Noncommercial TV stations are telling the Federal Communications Comission that the consolidation of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) headends is cutting off access to some of their audience and could threaten their carriage rights altogether.

PBS and America’s Public Television Stations made that point in a filing with the commission in response to its proposed rulemaking on how to determine a TV station’s designated market area for must-carry purposes.

The FCC is looking at how best to determine a TV station's local market from must-carry purposes.

A noncommercial station can only qualify for must-carry if a headend is within its service contour or within 50 miles of its community of license “reference point.”

But the noncoms said that given changes in cable architecture, with cable operators able to serve more systems from a single headend, that cost efficiency for operators has disrupted viewer access when a headend is moved.

PBS and APTS said they have recieved numerous reports of headend consolidations causing losses in access to local communities. “[A]s a result of headend consolidation in southeastern Georgia,” they told the FCC, “2,200 Georgia residents served by cable systems that had received [Georgia Public Broadcasting] stations for decades lost access to those stations” and their “Georgia-specific news and public affairs programming.”

Theoretically, they said, there appeared to be no regulatory defense against cable operators consolidating their headend to the point that one could feed many dozens of systems in numerous DMA across multiple states. 

“[T]he result would be that only the station or stations located close to the single headend would qualify for carriage on all of the systems served by the single headend,” they said. “The rest of the noncommercial stations that served the states and DMAs in which the consolidated systems were located would have no carriage rights whatsoever.”

They told the FCC they value their partnerships with MVPDs, but that headend relocations should not come at the expense of public-TV viewers. ■

When public broadcaster WNET Group announced its plan early in February to “transition” to NextGen TV in the New York City area, it marked public TV’s biggest splash into the ATSC 3.0 world -- a sector that has been until now dominated by high-volume promises from commercial broadcasters.

“This is a priority project for [our] organization,” said Bob Feinberg, WNET Group’s VP, business development and chief legal officer. He said that there is no timetable yet, but vowed that the group will use “the necessary resources to work as quickly as possible.”

“As far as I know we’re the first out the gate to commit to ATSC 3.0 in the New York City DMA [Designated Market Area] -- the single largest television market in the country,” Feinberg told Next TV. “So, this is a big step, not only for public television, but for the television industry in general.” 

The WNET plan includes three stations. The WNET Group's Long Island-based WLIW21 will serve as the host station for ATSC 3.0 broadcasts for the three major PBS member stations in the New York metropolitan area: THIRTEEN, WLIW21 and the state-wide NJ PBS, which collectively reach about 7.45 million households

WLIW21 will carry high-definition programming from both WLIW21 and THIRTEEN, along with several standard-definition commercial sub-channels and the THIRTEEN PBS Kids service. 

Feinberg described WNET’s NextGen TV agenda will include delivery of 4K Ultra High Definition and High Dynamic Range signals, interactivity, advanced emergency messaging, more closed captioning and audio languages.

The New York public TV NextGen TV venture comes amid a flurry of actions in other markets, although so far other large market public stations have been slow to unveil  their plans. Public broadcasting stations have historically moved quickly into advanced TV ventures, including high definition and datacasting during the past three decades. Commercial stations are launching ATSC 3.0 delivery in about 50 cities.

Also: Nexstar: Broadcasters Could Make as Much as $15 Billion a Year From ATSC 3.0 by 2030

Awaiting Possible Commercial Collaboration

WNET is “working with a number of other public television entities … on the NextGen transition,” Feinberg said. He pointed out that The WNET Group has collaborated with the groups for many years and is a founding member of Public Media Venture Group, the AWARN Alliance, and Centralcast.  

As for cooperation with New York City area commercial TV stations that are also developing NextGen TV projects, Feinberg said, “We have had some conversations with commercial stations and industry organizations,” but so far, no specific collaboration has emerged. He said that The WNET Group is “open to keeping those conversations going” but offered no details. 

Media veteran Skip Pizzi has been retained as media consultant and project manager for WNET’s NextGen TV transition.

“We hope it will serve as a model for public TV – and for U.S. TV stations in general —on how the ATSC 3.0 standard’s many attributes can benefit the industry and its audiences,” Pizzi said.

Public TV Stations Elsewhere Working with Commercial Channels on 3.0

Among public television’s tools for rolling out NextGen TV in more markets are alliances with commercial TV stations -- so far implemented in about a dozen markets.

Lonna Thompson, who serves multiple executive roles at America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), said that public TV stations in 11 markets are currently involved with commercial NextGen TV projects in these communities: Baltimore; Houston; Kansas City; Orlando; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; Raleigh-Durham; and Washington, D.C. In addition, public TV stations are taking part in duopoly transitions involving New Mexico PBS and Greenville, North Carolina, PTV plus an experimental authorization with the Michigan State University television facility.

Thompson, who is APTS’s executive VP, chief operating officer and general counsel, explains that her group has served a matchmaker role in connecting public TV stations with commercial NextGen TV projects.

“Sometimes a station calls us to say, ‘We’re ready to look at NextGen…,’” and in other cases BitPath and Pearl “have called us” to say they are entering a new market and want APTS’s help “to involve a public TV station there,” Thompson says. 

Thompson acknowledges that, “These market transitions [such as 3.0] aren’t easy because you have to give everyone a part of the [action].” In the case of public TV stations, “they use their spectrum fully,” she adds, citing that many stations transmit two high definition signals plus diginets. 

In D.C., Thompson points to the role of WHUT-TV, a public station licensed to the historically black Howard University. The transition to NextGen TV involved the station’s tech overhaul, which has included new equipment for 3.0 transmission. The upgrade has given the National Association of Broadcasters and other lobbying groups a visible testbed to show off NextGen TV to policymakers. 

Thompson calls the WHUT venture a “great example of commercial stations’ commitment to Next Generation TV with the inclusion of public TV.” She points out that the NAB stepped into the project on several levels. Beyond the public affairs value of having a local broadcaster air NextGen TV to show off to legislators and regulators, NAB upped its ante by funding a “learning lab” that brought Howard University students into the transition.  

Thompson says that public TV stations have plunged into NextGen TV for two major reasons. First, it is “mission related” because its datacasting and multiple channel features support the education and public safety objectives of stations. In addition, NextGen TV offers “revenue producing opportunities.” She points out that recent FCC rule changes, especially the March 2021 “broadcast internet rules” opened the doors for public stations to deliver services that generate new sources of income from their broadcast spectrum. 

“It’s healthy for our stations to look at revenue from NextGen TV,” Thompson says. “It complements federal and state funding plus the contributions that stations receive from local corporate and individual donors.”

Focus on Mission-Driven Applications

Among those pushing the public TV move into NextGen TV is the Public Media Venture Group, a six-year-old consortium of 32 public TV organizations that collectively operate 115 stations. PMVG’s focus is on “mission-driven” services such as education and health, but the group is also exploring enterprise and data ventures as new turf for public stations. 

“We’re helping them transition to the 3.0 platform, including advice on potential use cases,” PMVG CEO Marc Hand, a veteran public media executive, told Next TV. In particular, the group seeks “to make sure public stations have the resources they need” for NextGen TV services, including access to outside sources of capital, he added. Members of PMVG range from major producing channels such as WETA-TV (D.C.), Virginia Public Broadcasting and state-wide licensees in Kentucky and Alabama to small public channels, such as WCTE-TV in Cookesville, Tennessee.  

“It’s in everybody’s interest; there are more incentives for public stations who recognized the mission-driven use cases,” Hand added. He cited the incentives of NextGen TV for public stations, starting with the increased capacity, which “allow five times more content” to be transmitted. He points to the extensive streams of over-the-air content -- education, local services, public safety and more -- that are available to public media.  

On the datacasting side, Hand said that PMVG is "working on market transition with BitPath," the data project backed by Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Nexstar Media Group. He envisions opportunities for public media to "work with commercial stations on tech developments" and technology suppliers so that public stations can develop services "paralleling the path of commercial entities."

“We’d like to get up and running this year,” Hand said, citing the WNET plan plus activities by stations in Houston, Kansas City, Portland and others as an indicator of more aggressive public TV involvement in ATSC 3.0.

New Options Identified in N.C. PBS Evaluation

Further encouragement for the public broadcasters’ NextGen TV ventures came in a White Paper published early this month. Fred Engel, chief technology officer of PBS North Carolina, cited the value in “developing interactive elements [for] our local programming,” pointing to an upcoming field trial of custom-built ATSC 3.0-enabled receivers made by a local small-business electronics firm and funded by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant.  

“This is a use case that can be easily replicated for many wide-area, secure, emergency notification applications, applications which could sit on a local, trusted public broadcaster’s ATSC 3.0 transmission signal,” Engel said. 

He also acknowledged that, “smart TVs connected to the internet could bring a far richer viewing experience by bringing in and overlaying information related to the subject of the program.”

In the paper, Engel described many “public-facing applications that could be easily adapted to ATSC 3.0 that would require the design of simple devices to implement,” such as reading services for the visually impaired, weather or health and safety information features. 

Engel pointed out that PBS North Carolina is the largest wireless network in the state, with 12 full-power UHF transmission facilities, translators and a Distributed Transmission System (DTS) that covers nearly the entire state. 

“With that signal footprint and ATSC 3.0’s enhanced capabilities, the opportunities for applications that could empower a public broadcaster to better serve those in their viewing areas are endless,” Engel said. He cited North Carolina’s “visionary Public Safety Communications Officials” who came to PBS North Carolina seeking ways that 3.0 “could solve … the archaic way emergency notifications are sent to first responders.”

Engel, who sits on the ATSC Board of Directors, acknowledged that “experimentation will be needed for non-internet connected TVs to see what kind of engagements can be created through the station-specific broadcast application.” He emphasized that, “ATSC 3.0’s advanced video coding allows for a significant increase in data-carrying capacity to enable additional services.” ■

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief bill that passed the Senate Saturday night (March 6) also had some rescue funding for public broadcasting.

The bill included $175 million in emergency assistance to public TV and radio stations.

Also Read: GOP Bill Would Apply C-Band Proceeds to Digital Divide

Patrick Butler, president of America's Public Television Stations, said the money was welcome and definitely needed given the pandemic-related strain on resources.

“We’ve conveyed COVID-related information to millions of viewers from Governors, State health and education officials, and other authorities through our role as the 'C-SPAN' of many State governments and in our capacity as the trusted voice of community leadership across the country," he said. "And we’ve provided countless public safety communications to keep our citizens informed of health and safety alerts and other critical matters."

He said that was being done mostly with unbudgeted funds while collectively stations were losing "hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from State governments and private sources due to the severe economic downturn."

He said the money would help public broadcasters provide remote learning to students without internet access, both over-the-air and via datacasting.

"We are grateful for the broad bipartisan support for this emergency funding for public media among both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate," he said.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended level funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting ($465 million), as well as $29 million for the Ready to Learn early education initiative with the Department of Education, and $20 million to continue a noncom tech transmission upgrade.

That is great, said America's Public Television Stations, but not as great as if it had recommended the $50 million increase in CPB's budget that the House approved last summer. CPB provides on average about 15% of station budgets, with the rest coming from corporate donations, sponsorships, and viewer contributions.

“We’re grateful that the Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed to maintain level funding for public broadcasting in a particularly challenging year,” said APTS president Patrick Butler, “and we also appreciate the Committee’s recommendations of $29 million for Ready To Learn and $20 million to continue our interconnection investment. “As negotiations on FY 2021 funding take place, we hope the $50 million increase for CPB approved by the House of Representatives is included in the final appropriations package.”

Butler points out that noncoms have actually lost about $100 million in purchasing power over the past decade of level funding, but no increases.

Butler suggests the added $50 million would be money well spent, hitting all the right policy buttons in outlining its public service opportunities. "[A]s our stations voluntarily adopt the new ATSC 3 Next Gen broadcast standard," he said, "and if we are able to invest in datacasting technology at our stations nationwide, we will have spectrum available to do even more – in telehealth, Smart Cities connections, precision agriculture, national security and other important missions of public service."

The more money there is, the "better and faster" that can be accomplished, he said.

Noncommercial stations continued on their path toward full funding-plus even as the President has tried to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Related: House Moves Toward Funding Boost for CPB

The House Appropriations Committee Monday (July 13) proposed a $515 million budget for CPB for fiscal year 2023. CPB, which hands out government subsidies to noncommercial TV and radio, is forward funded in an effort to de-politicize the process. 

The noncom funding was included in a 2021 Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which was favorably reported out of the committee in a bipartisan vote. It's next stop is a vote in the full House. 

“America’s Public Television Stations are most grateful that the House Appropriations Committee has recommended an appropriation of $515 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for Fiscal Year 2023,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations.

APTS was also pleased that the committee has decided to fund Ready to Learn to the tune of $30 million. That is the grant program in the Department of Education that supports early childhood learning, particularly for lower income kids. That is a $1 million increase over RTL's previous funding.

The money will come in handy as public stations try to keep stay-at-home kids both educated and entertained during the pandemic.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies had recommended the full committee approve the $151, as well as $20 million for the interconnection facilities that allow the local stations to carry national programming, which the full committee also approved.

The fate of RTL had been unclear in the subcommittee, but the full committee approved that as well. 

Broadcasters are telling the FCC that Microsoft and Microsoft-funded groups have no leg to stand on when they oppose those broadcasters' request to use distributed transmission systems (DTS) to improve viewers' reception of their licensed service. 

The National Association of Broadcasters joined by America's Public Television Stations made that point clear in reply comments on their request to the FCC.  

Related: Broadcasters, Big Tech Battle Over DTS 

Taking a page from cellular buildouts, broadcasters want to be able to “densify” their broadcast networks with smaller transmitters distributed throughout their service areas. Tech firms argue that would be a “giveaway” that would take away from their ability to use TV “white spaces” (TVWS), the unused spectrum between channels, for wireless broadband. 

But NAB and APTS said that Microsoft "along with two organizations it funds, New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) and Public Knowledge have no claim to the spectrum that broadcasters want to use to service the public with new ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmissions that promise a wealth of new services and tech upgrades.  

The bottom line, they told the FCC, is that unlicensed users of the band "have no recognizable right to continue to operate on any particular frequency, must not cause harmful interference to any authorized service, and must accept harmful interference caused by any authorized service." 

They said the FCC itself made clear that unlicensed use "were not intended to limit future licensed use," including the expanded reach DTS configurations would allow for. 

Besides, they told the FCC, "widespread deployment of DTS operations is likely to create more opportunities for TVWS use – particularly in the rural areas OTI and Public Knowledge and their benefactor Microsoft claim to be of primary concern – because it can help reduce dependence on TV translators operating on different channels to reach difficult to serve areas."

Broadcasters are telling the FCC that Microsoft and Microsoft-funded groups have no leg to stand on when they oppose those broadcasters' request to use distributed transmission systems (DTS) to improve viewers' reception of their licensed service. 

The National Association of Broadcasters joined by America's Public Television Stations made that point clear in reply comments on their request to the FCC.  

Related: Broadcasters, Big Tech Battle Over DTS 

Taking a page from cellular buildouts, broadcasters want to be able to “densify” their broadcast networks with smaller transmitters distributed throughout their service areas. Tech firms argue that would be a “giveaway” that would take away from their ability to use TV “white spaces” (TVWS), the unused spectrum between channels, for wireless broadband. 

But NAB and APTS said that Microsoft "along with two organizations it funds, New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) and Public Knowledge have no claim to the spectrum that broadcasters want to use to service the public with new ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmissions that promise a wealth of new services and tech upgrades.  

The bottom line, they told the FCC, is that unlicensed users of the band "have no recognizable right to continue to operate on any particular frequency, must not cause harmful interference to any authorized service, and must accept harmful interference caused by any authorized service." 

They said the FCC itself made clear that unlicensed use "were not intended to limit future licensed use," including the expanded reach DTS configurations would allow for. 

Besides, they told the FCC, "widespread deployment of DTS operations is likely to create more opportunities for TVWS use – particularly in the rural areas OTI and Public Knowledge and their benefactor Microsoft claim to be of primary concern – because it can help reduce dependence on TV translators operating on different channels to reach difficult to serve areas." 

A House subcommittee has recommended $515 million for public broadcasting for fiscal year 2023, according to the America's Public Television Stations (APTS), an increase of $50 million.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies has also recommended $20 million for the interconnection facilities that allow the local stations to carry national programming.

No word yet on whether the Ready to Learn Department of Education early learning grant program will be funded.

Noncommercial broadcasting is forward funded to try and insulate it from politics, though its appropriation has been a political football for years as Republicans accused it of being too liberal and tried to cut funding.

But Republicans and Democrats now appear to be on the same page about fully funding the service, even as President Donald Trump has tried to defund it in each succeeding budget.

The money actually goes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the independent agency set up by Congress in the 1960s to hand out the approximately 15% of noncom budgets that comes from federal dollars. The rest is from corporate sponsors and contributions from viewers and listeners.

“America’s Public Television Stations are most grateful that the House Appropriations subcommittee has recommended an appropriation of $515 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for Fiscal Year 2023,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations.

Last June, amid the President's cries for de-funding CPB, legislators on both sides agreed to full funding-plus as well. 

Noncommercial TV stations are all in for the FCC's proposal to boost broadband internet and the "critically important" conversion to ATSC 3.0. 

The FCC is proposing to help promote broadcasting as a new competitive broadband pipe by making it clear that legacy broadcast TV ownership regulations do not apply to broadcast-delivered internet services like over-the-top video and data made possible by the ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard. 

The commission is scheduled to vote on the item at its June 9 public meeting. 

America's Public Television Stations said in a letter to the FCC that it "strongly urges the Commission to adopt the DR (declaratory ruling) and NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) and move forward expeditiously in paving the way for the public to receive the important benefits of Broadcast Internet services." 

APTS praised the DR as establishing "the importance and legality of Broadcast Internet," and the NPRM for recognizing "the need to update the rules governing 'ancillary and supplementary services' to enable broadcasters to take advantage of the many non-broadcasting capabilities inherent in ATSC 3.0 in order to better serve their communities." 

ATSC said it would be weighing in further on potential uses for the new ATSC 3.0-enabled tech and issues like ancillary and supplementary service fee rules--broadcasters are allowed to charge for services provided on their multicast channels so long as they offer a free signal on their primary spectrum.  

Noncommercial TV stations want the FCC to provide them more flexibility in helping commercial broadcasters meet their obligation to air three hours per week of educational/informational (E/I) programming. 

In revamping its children's television rules, the FCC sought comment on whether it should allow broadcasters to meet their obligation.  

Related: FCC Provides KidVid Compliance Guidance 

In July 2019, a politically divided FCC voted Wednesday (July 10) to give broadcasters more flexibility in providing educational/informational (E/I) programming for children, changes Democrats said dis-serve kids. 

An accompanying Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking sought comment on a regime that would allow broadcasters to satisfy their kids programming obligations by, in part, producing or funding programs that aired on another station in their market, kind of like the regulatory equivalent of the Civil War option of paying someone else to fight. 

But in a meeting with FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly, who championed the KidVid revamp, Patrick Butler, president, and Lonna Thompson, executive VP and general counsel, at America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), asked the FCC to revise its tentative conclusion that the station partnerships result in new or expanded programming.  

Instead, they said, commercial broadcasters should be able to fulfill that mandate by increasing the accessibility, availability, and image quality of E/I programming already airing on noncoms. That would include providing ad avails for promoting that noncom programming on the commercial station, covering the cost for smaller stations of airing kids programming in HD, or helping cover the cost of getting a TV signal to an MVPD.  

Given that the HD option could cost cost $150,000-$175,000 and getting a signal to an MVP could be $20,000 per year, commercial broadcasters might not be covering all those costs, but could help defray them.  

"APTS urges the Commission to adopt a broader understanding of “support” in its sponsorship rules to enable noncommercial stations to use funding from local commercial stations in one or more of these proposed ways that would promote and help increase awareness of noncommercial children’s programming, or that would benefit the quality, accessibility, or availability of curriculum-driven children’s programming," they said. 

That curriculum-driven point is particularly salient given the study-at-home nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.