Monty Tayloe

Advertisers need more education about the timeline and capabilities of ATSC 3.0, and the consumer experience is especially important, said panelists at the NextGen TV Summit put on by SMPTE and the Society of Broadcast Engineers Thursday,

FCC members unanimously approved a rulemaking notice Friday seeking comment on allowing AM broadcasters to voluntarily transition to HD Radio-based all-digital AM (see 1911210002). “If we’re going to preserve this critical service, we need to bring AM radio into the 21st century," said Chairman Ajit Pai. The NPRM seeks comment on operating parameters for such stations, interference concerns and industry standards, said a Media Bureau release. NAB hailed the decision. “Many AM radio broadcasters are exploring all-digital radio’s potential for delivering markedly improved reliability and audio quality for listeners,” a spokesperson said. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly expressed concern about the item but said he looks forward to what the record will show. He has “reservations” about adopting specific technical standards: “It remains to be seen whether digital AM signals will ever catch on with manufacturers, and more importantly, listeners, or serve as a significant factor in the band’s revitalization.” Monday, CTA didn’t comment, nor did HD Radio owner Xperi. The docket is 19-11.

An FCC Media Bureau draft rulemaking notice on authorizing a voluntary HD Radio all-digital AM service is considered uncontroversial for Friday’s FCC meeting agenda, broadcast attorneys told us. Few changes to the draft are expected, said an FCC official. It would seek comment on allowing AM stations to voluntarily switch to all-digital service, and on the standards and notification processes for such a switch. The initiative “very much has the potential of saving AM,” said Hubbard Senior Engineer Dave Kolesar. He oversees the only currently operating all-digital AM station in the U.S., Hubbard’s WWFD Frederick, Maryland. The FCC would seek comment “on the overall state of readiness of AM listeners to transition” to all-digital AM, says the draft. Existing HD Radio receivers will support all-digital AM functionality, it says, citing HD Radio owner Xperi as the source. Kolesar estimates HD Radio car receiver penetration at 25 percent in WWFD’s coverage area. The rulemaking also would seek comment on “the impact that stations converting to all-digital operations could have on listeners with analog-only receivers,” it says. “In short, we seek comment on whether preserving the long-term economic viability of an AM station and the public benefit of improved service to some listeners would justify the present-day loss of service to other listeners.”

Full-power broadcasters and ATSC 3.0 boosters clamored for the FCC to relax rules governing distributed transmission systems (see 1910110040), in comments posted through Wednesday in docket 16-142. Microsoft and low-power broadcast entities have interference concerns. NAB and America's Public Television Stations' petition is “premature,” said the National Translator Association. “3.0 is incompatible with the present system, and the public’s paramount interest must be to preserve interference-free TV for present reception.”

South Korea launched an emergency alert system using ATSC 3.0, similar to enhanced alerts advocated by the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, said executives from South Korean firm DigiCap and AWARN Executive Director John Lawson at NAB New York. The system has been in place for a month and so far transmits emergency messages similar to those using established technology. Lawson and DigiCap CEO Peter Han were optimistic it will lead to further developments in the U.S. and South Korea. “Beginning is halfway done,” said Han, quoting a Korean proverb. “If you never start, you never finish.”

A petition on relaxing interference rules to make it easier for ATSC 3.0 broadcasters to use single frequency networks (see 1910040038) has LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino “very concerned." In an emailed newsletter Monday, Gravino called for a “crowd sourced impact analysis” to gauge the effect of the petition on low-power TV, Class A and TV translator stations. He's seeking information on whether LPTV will be able to benefit from the proposal, whether any efforts have been made to study the effects on LPTV, and what will happen to LPTV stations “displaced” by the signals from distributed transmission systems outside their full-power station’s contour. “During the next two years LPTV will still be moving around, and many with government funding to move,” Gravino emailed us. “While I am very concerned about this Petition, I am open to seeing to how it could benefit us, also.”

The FCC should seek comment on relaxing restrictions on distributed transmission systems (DTS) to let stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0 better use single frequency networks, said a petition for rulemaking from NAB and America’s Public Television Stations posted in docket 16-142 Friday. Changing the rules to allow broadcasters to set up SFNs on the edges of their station contours would improve coverage throughout station coverage areas, increase spectrum efficiency, and reduce the need for TV translators, they said. NAB and APTS want the FCC to seek comment on redefining station coverage areas to allow DTS transmitter signals to reach outside the service area of a station’s central transmitter, so they can better fill in gaps in the edges of an outlet’s coverage. The rule change won’t result in more interference for low-power TV stations, the groups said. “Stations could enhance service to viewers by improving coverage throughout their service areas and offering improved mobile coverage without the risk of encroaching on the service of stations in adjacent markets.” Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald said more flexibility for DTS is probably a good thing for the public, but that it’s not clear what the proposal could mean for LPTV. Low-power s could lose some viewers outside their protected contour to interference from DTS transmitters, he said. “If the FCC encourages DTS to replace translators, new channels could open up that would benefit LPTV stations.”

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.

Broadcasters aren't sure precisely what the most profitable application for ATSC 3.0 will be, but the financial viability of the new standard isn't dependent on getting the tech into phone handsets, said industry officials from Fox, Nexstar and Tegna at the 2019 Next Gen TV Conference Thursday. Inclusion in mobile phones “would be nice to have, but none of us were counting on that when we made the investment,” said Tegna Senior Vice President-Strategy Ed Busby. NAB President Gordon Smith at the 2019 NAB Show expressed concern about smartphone makers including 3.0 tech (see 1904080066).

The biggest challenges to setting up an ATSC 3.0 station are legal rather than technical, said Pearl TV Engineer Dave Folsom Wednesday on a panel. Technical issues are “straightforward,” but programming agreements, sharing arrangements and rights issues generate an “immense amount of legal work” behind the scenes, said Folsom, who oversees Pearl's ATSC pilot project in Phoenix. “The legal piece is going to be by far the long pole in the tent,” said Sasha Javid, chief operating officer for the Spectrum Consortium, at the ASTC event.