Revised FCC rules for distributed transmission systems take effect May 24, said a Media Bureau public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. The changes loosen interference requirements to make it easier for broadcasters to employ the technology -- also called single frequency networks -- which is widely considered important to realize ATSC 3.0’s potential (see 2101190078).

The Patent and Trademark Office approved CTA’s second deadline extension request on filing a statement of use (SOU) for the association’s NextGenTV logo as a certification mark on ATSC 3.0-compliant TVs, agency records show. CTA has until Oct. 21 to file the SOU and is entitled to three more deadline extension requests of six months each. It must file by April 21, 2023, the third anniversary of the logo’s notice of allowance, or risk abandonment of the application. PTO requires the SOU as a final condition for issuing a registration certificate to prevent applicants from intentionally hoarding trademarks with no plan to deploy them commercially. CTA told us six months ago that it anticipated filing for no additional extensions because NextGenTVs were prevalent on the market and the logo was plainly in commercial use (see 2010270018). “We don’t anticipate further delays in the PTO process," said Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-research and standards, when asked Wednesday about CTA's apparent reversal. The association is glad the NextGenTV logo "is now in the market -- and we expect sales of these products to grow exponentially," he said.

Fraunhofer and Sinclair will partner to bring the Digital Radio Mondiale “framework” to the ATSC 3.0 suite of TV standards, said the companies Tuesday. The collaboration aims to bring DRM listeners “a seamless and full-featured digital radio experience across all broadcast platforms” on fixed home receivers and mobile and automotive reception devices, they said. Fraunhofer owns the trademark to DRM’s xHE-AAC next-generation audio codec and is a licensor in the xHE-AAC patent pool that Dolby-affiliated Via Licensing created in 2016. Dolby AC-4 and MPEG-H are the designated 3.0 audio codecs for TV services in North America and South Korea, respectively. ATSC signed an agreement last month with the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India on deploying 3.0 broadcast services to mobile devices in India (see 2103290016). Sinclair has made no secret of its ambitions to bring 3.0 reception to mobile devices and is sourcing receiver chips from India's Saankhya Labs (see 1908070024)

ATSC signed an agreement March 2 with the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) as the first step toward deploying ATSC 3.0 broadcast services to mobile devices in India, said the groups Monday. ATSC President Madeleine Noland traveled in fall 2019 to the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi as a guest of the TSDSI, which participates in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standardization body for 5G. She spoke about 3.0 and 5G “convergence” in India (see 1910110030). “They have 1.2 billion cellphones, so there are opportunities there that are unique,” said Noland then.

FCC rules clarifying how ancillary service fees apply to broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 datacasting (see 2102230068) took effect Thursday, said a Media Bureau public notice.

The broadcast industry expects ATSC 3.0 services to be available in 45 markets covering more than 60% of U.S. TV households by year-end, said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley on a Q4 call Wednesday. That's close to the industry’s NAB Show 2019 goals for year-end 2020 before COVID-19 travel and lockdown restrictions hindered 3.0's national rollout (see 2009220034). The ability for 3.0 to provide a “superior audio and visual experience” to targeted homes and devices and to be used for datacasting “are just a few ways we believe this important IP transmission technology can be monetized for the future,” said Ripley. Sinclair plans to transition its regional sports networks operations from a Disney facility in The Woodlands, Texas, to “a brand new, state-of-the-art” 25,000-square-foot “sports media operations center” at Encompass Digital Media in Atlanta this year, said the CEO. The facility can run up to 50 regional sports network channels, “including provisions for ultra-high-definition channels in the future. The new digital facility will allow us to take advantage of new business models, and we’re eager to make the move later this year.”

The FCC broadcast internet proceeding clarifying rules for datacasting with ATSC 3.0 takes effect March 25, said Tuesday's Federal Register. The order, which affects how broadcaster ancillary fees are calculated, was approved 5-0 in December (see 2012100071).

The Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance wants to comment on FCC proceedings arising out of the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement Act (see 2012040043) on a report on emergency alerting over streaming media, it said in a filing posted in docket 15-94 Tuesday. AWARN Alliance Executive Director John Lawson, ATSC President Madeleine Noland and other members of the AWARN Alliance Steering Committee met virtually with Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes and staff Thursday. The alliance wants to “re-engage” with “key federal agencies and non-government organizations involved in alerting,” to discuss using 3.0 in emergency communications and the development of “model voluntary agreements” between TV stations and alert originators. Fowlkes listed “responding to directives from Congress in the READI Act” and “convening a new Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council,” as priorities for the bureau, the filing said.

NAB, E.W. Scripps and Tegna asked the FCC to clarify how FCC licensing rules affect TV stations multicasting during the ATSC 3.0 transition, in replies for Monday night’s deadline in docket 16-142. “The clarification and rule changes NAB seeks in this proceeding are ministerial in nature and intended only to ensure that the Commission has a consistent regulatory framework,” said NAB. Recognizing or codifying rules around broadcasters hosting programming streams for other stations is needed to clarify the arrangements don’t create attributable interests for ownership purposes, and that the stream’s originator is responsible for ensuring it complies with FCC considerations such as kidvid and emergency broadcast rules, Tegna said. The clarification would “provide regulatory certainty and efficiencies that would facilitate the deployment of ATSC 3.0 technologies,” said Scripps.

The FCC approved 3-2 rules for broadcaster distributed transmission systems -- also called single frequency networks -- said an order Tuesday. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in part from the order that's seen as important to the ATSC 3.0 transition over concerns that rules allowing broadcaster “spillover” will interfere with the use of TV white spaces for unlicensed devices. This “threatens to disrupt” a “careful balance” over the white spaces by “moving too quickly,” Starks said. The order replaces the current restriction on DTS signals spilling beyond a station’s service area beyond “a minimal amount” with a hard number dependent on the type of station. The new “bright-line rule” allows for more spillover and clarifies the requirement. That’s a change from the NPRM, which the order said “failed to account for the additive effect of multiple DTS transmissions and thus underestimated the potential interference impact of the proposal.” Starks and Rosenworcel had advocated for an expedited waiver process for broadcasters that sought to use DTS systems, an approach also pushed by Microsoft and New America's Open Technology Institute. “I would have preferred a more fine-tuned approach that would have allowed us to better gauge the effects of these systems on other services that use these airwaves,” said Rosenworcel. The agency is “confident” the order will result in less interference than the proposal. The order won't let stations expand their reach beyond current limits, said Chairman Ajit Pai, whose last full day was Tuesday. "Any DTS transmitters must stay within the broadcaster’s authorized or hypothetical maximum area and must be necessary to ensure better local transmission -- not intended to extend coverage beyond the authorized area." The order “will permit stations to reliably reach viewers that could not otherwise be served by a single transmitter architecture, which is so important in rural and remote areas, in terrains with gaps in coverage, and in urban settings, often in communities with traditionally underserved populations,” said America’s Public Television Stations General Counsel Lonna Thompson in an emailed statement. “We're pleased that the Commission adopted this change to the rules on Single Frequency Networks, since it will help broadcasters roll out NEXTGEN TV more quickly and more efficiently,” said broadcast consortium Pearl TV.