“Understanding ATSC 3.0" is the name of an eight-week SMPTE course launching Aug. 24 to guide participants through the layers and capabilities of the NextGenTV system, said the society Monday. Course instructors will explain the “basic principles and advanced techniques of audio and video compression” built into the 3.0 suite of standards, plus its IP backbone, said SMPTE. Participants will “gain key insights into how the ATSC 3.0 system works, and its new features and capabilities for creating and delivering new and enriched content experiences to audiences,” it said. Instructors are retired former NBCUniversal executive Glenn Reitmeier; consultant Aldo Cugnini, formerly with Philips Research; and Dave Siegler, retired Cox Media Group technical executive. The course costs $599 for SMPTE members, $749 for nonmembers. Discounts are available, said SMPTE.

The FCC should reject the Wireless ISP Association’s arguments that ATSC 3.0’s greater capabilities to handle interference mean the FCC should relax interference rules for unlicensed devices operating in the TV white spaces, said broadcaster consortium BitPath in an ex parte filing Friday in docket 20-36. The “most troubling aspect” of WISPA’s stance is the idea “that the capabilities of ATSC 3.0 should be applied not to improve broadcast television service, but rather to give [white spaces device] interests more operating flexibility,” said BitPath CEO John Hane. An interference test performed by WISPA, “skips over too many inconvenient real-world facts to be taken seriously,” Hane said. Both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 receivers must be protected from interference because there are currently few 3.0 devices and 1.0 signals are still required, Hane said. “Any conclusions drawn solely from self-serving tests of two devices would be unjustified,” he said. “Technological advances in interference modeling ensures that spectrum, that scarce public resource, is put to its best and highest use,” emailed WISPA CEO Claude Aiken. “The FCC has welcomed those technological advances in interference modeling in multiple other shared spectrum bands. WISPA merely suggests that the FCC should follow suit here as well.”

A second station in Phoenix began broadcasting ATSC 3.0, said Pearl TV Wednesday. E.W. Scripps’s KASW-TV is broadcasting under the new standard, the release said. “The station will host KSAZ-TV (Fox) as part of the initial launch." The other 3.0 station is Univision's KFPH-CD.

Four Utah stations went live with ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, Sinclair announced Wednesday. Sinclair owns KUTV Salt Lake City and KJZZ-TV Salt Lake City; Nexstar owns KTVX Salt Lake City and KUCW Ogden. The stations join other recent 3.0 ones in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Nashville.

Five Nashville stations began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 Tuesday, Sinclair announced. Sinclair owns WZTV, WUXP-TV and WNAB, E.W. Scripps owns WTVF and Nexstar, WKRN-TV. WZTV, WUXP and WKRN will be “charter participants” in the launch of spectrum consortium BitPath’s data broadcasting network, said BitPath CEO John Hane. Stations have also gone live with 3.0 in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas (see 2006170061).

Three Pittsburgh stations went live in ATSC 3.0, said Sinclair Tuesday: Sinclair’s WPGH-TV, WPNT and Hearst’s WTAE-TV. “The participating stations have cooperated to ensure that all existing programming remains available to all viewers,” including on pay TV, said Sinclair. “Pittsburgh is just the second city in which different broadcasters have cooperated to launch full time commercial ATSC 3.0 service,” blogged BitPath President John Hane. “WPNT and WPGH-TV will soon be important links in the BitPath network.”

The FCC issued the order wrapping up dangling aspects of ATSC 3.0 rules, as expected (see 2006050054). Stations with fewer than three potential simulcasting partners would be eligible to receive simulcast waivers, if they commit to taking reasonable efforts to provide ATSC 1.0 service during the transition. That could be by providing consumers with converters, but the order said the agency would consider other ideas. Waiver applications that include providing free converters to consumers will be looked upon “favorably,” the order said. The order doesn’t grant a blanket waiver to noncommercial educational or low-power TV stations, as some commenters sought. The order also doesn’t allow broadcasters to use vacant channels for the transition, and rejects reconsideration petitions of the 3.0 order from the American Television Alliance and NCTA. “If warranted by market conditions in the future, we may revisit the need for permitting broadcasters to use vacant channels as transition channels,” the order said. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in part, raising concerns about the costs passed on to consumers and the order’s lack of requirements that 3.0 patents be licensed on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. That’s inconsistent with past policy, and in this case, “a single broadcaster holds the essential ATSC 3.0 patents and thus can set pricing and terms for any other broadcaster seeking to transition,” said Starks. Sinclair and affiliates are said to hold several 3.0 patents. “By failing to follow history here, FCC is conferring special status on those who hold key patents without requiring fair terms in exchange,” Rosenworcel said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly voted to approve but said broadcasters should be able to self-certify they can’t find sharing partners. O’Rielly and both Democrats said they agreed with the decision to keep transitioning broadcasters off vacant channels. “This is clearly a premature matter that can be examined later, if absolutely necessary,” he said. The order said stations’ significantly viewed status doesn’t change while their 1.0 channel is being hosted by another broadcaster.

A new coalition of developers and manufacturers aims to speed the transition to ATSC 3.0. The NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance includes BitRouter, Digital Alert Systems, Hitachi-Comark, Triveni Digital and Verance, the group said Thursday. “The Alliance's initial objective is to ensure the successful deployment of enhanced emergency information solutions across the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem,” the release said. "This is a time of significant transformation, and forward-thinking companies are exploring how to leverage new technology areas like ATSC 3.0," said alliance Chairman Edward Czarnecki, senior director-strategy and government affairs for Monroe Electronics, which is affiliated with Digital Alert Systems.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly voted to approve a declaratory ruling and accompanying NPRM in docket 20-145 on ATSC 3.0 with the rest of the commission Tuesday but was critical of several aspects of the rulemaking. The final items are expected to be little changed from their draft versions. “I do question whether this is the best use of our resources,” said O’Rielly. “We probably could have lived without the effort to artificially rebrand the nonbroadcast, datacasting services with the questionable term ‘Broadcast Internet.’” The declaratory ruling proceeding was led by O’Rielly’s fellow commission Republican, Brendan Carr. O’Rielly said during a post-meeting news conference his comments weren’t directed at Carr. Carr repeatedly advocated for the term “broadcast internet,” to be applied to ATSC 3.0 datacasting, which he said in a post-meeting news conference should be differentiated from NextGen TV offerings. The item clarifies the rules for broadcasters using their spectrum for wireless capacity, Carr said. “ATSC 3.0 is the technology that will allow broadcast spectrum to play an even greater role in this converged market for connectivity.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel expressed concern about 3.0’s lack of backward compatibility and its suitability for applications such as telehealth, nonetheless lauded the proceeding as “responsibly” exploring “legal and technical issues that stand in the way of this standard’s further development.”

A series of seven free hour-long instructional webinars for broadcasters seeking to deploy ATSC 3.0 services begins Wednesday with a course on “standing up a host station.” The technical team behind the Pearl TV-led 3.0 Phoenix Model Market project will give the webinars every other Wednesday through Aug. 26, said Pearl Tuesday. The sessions are designed to offer a “basic explanation” of 3.0 content and security protection, broadcaster application and framework, service profiles and equipment requirements, it said. The webinars will “help guide station and technology management personnel in converting local markets” to 3.0, said Pearl engineer Dave Folsom, the chief instructor of the courses.