Notice of the FCC NPRM on ATSC 3.0 was published in Friday's Federal Register. Comments on the TV standard (see 1702230060) in docket 16-142 are due May 9, replies June 8, said an FCC public notice and the FR notice. The May 9 deadline falls a week before ATSC members convene for their annual broadcast TV conference.

The AWARN Alliance and One Media demonstrated how ATSC 3.0 will enhance emergency alerting, for FCC Media Bureau acting Chief Michelle Carey and staff, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-142 Tuesday. Officials from NAB, Monroe Electronics and Sinclair attended, the filing said. “These demonstrations showed how the Next Gen standard moves far beyond simple text messages on receive devices to display photos of missing children, kidnapping suspects, vehicle identity and location maps.” The “limited technical proceeding” on ATSC 3.0 “should not be the vehicle to expand programming obligations or other rules not directly tied to the optional, voluntary use of the new standard,” said the alliance, which along with CTA, NAB and others petitioned the FCC to OK 3.0. In its own ex parte filing on the Monday meeting, One Media said the simulcasting proposed in the ATSC 3.0 NPRM is "adaptable on a market-specific basis without government involvement and protects both viewers and MVPDs by continuing to offer the existing programming without change."

The FCC released the final ATSC 3.0 NPRM, which was approved Thursday by a unanimous vote. The item seeks comment on a proposed voluntary transition plan for broadcasters to move to transmitting in the new standard (see 1702230060).

Triveni Digital will market a series of ATSC 3.0 "starter kits" that will bring broadcasters "up to speed” with the next-generation TV standard in a "real-world environment," the company said in a Wednesday announcement. The kits will be introduced throughout the year and “encompass everything from file-based monitoring to live encoding and over-the-air transmission options,” it said. Triveni plans to demonstrate the kits for the first time at the NAB Show in late April, where it will exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall, it said. Triveni Chief Science Officer Rich Chernock chairs ATSC’s Technology Group 3, which is supervising ATSC 3.0's framing.

The FCC should reject requests from pay-TV groups to “impose additional regulatory burdens” on the ATSC 3.0 transition, NAB told aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly in a meeting Wednesday, said an ex parte filing in docket 16-142. Inquiries into capacity issues for multichannel video programming distributors and other questions raised by the American Cable Association and the American Television Alliance (see 1702090057) aren't necessary for “a voluntary transition that does not require MVPDs to carry programming transmitted using the Next Gen standard,” NAB said. The FCC also shouldn't intervene in retransmission consent negotiations over ATSC 3.0, the broadcast association said. “If ACA’s members are aggrieved by specific actions during their negotiations, they are free to allege a violation of the Commission’s good faith negotiation standard and prove that claim on a fact-specific basis,” said the broadcaster group. “Instead, ACA asks the Commission to put a regulatory thumb on the scale to benefit cable companies by prejudging private contractual negotiations. That is not the Commission’s role.”

Eight independent programmers expressed concern with the FCC draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0, said a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142. The agency should address concerns that the American Cable Association recently raised about carrier capacity to carry the new standard (see 1702140065), said the programmers, which include Aspire Channel, Cinémoi, Herring Networks, MAVTV Motorsports Network, Ride Television Network and KSE Media Ventures on behalf of the Outdoor Channel and other such programmers. “As programmers unaffiliated with the largest conglomerates, our offerings will be at particular risk should the transition to ATSC 3.0 compel [multichannel video programming distributors] to eliminate cable channels” because of a carriage squeeze, the programmers said. Independent programmers “would likely be the first to go in systems where capacity is limited,” the letter said. “Such an outcome should concern anyone interested in preserving the diversity of media voices.” ACA met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly on similar issues Thursday, said an ex parte filing.

NAB opposes aspects of the FCC draft notice on ATSC 3.0, said Vice President-Spectrum Policy Alison Neplokh in a blog post. “The draft asks a lot of questions about a tuner mandate, something we and our co-petitioners agree would be counter-productive to the goal of a market-based transition,” Neplokh said. CTA, one of NAB's co-petitioners on ATSC 3.0, similarly voiced concerns recently with “troubling language" in the draft notice about a TV tuner mandate (see 1702030075). Neplokh also criticized questions in the draft on retransmission consent. The retrans portions “have no bearing on enabling innovation in broadcast services, other than to stifle them,” Neplokh said. But she praised Chairman Ajit Pai's recent changes to FCC processes to make circulating items publicly available. The changes are good for commission staff and the agency itself, along with stakeholder groups, said Neplokh, a former FCC deputy chief technologist. “As a former Commission staffer, I often longed for feedback from stakeholders on the feasibility of the rules we were preparing to adopt.” Pai's rule change allows a more open feedback between staffers and stakeholders, Neplokh said. That clearer exchange of ideas will have “tangible benefits” for rules once they're passed, because rules created through a more open process are less likely to lead to petitions for reconsideration and long appeal processes, she said.

The FCC's draft ATSC 3.0 NPRM could use more specificity on how the new standard will affect pay-TV operators that carry 3.0 broadcast signals, said representatives of the American Television Alliance in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Monday, according to an ex parte filing in docket 16-142. The NPRM should include questions about “the format and geographic scope of 'simulcast' ATSC 1.0 transmissions” and the carriage of simulcast signals under existing retransmission consent agreements, said representatives of ATVA members AT&T, Charter Communications, Dish Network, Verizon and the American Cable Association. ACA also submitted separate comments in a letter to the FCC praising Chairman Ajit Pai's decision to make circulating documents public. “This new process, we believe, will help lead to a better NPRM than otherwise would have been possible,” ACA said. The FCC should gather additional information on the additional capacity that multichannel video programming distributors will need to carry ATSC 3.0 signals, ACA said. “This proposed transition will result in broadcasters consuming dramatically more capacity on already-constrained cable networks, requiring them to either eliminate other programming or reduce the quality of their broadband Internet service,” ACA said. “A small cable operator would have to eliminate at least six HD cable channels or sharply degrade broadband performance in order to carry the four major network affiliates in a higher-resolution format.” NAB backs "a voluntary, market-driven deployment of Next Gen TV," and the regulator shouldn't "impose overly prescriptive requirements for the transition," the association's representatives reported telling FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry.

LG Electronics and its Zenith subsidiary don't support a tuner mandate for the transition to ATSC 3.0, spokesman John Taylor told us. LG and Zenith back the recommendations in the petition for ATSC 3.0 rulemaking that CTA, NAB and others filed April 13 at the FCC (see 1604130065), urging that ATSC 3.0 tuners in receivers not be required because the evolution to the next-generation TV standard should be market-driven and based on voluntary standards, Taylor said. It’s too soon to say whether LG and Zenith will file comments if commissioners approve at their Feb. 23 meeting the NPRM on ATSC 3.0 that the agency released publicly as a draft item last week (see report in the Feb. 3 issue of this publication). In the draft, the FCC said it tentatively agrees with the argument that an ATSC 3.0 tuner requirement won't be needed, but that it would seek comment anyway on whether a market-driven approach would be enough. LG and Zenith in 2002 supported the FCC mandate that DTV tuners be included in analog sets on the grounds that a tuner requirement was the best way “to provide consumers with cost-effective products while achieving the national policy objectives” of the DTV transition. “Times have changed,” Taylor said of LG/Zenith’s endorsement of a market-driven approach for ATSC 3.0.

The ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard will enhance broadcasting, said Raycom CEO Pat LaPlatney in a release praising FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s circulation of an NPRM on authorizing a transition plan (see 1702030075). “We can’t fall behind on technology or our ability to provide the very best experience and services to our viewers who count on us every day.”