The draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on not applying broadcast ownership rules to ATSC 3.0 datacasting should seek comment on whether a broadcast stream in standard definition satisfies FCC minimum requirements for TV stations, said the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. It's filing posted in docket 20-145 Monday. OTI spoke with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. OTI broadly supported the drafts, saying the NPRM should also gather information on increasing the fee for broadcasters providing ancillary services such as datacasting: “A better question would be whether the fee should be substantially higher than 5 percent given the enormous potential value of TV spectrum.” Questions in the draft NPRM about setting that fee to zero don’t seem to jibe with congressional intent, OTI said. The proceeding’s use of the term “Broadcast Internet” is misleading, the group said. “Nothing in the NPRM seems oriented to encouraging broadcast station licensees to use their spectrum to broadcast new services -- ATSC 3.0 or otherwise -- but instead seems oriented to pave the way for them to aggregate and lease out their spectrum.”

ATSC 3.0 broadcasts went live on four Las Vegas TV stations Tuesday, said BitPath, the new name for what had been the consortium SpectrumCo. The stations airing the NextGenTV feed are Sinclair's KSNV and KVCW, Nexstar’s KLAS-TV and E.W. Scripps’ KTNV-TV. This is the first multi-station full-power deployment of the new standard, said BitPath. The stations are working together to also air their 1.0 streams, it said. “We look forward to cooperating with other broadcasters to roll out this new technology across the country,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook. Using the same technology that powers NextGenTV, BitPath "will launch innovative new services and bring important new revenue streams to broadcasters," said BitPath CEO John Hane. Las Vegas stations had planned to go live with 3.0 during the 2020 NAB Show, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event's cancellation (see 2005140066).

A draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 datacasting set for the commissioners' June 9 meeting “makes it clear the FCC is looking to be very flexible about opening up services beyond traditional TV,” said NAB Senior Vice President-Technology Lynn Claudy during the teleconferenced annual ATSC meeting Wednesday. Claudy, the group's chairman, said “it’s nice to know data broadcasting can begin at scale.” The FCC’s draft items (see 2005180066) use the term “broadcast internet” -- a phrase promoted by Commissioner Brendan Carr -- which Claudy said emphasizes the convergence trend among communications technologies. The pandemic is causing delays in the 3.0 transition, but ATSC President Madeleine Noland said she expects U.S. broadcasters to “substantially achieve” their stated deployment goals for 2020. Noland said the pandemic affected deployment in 3.0 pioneer South Korea, though the country is still expected to offer the standard in 95% of the country “in coming years.” The rollout of 3.0-capable TVs in the U.S. also was affected by the pandemic-related shuttering of brick-and-mortar stores, but the consumer electronics industry has seen “strong initial interest” in the devices, said John Taylor, LG senior vice president-public affairs and communications. Noland lamented the pandemic-caused loss of trade shows as venues to spread the word on the new standard, saying the group’s NextGen Broadcast Conference is still set for Aug. 27-28. That event will happen only if local restrictions and COVID-19 concerns allow it to proceed, she said.

Jae-Young Lee, senior research scientist at South Korea’s Electronics and Telecom Research Institute, is the 2020 winner of ATSC’s Bernard Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, said the association Wednesday. He chairs ATSC’s S32 specialist group on 3.0's physical layer and has been active in 3.0 standards-setting for seven years, it said. ATSC also awarded the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal to the 3.0 Phoenix Model Market project and its investors ABC, Fox, NBCUniversal, Pearl TV and Univision.

The FCC Media Bureau opened docket 20-145 on a draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 for datacasting, said a public notice Wednesday. The items are for commissioners' June 9 meeting (see 2005180066).

Commercial deployment updates in 12 categories of ATSC 3.0 products and services are included in the new 3.0 “progress report” (see 2004220004) going live Monday at the ATSC website in time for the virtual NAB Show Express event Tuesday and Wednesday. More than four dozen ATSC members submitted a total of 80 entries.

ATSC asked members to contribute news about their 3.0 product and services deployments or development plans for a “progress report” to be posted on the group’s newly revamped website in time for the NAB Show Express virtual event May 13-14. Any member may contribute by May 4, and there's no charge to participate, said ATSC Tuesday. It plans to publish the progress report online by May 11.

CTA’s application to register the NEXTGEN TV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs (see 1909260021) cleared its 30-day publication window in late March with no oppositions filed, said a notice of allowance (NOA) released Tuesday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The NOA gives CTA until Oct. 21 to file a statement of use (SOU) if it’s using the NEXTGEN TV mark in actual commerce. That's the final step before PTO can issue a registration certificate. Several TV models introduced at CES with 3.0 reception (see 2001060019) have arrived at retail, but with many stores closed or relegated to curbside pickup, TV makers are unable to promote the feature. CTA also can file for an SOU extension by Oct. 21 and do so every six months for up to three years. Oct. 21 happens to fall on the scheduled opening day of the two-day NAB Show New York event at the Javits Convention Center.

Evoca will be the go-to-market branding of the ATSC 3.0-enabled terrestrial TV service Edge Networks plans to launch in the Boise market this summer, said the startup Thursday. It applied for the Evoca trademark March 18, Patent and Trademark Office records show. Edge has ambitions to leverage 3.0's IP backbone to deploy a wireless nationwide subscription-based video service that includes 4K channels (see report, March 11 issue.)

Microsoft officials said a proposal to relax rules for distributed transmission systems that broadcasters seek to use for ATSC 3.0 raises concerns as the company rolls out its Airband service in the TV white spaces. Commissioners are to vote on an item for the March 31 meeting (see 2003100065). Microsoft "highlighted the importance of including questions on the potential impact the proposed rule revisions would have on white space device users in the item,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-74. Service area for DTS in the UHF band measures 64 miles from the reference point to the edge of the broadcast service area and “the proposed item would effectively extend this area to 153 miles,” representatives told aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel.