FCC application forms for broadcasters looking to shift to ATSC 3.0 don’t adequately tackle broadcasters hosting each other’s multicast ATSC 1.0 streams, said NAB in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142 Friday. The agency should have broadcasters file exhibits with additional host channels with their applications, or include a request for special temporary authority with their application, NAB said. Broadcast licenses could be updated to include a notation reflecting the additional channels, NAB said. “Including such a notation on the broadcast license would resolve any questions regarding responsibility for the program in the event of any enforcement or regulatory requirement,” the letter said.

LG will price the 88- and 77-inch models in its ZX series of 8K OLED TVs at $29,000 and $19,999, respectively, when they debut at retail in May, said the manufacturer Monday. Three series of 4K sets, plus the $4,999 WX “wallpaper” 4K TV will round out LG’s 2020 OLED offerings, it said. The top 4K tier is called the GX “gallery” series, with 55-, 65- and 77-inch models due in April priced $2,499 to $5,999, said LG. The gallery series is so named because the TVs in that line sport an ultra-thin form factor without the need for a separate control box, and can be mounted flush to the wall, it said. LG’s lowest-priced OLED TV for 2020 will be $1,599 for the 55-inch model in the BX series due in May. The three models in the GX series, the two 8K sets and the wallpaper TV all will have ATSC 3.0 functionality, said LG.

An analysis of ATSC 3.0 transmission technology since the FCC approved its voluntary deployment in 2017 (see 1711160060) found the 3.0 “emission mask” may not adequately protect reserved-band FM noncommercial educational stations from interference, NPR told Media Bureau staff Monday. That’s because 3.0 transmissions “occupy additional bandwidth” beyond ATSC 1.0, and the interference risk “is particularly heightened at the perimeter of a DTV station’s coverage area,” it said in a notice posted Thursday in docket 19-193. NPR urged the commission to consider requiring DTV channel 6 stations to use “additional signal filtering” as it does for channels 14 and 17.

The FCC is expected to approve an NPRM Friday, pushed by Microsoft, which would allow TV white space devices to operate at higher power levels in less congested areas. Major changes from Chairman Ajit Pai's proposals aren't likely, industry and FCC officials said in interviews this week. The biggest change is expected to be inclusion of a footnote saying channels 36 and 37 issues need to be addressed separately. GE Healthcare insists new operations in the TV spectrum must not harm sensitive wireless medical telemetry services operating there. GEHC didn't comment now. The Open Technology Institute at New America sought changes. The group asked “about a potential technical issue concerning the important proposal to authorize mobile use of TVWS within geo-fenced areas defined by the TV Bands Database,” said a filing in docket 20-36. Broadcasters and the NAB want to make sure the white spaces proceeding doesn’t become “a backdoor spectrum allocation,” said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz in an interview. “It’s broadcast spectrum for use by broadcasters.” Some planned uses for distributed transmission systems as part of the transition to ATSC 3.0 could be adjacent to or make use of white spaces spectrum, said broadcast industry officials. The FCC is expected to consider a petition on DTS from NAB and America's Public Television Stations later this year. Use of the white spaces shouldn’t be allowed to affect broadcaster hopes for DTS, Fritz said. The DTS proceeding and the single frequency networks it would encourage aren’t necessary for 3.0 to launch but are important for “full market deployment,” Fritz said. NAB declined comment. NAB officials told an aide to Pai the FCC should approve the NPRM as is. “Much of the draft reflects significant agreement reached between NAB and Microsoft after months of discussions,” NAB said. “We look forward to working with the Commission and Microsoft to develop final rules that allow greater flexibility for potential white spaces operations in rural areas while continuing to provide robust protections for licensed services.”

CTA’s application to register the NEXTGEN TV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant consumer TVs was published for opposition Tuesday, confirmed the Patent and Trademark Office. The application, published in the agency's Trademark Official Gazette, advances to a notice of allowance if no one opposes it at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board by March 26. CTA would then have six months to file a statement of use as one of the final steps in the registration process. CTA unveiled the logo in the fall as the keystone of its consumer-facing branding campaign for when broadcasters in the top 40 U.S. markets begin rolling out 3.0 services later this year (see 1909190066).

“History suggests” that new generations of video codecs are developed on seven-to-nine-year “cycles” and that each new generation reduces bit rate by up to half, said ATSC’s Planning Team 4 (PT4) in a “summary” report on future video technologies approved Nov. 19 and posted Tuesday at atsc.org. PT4, chaired by Glenn Reitmeier, NBCUniversal senior vice president-advanced technology standards, began its review of future video technologies to study what “methods” are “available to us to add a codec” to ATSC 3.0, said ATSC in March (see 1903210057). MPEG’s “work plan” for the development of the next-generation Versatile Video Coding codec to be completed this year is targeting 50 percent “efficiency improvement” compared with the H.265 codec built into ATSC 3.0, said the report. MPEG also is working on the Essential Video Coding codec, which seeks “core profile performance” similar to H.265, using a set of “royalty-free coding tools,” also planned for completion in 2020, it said. EVC would be administered under “a simple, transparent licensing structure for a more efficient main profile promised within two years after publication,” it said. It’s “possible” that future video codec development “may become increasingly optimized toward specific applications,” said the report. “Given this possibility, future codec considerations for ATSC standards should include requirements driven by broadcast operations and business models, particularly in requirements such as compression efficiency and latency. ATSC needs to “communicate” those requirements to MPEG and other codec developers in “appropriate liaisons,” it said.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ chief concerns with the shift to ATSC 3.0 are the data privacy and security implications, he told the NAB joint board annual meeting Monday. NEXTGEN TV’s features rely on consumer data collected by broadcasters and device makers, he said. “How will that data be kept secure? How will it be stored, anonymized, or sold? How will consumers be fully aware of what data are being collected and how it is being used?” There’s “an ever growing mountain” of evidence on the negative outcomes from artificial intelligence systems using algorithms to sift data and exhibiting biases for certain demographics, Starks said. “Widen your aperture to be aware of and conscientiously think through complex issues involving data and privacy that are going to dominate our shared future,” he told NAB. Starks also focused on FCC data collection, calling the FCC’s data collection on broadcast ownership diversity “stale.” It's "still not clear to me how, for nearly 20 years, the FCC ignored Congress’ will by not collecting” equal employment opportunity workforce diversity data, Starks said. “That means we have had zero visibility into the diversity of station management and news and production teams. I will continue to work to re-open this issue going forward,” he said. Starks disagreed that collecting EEO data or diversity policies would be vulnerable to constitutional challenges. “Collecting and analyzing data is a ministerial function that is necessary for the FCC, as an expert agency, to have a better understanding of the industries that we regulate,” Starks said. “We have a direct order from the 3rd Circuit Court to implement a data program that would help understand the impact of our regulatory efforts on the ability of women and people of color to own stations.” Broadcasters should work to improve diversity in broadcasting, he said. “Hold yourselves accountable -- this is an annual meeting of the NAB board, so make sure that one year from now, the numbers are better.”

Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle discussed broadcaster progress on ATSC 3.0 with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a Jan. 16 meeting, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-142 Wednesday. Broadcast engineers and analysts at a conference the same day discussed the need to communicate to advertisers and consumers about the new standard (see 2001160052).

Sharp Japan’s “prior pending applications” to trademark “NXT-GEN” as a name and logo for consumer TVs and monitors were "abandoned and no longer pose as a potential bar” to CTA’s attempt to register the “NEXTGEN TV” logo for ATSC 3.0 consumer goods, said an “examiner’s amendment” posted Tuesday at the Patent and Trademark Office. Sharp’s December 2018 applications got provisional PTO approval, but PTO declared them dead after Sharp let lapse the Jan. 4 deadline for filing the required statements of use that would have cleared the trademarks to final registration (see 2001080031). Sharp and CTA haven’t commented on whether they coordinated PTO activities to let the NEXTGEN TV logo application go forward.

If FirstNet doesn't work with America’s Public Television Stations, the FCC "may wish to engage through oversight or other action to ensure that the nation’s first responders have the full benefit of public television’s datacasting capability," APTS told Public Safety Bureau staff in a filing for docket 19-254. "APTS seeks first and foremost to work with FirstNet and AT&T in a cooperative approach." FirstNet didn't comment Monday. “In an ideal world, the Commission would encourage the integration of datacasting and, if necessary, mandate that ATSC 3.0 broadcast chips be included in all public safety phones and devices,” the public broadcaster group said. “Such action would allow for a transparent hand-off of datacasting from public TV broadcast stations to the public safety LTE network allowing for a two-way mobile communications path.” Friday, FirstNet Executive Director Edward Parkinson said at CES FirstNet has more than 1 million connections. "We’ve seen commercial carriers competing like they never have before to gain public safety’s business,” he said: “We’ve seen industry rising to the occasion for our first responders with new devices, apps, and solutions."