Monty Tayloe

LG Electronics used its reply comments Thursday in FCC ATSC 3.0 rulemaking docket 16-142 to press its case again that the commission needs to incorporate into rules the A/322 and A/321 physical-layer documents within ATSC 3.0 standards (see 1706070058). But Sinclair's One Media subsidiary said A/321 is ATSC 3.0's only needed physical-layer ingredient because A/322's functions already are written into existing FCC "parameters." Meanwhile, MVPDs and broadcasters in their reply comments debated over whether the migration to ATSC 3.0 will amount to a mandate.

Sinclair's proposed buy of Tribune Media for $3.9 billion (see 1705080018), if it goes through, would improve prospects for ATSC 3.0 and fit with plans for a nationwide consortium of broadcasters supporting the new standard, but may not be a requirement for 3.0’s success, attorneys, analysts and broadcast officials told us. “Tribune provides markets where Sinclair doesn’t have coverage,” said BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik.

After broadcasters pushed hard in the lead-up to the incentive auction for the option to forego repacking reimbursement in exchange for having “flexible use” of their spectrum in the aftermath, the FCC received only six applications for the “service rule” waiver needed to trigger that option by last week’s deadline. Flexible use of their spectrum will allow broadcasters to adjust to changing wireless technology and "mine for innovation,” said WatchTV President Greg Herman, an applicant. He and other broadcast officials agree lack of enthusiasm for flexible use spectrum is a consequence of the increasing viability of ATSC 3.0, which offers many of the same opportunities as flexible use did in what’s seen as a more widely accepted and clearly defined package.

The FCC could consider a "phased approach" to the transition to ATSC 3.0 and could be open to changes to broadcaster public interest requirements, said Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey at an ATSC conference (see 1705170033) Wednesday, saying the agency is "drilling down" into comments on the ATSC 3.0 NPRM. ATSC 3.0 is a "top priority," Carey said, saying the recent comments created a "robust record" and staff are working on the new standard as fast as they can.

TV broadcasters want the FCC to handle ATSC 3.0 with a “light regulatory touch.” MVPDs, wireless entities, consumer groups and NPR urged the agency to protect retransmission negotiations, unlicensed spectrum, radio and the post-incentive auction repacking from the transition to the new television standard, in comments filed Tuesday in docket 16-142 (see 1705090053). The FCC should “expeditiously adopt only those minimal regulations necessary to permit broadcasters to voluntarily implement ATSC 3.0 transmissions,” said Nexstar. The transition to the new standard “threatens to compound disruption in the industry and to the public,” said NCTA.

CTA, NAB, America’s Public TV Stations and the AWARN Alliance used their joint comments before the Tuesday deadline in the FCC ATSC 3.0 rulemaking docket 16-142 to argue against tuner mandates for the next-generation broadcast standard, as expected (see 1702240069). Adopting such mandates for ATSC 3.0 “would be counterproductive and unnecessary,” said the groups. Reply comments in the ATSC 3.0 NPRM are due June 8.

LAS VEGAS -- The number of TV stations that chose not to sell their spectrum in the TV incentive auction demonstrates that broadcasting is the "highest and best use of spectrum," NAB President Gordon Smith said, officially opening NAB 2017 Monday. He also discussed ATSC 3.0 and chips in smartphones.

Advocates for unlicensed use of TV white spaces are concerned ATSC 3.0 could be a future threat, but supporters of the new standard say no such threat exists and the FCC shouldn’t put unlicensed use of spectrum ahead of broadcast licensees. “The idea that you would constrain broadcasting to protect unlicensed service is anathema to the purpose of the FCC,” said Pillsbury Winthrop communications attorney John Hane, who represents broadcasters pushing for the new standard.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is seen as receptive to a petition from NAB (see 1703170055) for changes to the post-incentive auction repacking plan, but any changes to the repacking timeline are likely to face considerable pushback from industry, said broadcast officials and analysts in interviews. Though broadcasters repeatedly praised Pai, his previous positions in their favor -- on ATSC 3.0, and his perceived plans to roll back media ownership rules -- haven’t faced strong opposition from a competing industry. On the repacking, NAB’s requests for a looser timeline are diametrically opposed to calls for a faster transition from wireless providers such as T-Mobile, said Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics: “They need that spectrum tomorrow!”

Preliminary work to repack broadcasters after the incentive auction has begun and is going smoothly, said engineers, broadcasters, antenna manufacturers and industry officials in recent interviews. But they said that’s likely to change, both in April when the 39-month countdown clock on the repacking starts ticking and when it comes time to install all the new broadcast equipment stations will need to transition to their new channel assignments. A lack of experienced tower crews and the sheer amount of work needed is going to create a bottleneck, numerous industry officials said.