NAB Proposes Concessions on ATSC 3.0 Multicasting

FCC could limit lateral hosting arrangements -- where broadcasters host the multicast channels of another broadcaster as part of an ATSC 3.0 sharing arrangement -- “to markets where there are likely to be capacity considerations that may make lateral hosting more useful,” the filing said. NAB proposed limiting lateral hosting arrangements to markets that are hyphenated (such as the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market), already have channel sharing agreements, have multiple public TV stations, or have fewer than six full-power TV stations, because all of those situations lead to limited capacity for the ATSC 3.0 transition. NAB has been pushing the FCC since 2020 to relax multicast sharing rules to allow broadcasters more flexibility in transitioning markets (see 2011100067), and insisted in this filing there’s no reason for the agency to oppose the practice. “There is simply nothing in the record to support the idea that viewers would somehow be harmed by lateral hosting,” there “are no novel policy considerations associated with lateral hosting,” and “there is no basis in the record of this proceeding to prohibit or limit the use of lateral hosting arrangements,” NAB repeated.