LG Electronics is the first TV maker to join the ATSC 3.0 “model market” project in Phoenix (see 1711140053), said the company Thursday. It will supply the first 3.0 receivers for the project, which is being spearheaded by Pearl TV and supported by 10 TV stations in the market to show how the standard “can be deployed while maintaining existing digital TV service for viewers,” it said. LG receivers "will be tested by local broadcasters and consumer focus groups" as the model market project "ramps up this summer," it said. Though just before CES Pearl announced a “collaborative project” for the Phoenix model market with another TV maker, Sony Electronics, that was for the development of a 3.0 “channel navigation tool,” not TV receivers (see 1801050035).

Programming for ATSC’s annual Broadcast TV Conference in Washington isn't complete, but the May 23-24 event is open for registration and does have a theme -- “Road to ATSC 3.0: Destination Next Gen TV.” A newly posted registration page bills day one as a 3.0 “implementation review” and day two as the Next Gen TV Conference. The event is ATSC’s first annual meeting since the FCC in November authorized 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) and framers completed work on the last of 3.0's suite of standards in January (see 1801090056). "Road to ATSC 3.0" also will be the name of the exhibit sponsored by ATSC, CTA and NAB in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center during next week's NAB Show, said ATSC President Mark Richer in the April issue of the group's monthly newsletter The Standard, which was released Monday. The exhibit will highlight early 3.0 deployments, said Richer. More than 40 exhibitors will showcase 3.0 technology on the NAB show floor, he said.

Four more broadcast equipment and services suppliers will participate in the Phoenix “model market” initiative for deploying ATSC 3.0, said Pearl TV in a Tuesday announcement. Dielectric will supply UHF bandpass filters to Phoenix TV stations participating in the initiative, Enensys is supplying its 3.0 broadcast gateways, GatesAir the latest generation of its Maxiva TV transmitters, and Triveni Digital is providing its Broadcast Services Management Platform content distribution systems, said Pearl. Harmonic announced Tuesday it will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processors (see 1803270006).

Petitions for Reconsideration of the FCC’s ATSC 3.0 order from NCTA and the American Television Alliance (see 1803060053) are being published in Thursday’s Federal Register. Oppositions are due April 13, replies April 27, the FR said.

Video delivery products and services supplier Harmonic is joining Pearl TV and its team of “ecosystem partners” deploying ATSC 3.0 field trials in the Phoenix “model market” of 10 TV stations (see 1711140053), said Harmonic in a Tuesday announcement. Harmonic will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processor, it said. The Phoenix testbed initiative is “the first time that a single market will test the ATSC 3.0 standard and provide a framework to the industry," said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle in a statement. Partnering with companies like Harmonic can help Pearl TV “validate groundbreaking improvements for over-the-air broadcasting and experiment with innovative use cases that ATSC 3.0 enables,” she said.

Broadcasters “have made no substantive case” that letting them use vacant channels for the ATSC 3.0 transition would benefit the public interest, Microsoft replied Wednesday in docket 16-142. Broadcaster arguments that unlicensed uses don’t have guaranteed access to spectrum are “a distraction,” Microsoft said. “No prospective user is entitled to use spectrum for which it does not yet hold a license.” The FCC isn’t being asked to give white space users interference protection from broadcasters, Microsoft said. “It is being asked to grant new spectrum to companies that have said they don’t need it,” the company said, referring to the broadcasters. The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance agreed, saying allowing broadcasters to use vacant channels would “diminish” prospects for white space devices “as the uncertainty over the ‘temporary’ nature of the dedicated transition channels will chill large-scale investments.” The FCC should “hold the line” on simulcast rules, NCTA said. With 3.0 authorized, broadcasters “insist on generous waivers of the requirements codifying their promises,” NCTA said. “The simulcasting rules are already excessively generous to broadcasters at viewers’ expense.” NCTA took aim at noncommercial stations’ request for a blanket simulcasting waiver, urging the FCC to deny it. PBS, America’s Public Television Stations and the CPB said the agency shouldn’t delay granting the blanket waiver because NCEs aren’t often located near prospective simulcasting partners. “It is precisely in those areas with few over-the-air options that it makes sense to preserve, not reduce, the number of viewable -- i.e., ATSC 1.0 -- signals,” NCTA said. NAB, One Media, the American Cable Association and interest groups including Public Knowledge also commented (see 1803210025).

Broadcasters seeking to use vacant channels for the ATSC 3.0 transition are attempting to “squat” on free spectrum, said Consumers Union, Public Knowledge and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute in replies in FCC docket 16-142 Tuesday on a Further NPRM on the new standard (see 1802210064). Allowing temporary use of the vacant channels “will trigger a lobbying frenzy to make the giveaway permanent,” the groups said. That claim is “nonsense,” said One Media. “The use would be temporary in the same way the second simulcast digital channel provided to broadcasters during the analog-to-digital conversion was temporary.” Special temporary authority process would govern channel provision, ensuring temporary use, Pearl said. Mutually exclusive applications for vacant channels during the switch will be unlikely because broadcasters will coordinate with each other, but would be resolved with auctions as the rules require, NAB said. Giving broadcasters access to vacant channels “is not necessary at this time to protect consumers and it comes at a high cost,” said the interest groups. The vacant channels will let stations maintain signal quality during the transition, NAB said. “Any party claiming to be concerned about consumer protection during the Next Gen deployment should support the use of vacant channels as a concrete step that may help to minimize disruption of service.” Granting broadcasters' vacant channel request will impose costs on MVPDs, the interest groups said. “If the broadcaster‘s 1.0 signal is transferred to a transmitter other than one that is already transmitting a broadcast signal being carried by the cable system, the cable operator would need to purchase and install new receiving equipment.” The broadcaster entities also said the FCC should be flexible in granting waivers of the 3.0 simulcast requirements, and Pearl said the agency should grant blanket waivers for noncommercial and Class A stations. “Implementing this exemption would show the Commission’s support for deployment of ATSC 3.0 across the country, particularly in more remote or rural areas,” said Pearl.

ATSC 3.0 doesn’t raise novel questions about privacy and the FTC will have authority over any broadcaster violations of existing privacy rules under the new standard, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., in a letter released Tuesday. “The FCC intends to closely monitor the transition to Next Gen TV,” Pai said. Some of the new standard’s interactive features could require viewers to provide some personal information analogous to that required for some smartphone apps, Pai said. “If a consumer decides to provide his or her personal data, the broadcaster will be responsible for securing the data in accordance with its stated privacy and data security policies and will be subject to possible enforcement action by the FTC.” Geographically targeted advertisements that don’t require collection of personal information from customers won’t need rules requiring they opt in or out, Pai said. “There is nothing in the record” suggesting 3.0-compatible TVs and devices will be susceptible to hacking or viruses, Pai said. Internet connectivity isn't a new feature for TV, he said. The 3.0 order, then still in draft form, “continues a troubling pattern of indifference at the FCC towards consumer privacy,” Dingell wrote Pai in November (see 1711080052).

With the FCC order set to take effect March 5 authorizing voluntary deployment of ATSC 3.0 (see 1802010025), MPEG LA is encountering “a great deal of enthusiasm for an ATSC 3.0 pool license,” said spokesman Tom O’Reilly. Having announced in August a call for patents essential to the 3.0 suite of standards (see 1711010054), “to facilitate creation of a joint license for ATSC 3.0,” MPEG LA held two meetings on forming a patent pool “and will hold our third meeting next month,” said O’Reilly. “Fifteen companies are participating so far.” He gave no timeline for when a 3.0 patent pool might be operational. MPEG LA runs 15 patent pool programs, including one for nine licensors for some essential patents embedded in ATSC 1.0. The two largest joint-license programs MPEG LA administers in terms of the number of participating licensors are those it runs on behalf of 38 companies in the AVC/H.264 pool and 36 companies in the HEVC/H.265 pool. The FCC 3.0 order released Nov. 21 said the commission will use the first five years of 3.0 deployment to "monitor" how the marketplace handles royalties for essential patents, electing for now not to impose licensing rules on 3.0's rollout (see 1711210004).

The FCC order authorizing ATSC 3.0 voluntary deployment is to take effect March 5, as it's being published in Friday's Federal Register. Commissioners approved the order Nov. 16 in a 3-2 party-line vote (see 1711160060).