The FCC unanimously approved a Further NPRM seeking comment on proposals from NAB’s petition on ATSC 3.0 multicasting. The FNPRM released Friday tentatively concludes that the agency should let 3.0 stations license multicast streams that are hosted by other stations (see 2110280064). It proposes allowing stations broadcasting in 3.0 on their own channels to license ATSC 1.0 multicast streams hosted by other stations without simulcasting that stream in 3.0 themselves. Licensing multicast streams would make clear what station is responsible for FCC violations on a given stream, the FNPRM said. It would also address concerns about noncommercial educational stations hosting the streams of commercial broadcasters, the FNPRM said. FCC rules prohibit airing broadcast ads over NCE spectrum. The proposals could help address broadcaster capacity concerns “by facilitating the participation of stations uncomfortable with a purely contractual approach and making the participation of NCE stations legally permissible,” the FNPRM said. The FCC declined to seek comment on an NAB proposal for broadcasters to host multicast streams even without broadcasting in 3.0 but asked about allowing 3.0 broadcasters to host their primary and multicast streams on different stations to prevent service loss. “Is there any reason to treat ‘simulcast’ multicast streams differently than ‘simulcast’ primary streams?” the FCC asked. The FNPRM seeks comment on how to prevent broadcasters from taking advantage of the rule changes “to aggregate programming or broadcast spectrum on multiple stations in a market in a manner that would not otherwise be possible or permitted.”

Triveni Digital will host a virtual ATSC 3.0 event Nov. 3 that will include a keynote by ATSC President Madeleine Noland and live sessions with 3.0 broadcasters and developers, including Ark Multicasting, said the company Monday. The event, called the Triveni Digital LIVE Forum, “will be vastly different than mainstream virtual events; we'll swap out pre-recorded webinars with engaging and interactive live discussions,” said Triveni. “With the cancellation of the 2021 NAB Show, the broadcast industry is missing out on the opportunity to interact and engage.”

An NAB petition on clarifying FCC ATSC 3.0 multicast rules was circulated to the eighth floor last week, according to the FCC website and a broadcast industry official. The petition involves the “substantially similar” programming requirement for stations switching to the new standard and would make shifting markets easier, broadcasters said (see 2109300003). NAB wants certainty on which station the FCC will hold responsible for violations of rules when broadcasters are hosting each other’s channels on multicast streams during the 3.0 changeover.

TCL plans an Oct. 9 news conference at the NAB Show with Sinclair, Technicolor and pro AV supplier Cobalt, but a spokesperson for the TV maker wouldn’t say if it’s to announce TCL brand NextGenTV support -- thus far confined to LG, Samsung and Sony. As one of the largest TV brands globally and in North America, TCL “invests heavily” in R&D, emailed the spokesperson Thursday. “These investments in technologies and technology partners help us better understand and prepare for what is coming next in the categories we support or plan to support in the future,” she said. “To maintain the leadership position, TCL must continue to engage with all paths to the future to find the ones that benefit our users most and provide the most compelling value proposition. At this time, we have nothing to announce in regards to NextGenTV for the North American market.” Sinclair didn’t respond to questions. Sinclair’s ATSC 3.0 content in its NextGen TV launch markets has used Technicolor’s Intelligent Tone Management algorithm to upconvert non-HDR video to match native HDR, the broadcaster told us in January (see 2101130006).

Pearl TV stations have “started to look" at doing over-the-air ATSC 3.0 transmissions in 4K, Managing Director Anne Schelle told the ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference Thursday. “We had an almost opportunity -- I can’t really talk about it -- where a network was looking at it, but for rights issues and others, we didn’t do it,” she said. She foresees stations in 2022 will begin doing events-based broadcasts in 4K for live sports, she said. “Some of the stations are talking about production in 4K” for some of the “shoulder content they’re producing around sports,” she said.

Evoca, the ATSC 3.0-based content delivery service, picked CommScope to source a next-generation Android TV set-top with “integrated dual multimode” ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 tuners, “marking one of the first times this technology combination is being made available for general consumer use,” said the companies Wednesday. CommScope’s new VIP7802-ATSC set-top, Pilot by Evoca, will be deployed to new subscribers on Evoca’s converged broadcast-broadband platform, beginning in Q1, they said. The Pilot set-top is a “cost-effective way” to roll out the Evoca service to subscribers “as we launch in multiple television markets,” said CEO Todd Achilles. “We intend to make a similar product available to other broadcasters.”

The Patent and Trademark Office accepted CTA’s statement of use on the NextGenTV logo as a certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs, clearing its final hurdle toward a trademark registration certificate, said an agency notice Tuesday. The certificate “will issue in due course barring any extraordinary circumstances,” said PTO. CTA’s July 1 statement of use said the logo was first deployed commercially “at least as early” as March 2020 (see 2107260021).

CEO Chris Ripley criticized the market’s valuation of Sinclair and touted its planned direct-to-consumer sports offering, but said little about ATSC 3.0 progress, on a Q2 call Wednesday. When Sinclair's assets beyond stations and regional sports networks are considered, the stock should be worth double the current price, said Ripley. “It is becoming painfully obvious the market doesn’t understand Sinclair.” Shares closed 4.1% higher Wednesday at $29.43. The additional assets include a stake in gambling company Bally’s and Sinclair’s licensed spectrum, which Ripley valued at $1.7 billion based on the prices from the broadcast incentive auction. Sinclair’s DTC sports service is to launch in the first half of 2022 and gives the company the opportunity to create a “metaverse” around sports, Ripley said. Sinclair is well-positioned for the service because it owns a panoply of sports rights and its many channels give it access to a large potential subscriber base, he said. The rise of DTC sports offerings and consolidation among the RSNs have “just massive industrial logic,” Ripley said. Sinclair is pursuing financing for the project. It expects any “cannibalization” of MVPD subs from the DTC offering will be “low,” said the CEO. The service is expected to appeal to “a younger cohort,” he said. It would allow targeted advertising and other revenue opportunities around sports gambling, Ripley said. If 5% of RSN customers also subscribe to the app, that's 4.4 million households -- a "very achievable” number, he said. Sinclair launched 3.0 through July in 17 cities, including Baltimore, Grand Rapids and Little Rock, said the company. Total ad revenue for Q2 was $491 million, up 109% from a year earlier, due to the general recovery of the ad market from the pandemic and the resumption of professional sports, said Chief Financial Officer Lucy Rutishauser.

The NextGenTV certification mark for ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs was “first used in commerce by persons authorized” by applicant CTA “at least as early as March 1, 2020, and is now in use in such commerce,” said the association’s statement of use (SOU), dated July 1 and newly posted at the Patent and Trademark Office. “Applicant is exercising legitimate control over the use of the certification mark in connection with the identified goods” but is “not engaged in the production or marketing of the goods to which the mark is applied,” it said. PTO requires the SOU as the last step in the trademark application process before issuing a registration certificate, and does so to prevent applicants from hoarding trademarks. “CTA have set up a Test Repository for ATSC 3.0 Test Material, to facilitate the upload of test materials representing ‘typical’ emissions from current trials, and the subsequent download for use to test and certify consumer devices,” says a redacted Eurofins test specification document accompanying the SOU. Eurofins developed the 3.0 receiver conformance test suite under contract with CTA and showcased it at the April 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas (see 1903270038). Only test suite licensee and “contributor” users have access to the repository, says the document. Contributor access “is afforded to CTA, NAB and ATSC members and their appointed representatives” for searching, but not for downloading, interoperability and documentation materials, it said. Manufacturers aren't required under the NextGenTV logo license “to retrospectively test previously certified devices” against later releases of the test suite, says the document. It's the manufacturer’s “sole responsibility to establish its own testing specifications and program to ensure interoperability” with compliant NextGenTV services, it says. “Company shall be solely responsible for all testing results.”

The FCC should act “without delay” on an NAB petition for clarity on how the agency will treat multicast streams during the ATSC 3.0 transition, said Pearl TV in a meeting with aides to Commissioner Nathan Simington Thursday, per a filing posted in docket 16-142 Wednesday. Broadcasters said inaction on the matter is complicating the transition (see 2105280035). The petition “seeks only to give broadcasters the necessary clarity to maintain existing 1.0 service,” Pearl said. It doesn’t ask for “new carriage rights for multicast streams” or “create new station licenses or alienable interests.” A station “would continue to have its one license, but instead of only reflecting one authorized host channel, it may reflect more than one,” Pearl said.