the Media Bureau said. Allowing the NCE stations to make use of datacasting “can make a major impact in facilitating remote learning” as “our nation continues to grapple with the ongoing pandemic and its effect on schoolchildren,” said Chairman Ajit Pai.

“The Order’s clarification of the fee structure pertaining to ancillary and supplementary services ensures that television broadcasters can easily partner with third parties to provide new services without the risk of having to pay the federal government excessive fees,” said the Media Bureau in a release.

“The major take-away for us is the Commission’s ongoing support for broadcasters' expanding the use of their channels for datacasting,” emailed Jerald Fritz, executive vice president-strategic and legal affairs at Sinclair-affiliated One Media. “The unanimous support of other Commission members bodes well for a consistent policy of encouragement for this technology in the critical months and years just ahead,” said America’s Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler in a release. NAB “thanks all of the Commissioners for working collaboratively with stakeholders to yield a positive item for the future of ATSC 3.0,” said an NAB release.

The final order doesn’t include language from the draft saying creating a program to subsidize consumer purchase of ATSC 3.0 items is outside FCC authority. Public Knowledge joined with NAB to request the language’s removal, and Starks said he pushed for the same thing: “That finding was unnecessary and ran the risk of hamstringing future Commissions wishing to reach a different conclusion if warranted by consumer and market need.” If the language hadn’t been removed, a future FCC would have to explain the reasons for changing its stance if it ever sought to create such a program, said Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Kathleen Burke in an interview.

With FCC leadership soon to change hands, there's an increased possibility that a future rulemaking could lead to a subsidy program, Burke said. “Just saddling consumers with this expense doesn’t add up,” said Rosenworcel. In a press call Thursday, Commissioner Brendan Carr said he would be open to discussing such a program if a need arose, but currently there was no reason to treat the change in broadcast standards differently than a change in wireless standards, which don’t generally involve consumer subsidies.

Language from the draft that would have excluded the value of “in-kind” facility improvements made or financed by third parties from the revenues used to calculate fees was also not included in the final, Starks said. “This provision would have unjustly enriched licensees without a corresponding public benefit, thereby limiting the amount of fees available to cover the unrealized value of the spectrum, as Congress intended.” He also agreed with NCTA that broadcasters shouldn’t be allowed to transition a signal being broadcast in HD to SD to provide ancillary services, but that definition of signal derogation didn’t make the final order. That scenario “would potentially lower the quality of service provided to affected consumers,” Starks said.