ATSC 3.0 broadcasts went live on four Las Vegas TV stations Tuesday, said BitPath, the new name for what had been the consortium SpectrumCo. The stations airing the NextGenTV feed are Sinclair's KSNV and KVCW, Nexstar’s KLAS-TV and E.W. Scripps’ KTNV-TV. This is the first multi-station full-power deployment of the new standard, said BitPath. The stations are working together to also air their 1.0 streams, it said. “We look forward to cooperating with other broadcasters to roll out this new technology across the country,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook. Using the same technology that powers NextGenTV, BitPath "will launch innovative new services and bring important new revenue streams to broadcasters," said BitPath CEO John Hane. Las Vegas stations had planned to go live with 3.0 during the 2020 NAB Show, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event's cancellation (see 2005140066).

The U.S. Supreme Court should hear the FCC and NAB’s appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Prometheus IV decision, said an amicus brief filed in docket 19-1241 Friday from the CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox affiliate associations. Gray Television filed an amicus brief Wednesday (see 2005200055). “Without healthy, economically viable television stations, there will be no opportunities for women or racial minorities to own, operate, or invest in local broadcast businesses at all,” said the brief, urging SCOTUS to prevent broadcasters from going the way of local newspapers. TV broadcasters face competition from entities that are largely unregulated, and the 3rd Circuit’s repeated decisions on ownership orders have prevented the FCC from modernizing rules to reflect the current marketplace, the brief said. “That judicial obstruction has already taken a substantial toll on local broadcasters, and without this court’s intervention at this stage that toll may well be fatal,” the brief said. COVID-19 highlighted the importance of local broadcasters, but TV stations “cannot fulfill that critical role” if their businesses are “unable to survive in today’s fast-paced, increasingly diverse, and exceedingly competitive media marketplace,” the affiliate groups said.

The FCC Media Bureau opened docket 20-145 on a draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 for datacasting, said a public notice Wednesday. The items are for commissioners' June 9 meeting (see 2005180066).

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ repeated rejections of FCC changes to broadcast ownership rules (see 2004170065) have created uncertainty for broadcasters and prevent improvements to local news in small and medium markets, said Gray Television in an amicus brief in dockets including 19-1231 at the Supreme Court Wednesday. Briefs from other broadcasters are expected later this week. Gray filed in support of the petitions for certiorari from the NAB and FCC seeking to have the 3rd Circuit’s Prometheus IV overturned. The 3rd Circuit effectively froze the duopoly rule “in its 1941 form” and, “significantly impeded further expansion and improvements in local news production,” the TV station owner said. The 3rd Circuit’s rollback of the FCC’s 2017 relaxations of broadcast ownership rules creates uncertainty about deals completed under those relaxed rules, Gray said. As long as the older rules are in place, “Gray’s ability to continue owning and operating these stations will be in doubt.” Numerous broadcast attorneys said it's unlikely and would be unusual for the FCC to seek to dissolve transactions years after approval and consummation, but Gray said Wednesday the risk makes investment in those stations and their news departments “more difficult and uncertain.” It's “imperative” that SCOTUS reverse the 3rd Circuit ruling, the company said.

A draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 datacasting set for the commissioners' June 9 meeting “makes it clear the FCC is looking to be very flexible about opening up services beyond traditional TV,” said NAB Senior Vice President-Technology Lynn Claudy during the teleconferenced annual ATSC meeting Wednesday. Claudy, the group's chairman, said “it’s nice to know data broadcasting can begin at scale.” The FCC’s draft items (see 2005180066) use the term “broadcast internet” -- a phrase promoted by Commissioner Brendan Carr -- which Claudy said emphasizes the convergence trend among communications technologies. The pandemic is causing delays in the 3.0 transition, but ATSC President Madeleine Noland said she expects U.S. broadcasters to “substantially achieve” their stated deployment goals for 2020. Noland said the pandemic affected deployment in 3.0 pioneer South Korea, though the country is still expected to offer the standard in 95% of the country “in coming years.” The rollout of 3.0-capable TVs in the U.S. also was affected by the pandemic-related shuttering of brick-and-mortar stores, but the consumer electronics industry has seen “strong initial interest” in the devices, said John Taylor, LG senior vice president-public affairs and communications. Noland lamented the pandemic-caused loss of trade shows as venues to spread the word on the new standard, saying the group’s NextGen Broadcast Conference is still set for Aug. 27-28. That event will happen only if local restrictions and COVID-19 concerns allow it to proceed, she said.

The FCC should quickly convene radio industry leaders before the June 1 start of the 2020 hurricane season and ask them to pledge that stations will provide multilingual emergency information during the risky period, said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and League of United Latin American Citizens in a joint letter to the FCC Tuesday. The start of storm season will force “coastal residents who must observe a COVID-19 stay-at-home order, and also a pre-hurricane evacuation order, to choose whether to risk death from sickness or whether to risk death from a hurricane,” they said. MMTC and LULAC want the FCC to encourage radio stations to adopt the “designated hitter” system the organizations pushed in the past (see 1906280054), where one outlet agrees to provide multilingual emergency content for an affected region. “Already it is becoming clear that by far the greatest impact of COVID-19 will be felt by multicultural communities,” the groups said. The FCC could provide an incentive by granting stations that volunteer as designated hitters an eight-year break on regulatory fees, the groups said.

The FCC should begin a proceeding on adjusting FM booster rules to allow zoned broadcast coverage, said the New York State Broadcasters Association in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai posted in RM-11854 Monday. Zoned broadcast coverage was the focus of a petition for rulemaking and broadcaster responses (see 2005060050). Allowing radio stations to provide geotargeted broadcasts could “help radio compete in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace,” the NYSBA said: The agency should examine whether zoned broadcast would impair technologies such as HD Radio or create interference issues.

Comments on the FCC proposal to ease interference restrictions for TV broadcaster distributed transmission systems are due June 12, said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. ATSC 3.0 advocates said the relaxed rules are important to the success of the new standard (see 2003310066). Replies are due July 13 in docket 20-74.

Stations scheduled for license renewal for the remainder of the 2019-2023 cycle don’t have to make prefiling announcements, said a Media Bureau public notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The broadcast application order voted 5-0 before Wednesday’s FCC meeting eliminated such announcements, and this waiver means broadcasters filing before the new rules take effect won’t have to make them, the PN said. The waiver is in effect for applicants filing renewal applications due Aug. 3 and continues until the new rules take effect, the PN said. “Given the continuing disruptions caused by COVID-19 … the Bureau has determined that good cause exists to relieve stations of the burden of scheduling and airing pre-filing announcements."

The FCC could move to its new headquarters in August (see 2005010052), but not sooner, Chairman Ajit Pai said in an interview with NAB President Gordon Smith Wednesday to kick off NAB Express, the group’s virtual replacement for the postponed NAB Show. FCC staff needs “plenty of time” to pack up their offices, and time is also needed to make the new building ready, Pai said. The new HQ is Sentinel Square III, at 90 K St. NE, near Union Station in Washington. Smith told Pai that broadcast advertising has been crippled by COVID-19. “Broadcasters are confronting plummeting advertising sales and enormous operational challenges,” said Smith in a keynote. Smith said there’s bipartisan support in Congress for initiatives to allow stations to apply for forgivable loans and to direct federal advertising to local media. The chairman responded he’s open to suggestions for how the FCC can provide relief for broadcasters, possibly by some action on regulatory fees. Pai made similar comments last month (see 2004230046). “Let us know how we can advocate for you,” Pai told Smith. An item on regulatory fees approved by commissioners 5-0 earlier Wednesday seeks comment on possible COVID-19 relief measures (see 2005130057). Any action the FCC could take to waive fees would be appreciated, Smith said. Pai deflected questions from Smith about when he plans to leave the chairmanship or what he might seek to do after --- Pai joked that he could seek to replace TV host “Judge Judy” or Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.