The FCC’s vacant channel proceeding hangs over low-power TV “like the Sword of Damocles” and should be terminated, said the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance in a meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-268. LPTV stations and translators are now “on the verge” of deciding whether to make “very substantial investments” to survive the repacking, ATBA said. “The vacant channel proceeding enormously compounds the difficulty of those decisions.” The FCC also should provide a path to permanent status for LPTV stations that survive the repacking, quickly approve ATSC 3.0 for all licensed TV broadcasters, open a second displacement window for unbuilt LPTV broadcasters, and “liberally” waive rules that require forfeiture if LPTV stations go dark for more than a year because of the repacking. “ATBA members understand that some of the conditions of repacking are beyond the FCC’s control,” the group said. “But there are a number of targeted steps the Commission can take that would materially improve the prospects for low power broadcasters through the repacking process.”

The FCC should limit broadcaster use of temporary channels during the ATSC 3.0 transition to ensure there’s room for low-power TV stations and translators displaced by the incentive auction, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition in a meeting last month with Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 16-142.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service and other large originators of emergency alerts joined the advisory committee for the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, said an alliance news release Monday. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and APCO also joined the council advising the alliance, which focuses on public safety applications for ATSC 3.0. The AWARN Alliance and advisory committee members plan “to convene working groups” in the second half of 2017, and a beta version of AWARN alerts will be available for TV stations that broadcast in ATSC 3.0 in 2018, the release said.

Sinclair and its One Media subsidiary want the FCC to keep the A/322 document on ATSC 3.0's physical layer protocol out of the final rules for the next-generation broadcast system, they told the commission in Thursday meetings, according to an ex parte notice posted Monday in docket 16-142. The FCC “should avoid over-regulation to permit innovation,” Sinclair and One Media said. FCC rules “support maximum innovation by specifying interference requirements rather than technical standards,” and the companies believe the commission “should follow a similar approach here,” they said. The FCC need not “specify A/322 to ensure universal compatibility,” they said, calling on the commission to “specify” only the A/321 “bootstrap” document in the final ATSC 3.0 rules: “Equipment manufacturers build to industry standards -- and service providers use those standards -- in the ordinary course without any government mandates. Mandating A/322 would hamper innovation without any corresponding benefit.” LG Electronics has been the strongest proponent at the FCC for including the A/322 document in the final ATSC 3.0 rules (see 1706080054).

Pearl TV supports the FCC’s initial proposal to incorporate only the A/321 “bootstrap” physical-layer document into the final rules on ATSC 3.0, it told representatives of the commission's Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology in meetings Tuesday. ATSC 3.0 “was designed to be flexible and to adjust to changing technology,” Pearl said in an ex parte notice posted Thursday in docket 16-142. With only A/321 in the rules, the FCC “will ensure that ATSC can develop different features and capabilities for Next Generation TV depending on how the standard is received and develops,” it said. “This ongoing flexibility is a virtue of the standard and should be maintained. The arguments made by the few parties who support incorporating A/322 are not persuasive, in particular because some parties may stand to benefit from their intellectual property interests in A/322.” It didn’t mention names, but LG Electronics has been a particularly outspoken proponent of putting A/322, the document on physical-layer protocol, in the final rules, saying failure to do so risks “disenfranchising” the public in the form of faulty receivers that don't properly demodulate the ATSC 3.0 signal (see 1706080054). LG and Zenith R&D Lab representatives met with the commission Thursday to emphasize "the importance of incorporating A/322" into the ATSC 3.0 rules, LG said in an ex parte notice posted Friday. LG and Zenith have made no secret of their stake in ATSC 3.0's physical layer. At Cleveland field trials two years ago, they said that of the 16 “blocks” that will comprise ATSC 3.0's physical layer, LG has at least some involvement in at least 10 of those blocks (see 1507130007). Pearl worries “low-end manufacturers, motivated by avoiding IP expenses, will simply bypass A/321 and only build their devices to the specifications of A/322,” it said. “As technology evolves and improves, these devices would be left orphaned without the core A/321 capability to be updated to more advanced standards.” Sinclair's One Media also has come out against putting A/322 into the final ATSC 3.0 rules (see 1706080054). Pearl and Sinclair partnered with LG rival Samsung in an ATSC 3.0 memorandum of understanding two years ago (see 1506170046). Samsung publicly has been silent on the A/322 issue.

The broadcaster spectrum consortium working on ATSC 3.0, virtual MVPD, automotive and wireless applications and other issues added its first affiliate member: Northwest Broadcasting. Nexstar, Sinclair and most recently Univision (see 1706010079) are part of the group promoting spectrum aggregation for TV stations to compete in wireless data transmission; the consortium now reaches about 90 percent of the U.S. "We invite other broadcasters to join us as we continue to advance the Next Generation Broadcast Standard," said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley Wednesday. Northwest CEO Brian Brady said the consortium gives "broadcasters the ability to control their future rather than having it dictated by others."

The current retransmission consent regime gives broadcasters too much power over MVPDs for the FCC to take a hands-off stance in approving ATSC 3.0, Mediacom’s Joseph Young said in a long filing in docket 16-422, with extensive footnotes and references to the novel Catch 22. Broadcasters will exploit their position and “use retransmission consent as a club” to compel MVPDs and consumers to transition to ATSC 3.0 without FCC safeguards, Mediacom said. “It would be a mistake to give broadcasters conditionless permission to innovate around the ATSC standard unless subscribers were also given permission to pay only for the stations they want to buy,” the filing said. “Permission to implement ATSC 3.0 should be granted, but subject to carefully thought-out safeguards against the potential negative consequences for millions of Americans who have no practical choice but to buy whatever broadcasters put on the menu.”

LG Electronics was right to urge the FCC to incorporate into its rules both the A/322 and A/321 physical-layer documents within the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards (see 1705100003), Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers told the commission in comments posted Wednesday in the next-generation broadcast standard rulemaking proceeding (docket 16-142). The engineers' "primary concern" in the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking "is with minimizing the potential for intersystem interference among users of the broadcast spectrum," they said. “While in general we support a minimum of regulation, fundamental technical standards must be a part of the regulation package,” said the engineers. “A/321, by itself, is insufficient to define the waveform and interference requirements” of ATSC 3.0, they said. “A possible solution would be to incorporate A/322 as a part of the Commission’s rules, applicable to television broadcast content, allowing flexibility for use of non-television content so long as the basic emission waveform criteria are met.” LG has called the A/322 document on physical-layer protocol "critical for ensuring that an ATSC 3.0 signal is reliably transmitted and received." A/321 on system discovery and signaling was the only ATSC 3.0 physical-layer document that ATSC had ratified when CTA, NAB and others filed their petition for rulemaking last April asking the FCC to allow broadcasters to begin using the new broadcast standard (see 1604130065). ATSC ratified A/322 in September and approved a 2017 amendment to the document just this Tuesday. Reply comments in the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking are due Thursday.

Sinclair anticipates “working with policymakers to discuss the significant benefits this deal will provide for local viewers and communities across the country,” Senior Vice President Rebecca Hanson said in a statement Monday on senators’ pressure for a hearing on Sinclair’s acquisition of Tribune. “At a time of rapidly accelerating competition from the nation’s largest cable, satellite, wireless and internet companies, the combined Sinclair-Tribune will have the wherewithal to compete through innovation, including the roll out of NextGen television and enhanced investment in local news and original programming.” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., led several Democrats in a letter Monday calling for hearings on the deal and expressing concern about the high level of media concentration they said it would create. Representatives for the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees, which oversee media and antitrust policy, didn’t say whether any hearings are forthcoming on the proposed acquisition. Senate Commerce "will review the hearing request once the requisite paperwork ... has been filed with FCC and DOJ," a committee spokesman said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., previously said some Sinclair/Tribune discussion could be possible during a future FCC confirmation hearing (see 1705230036).

The FCC Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology set aside a block of days at the end of June for ex parte meetings on ATSC 3.0, said a public notice Friday. “Given the interest in this proceeding, we have determined that it would be efficient for the Commission staff to set aside a specific period.” Staff will be available for ATSC 3.0 ex parte meetings roughly three weeks after the June 8 due date for reply comments in the 16-142 proceeding, June 27-30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the notice said.