The numbers for NextGen TV look good right now:

• Stations in 16 more markets are lighting up their ATSC 3.0 signals this summer, bringing the total to 47 metro areas. 

• About 150 stations are involved, with many transmitting multiple channels. 

• Sales forecasts envision 2 million receivers this year, 4 million next year and 11 million in 2023, plus a new line of 3.0 set-top boxes. 

With those data points in hand — and a September multi-station launch in Washington, D.C., to provide a tech showcase for politicos — NextGen TV cheerleaders are bubbling with enthusiasm. 

"NextGen TV signals now reach 22% of households in our stations' footprints,” said Mark Aitken, VP of advanced technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group and president of its One Media subsidiary. Aitken said every market Sinclair launch offers "Advanced HDR (high dynamic range) by Technicolor" content and “hybrid TV” is also in the works across the company's stations. 

Overall, according to FCC data, one-third of U.S. homes will be within range of a NextGen TV signal as of mid-August when Atlanta stations light up. 

Sinclair’s “hybrid TV” approach includes STIRR, the ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service. “We’ll have OTA (over-the-air) and OTT (over-the-top) brought together in our hybrid environment,” Aitken said.

Scale Will Be ‘A Lot Faster’

The Pearl TV broadcast group consortium backing the new format is “100% focused on scale,” the always-ebullient managing director Anne Schelle said. “This is not your grandmother’s [digital] transition. The economics are much different. … Scale will happen a lot faster.” 

Patrick Butler, president of America’s Public Television Stations, noted that about a dozen public TV stations have transitioned to 3.0 and that New Mexico PBS now carries all five streams in the new format: PBS, PBS Kids, FNX, World and Create. 

Butler, though, said many public TV stations are “stymied” by the costs and have asked Congress for funding.

Analysts are keeping their expectations in check. Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at the NPD Group, said “we’re barely in the infancy” of NextGen TV. 

“Until the costs [drop] and availability becomes more widespread, then whatever the tech and software bring doesn’t mean a lot,” said Baker, who follows consumer electronics for the market research firm.  

Importantly, questions remain about the non-broadcast services NextGen TV promoters have promised: capabilities to provide new business options.  

John Hane is president of BitPath, a joint venture of Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group, two of Pearl TV’s members. BitPath’s main mission is “to create data broadcasting services that are profitable and serve the public interest,” he said. To do that, it’s necessary to have 3.0 capacity “on the air,” he said. He expects to be on at least 25 towers this year and to serve more than 100 stations by the end of 2022.  

BitPath, too, is “just at the beginning of the process,” Hane said.

At E.W. Scripps-owned WXYZ Detroit, a local development team customized Run3TV to match the station’s branding and supplied the framework with on-demand content that viewers can access via NextGen TV remotes.

“The content includes categorized news video packages along with daily weather forecasts from their local weather meteorologists,” Scripps VP and chief technology officer Bryan Dunbar said. 

Adoption Coming Quickly

Catherine Badalamente, VP and chief innovation officer at Graham Media Group, has also focused on supplementary interactive content. She called the Pearl framework a “solid base” for developing live streams, VOD and data-based services.

Badalamente said Graham has been working with Google to experiment with addressable advertising — “initially within the supplementary content, but as we find solutions, we hope to directly monetize the broadcast ad breaks.” 

After a year of pandemic-induced virtual development, the NextGen TV community will plunge into a round of personal meetings, addressing issues around operations and digital opportunities. 

Up first is the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s 2021 NextGen Broadcast conference in Washington, D.C., Aug. 25 and 26. At the CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis on Sept. 1-3, NextGen TV hopes to make inroads prior to CES in Las Vegas in January. 

September also will see the landmark launch of a special NextGen TV showcase in Washington, D.C., with coordination of signals between public TV station WHUT and WIAV, Sinclair’s newly acquired Class A station. Program details and promotional plans (including to policymakers) are still being developed. 

The new TV broadcast technology, known as NextGen TV or ATSC 3.0, is being used to deliver remote learning services to kids in Washington, D.C., who might not have access to traditional broadband.

SpectraRep, an education technology company, said it is working with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s tech company One Media 3.0 and its D.C. station WIAV-CD to deliver EduCast. EduCast is SpectraRep’s broadcast internet product for K-12 and college learners without broadband internet services at home.

The TV industry, including Sinclair, has been rolling out ATSC 3.0. In addition to providing viewers with better picture and sound quality and additional channels, ATSC 3.0 is able to deliver internet content and data services such as EduCast within a station’s broadcast footprint to both fixed and mobile receivers.

“When the ATSC 3.0 standard was ratified, we knew it could dramatically improve our service offerings due to its native IP architecture, increased data capacity, and better reception characteristics,” said John McCoskey, COO of SpectraRep. “Our goal was to enhance our services to operate using both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 transmission systems and to provide stations and end users a simple, no-cost transition from one to the other. At the station that means just configuration changes and moving a few cables.”

Also Read: NextGen TV’s Busy Summer Sets Up Fall Events

SpectraRep worked with a company called DigiCAP to create an in-home receiver that can operate using both the current ATSC 1.0 standard as well as the NextGen TV standard ATSC 3.0.

“Despite the worldwide chip shortages and manufacturing hold ups caused by the pandemic, we were able to adapt our manufacturing pipeline to meet these challenges and deliver the badly needed devices that were intricately important to the overall success of the EduCast system,” said Joonyoung Park, VP at DigiCAP.

The DigiCAP receiver connects to a TV antenna that receives the broadcast signal digital content it carries. The receiver establishes a Wi-Fi hotspot in the home that students connect to with their tablet, laptop, or smartphone. The receiver stores up to 128 gigabytes of content such as videos, presentation slides, worksheets, interactive documents, and images.

SpectraRep said that EduCast is operational and available in 12 states using ATSC 1.0. It has procured tens of thousands of in-home receivers and it hopes to expand in to more ATSC 3.0 markets.

“When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country and students and teachers were sent home, we saw the negative impacts on remote learners without access to adequate broadband,” said Mark O'Brien, president and CTO of SpectraRep. “Issues like homework gaps and equity in education became even more acute, and we quickly realized we could help to bridge the digital divide through our technology and the enhanced advances offered by ATSC 3.0, in the same way we’ve supported public safety and law enforcement customers.”

Microsoft has asked the FCC to reverse its decision, made under then chairman Ajit Pai, to allow broadcaster signals from distributed transmission systems to go "significantly" beyond a station's current authorized service area as those broadcasters roll out their Next Gen TV broadcast transmission standard.

Microsoft told the FCC in its petition that the commission should change course from its "unfortunate misstep" and, instead, adopt an "expedited" waiver policy for stations that want to exceed current signal spillover by more than a small amount.

Broadcasters have been squaring off at the FCC with powerful computer companies over the issue of DTS, arrays of smaller antennas that broadcasters want to deploy to expand their coverage. Computer companies led by Microsoft are opposed because that could reduce the amount of broadcast “white spaces” spectrum they use to deliver wireless broadband to rural areas.

Also Read: NAB Says No More Handouts for Failing White Spaces Experiment

But in its official petition for reconsideration, Microsoft also said that the FCC essentially messed up, basing its decision on "incorrect and inconsistent" assertions.

Broadcasters argued that extending their reach through DTS is a public interest use of the licensed spectrum, and that unlicensed white spaces users must always give the right of way to licensed use, a point they made to the FCC. They said viewers will benefit from better coverage at the edges of their service areas and that the spillover beyond a station’s current service area is the unavoidable result of that public-interest benefit.

Also Read: FCC Gets Pushback on DTS Item

In meetings with FCC staffers, Microsoft executives suggested expanding DTS was a way to expand into broadband using licenses not granted for that purpose. 

They argued against DTS rule changes, saying that broadcasters could try to get individual waivers to extend DTS, but that allowing broad expansion would create a more seamless broadcast internet coverage footprint into an adjacent community “without commission assignment of spectrum for that purpose, as is required.”  

Also Read: Tech Groups Say Signal Spill-Over Should Be Deemed Unlicensed

Bottom line, said the computer giant, the FCC order "worsens an already-unfavorable environment for TVWS deployment, is internally inconsistent, and fails to address significant issues."

More than 1,000 viewers have signed up for Evoca, the new TV service being launched Sept. 1 in Boise, Idaho, by Edge Networks that employs ATSC 3.0 Next Generation TV broadcast technology.

Evoca Early Access subscribers pay just $20 a month through the end of the year. Evoca plans to charge $49 for its service, which includes a free receiver, more than 45 channels and a free HD antenna that allows users to receive ATSC 1.0 broadcast signals over the air -- and avoid paying hefty retransmission fees to local TV stations.

Also read: ATSC 3.0 Pay TV Service Evoca TV Adds BYUtv and Outdoor Sportsman Group

“We’ve got way more people signed than we’ve got space for in the early access program. So to be honest, we’re not going to do a ton of marketing early on,” said Todd Achilles, CEO of Evoca.

 Also read: Tech Company Using ATSC 3.0 to Challenge Cable, Satellite 

“Tired of spending too much on cable? Enjoy high quality, live TV without breaking the bank,” is the pitch on the Evoca website.

Evoca is making its own “Scout” boxes that allow it to bring in programming from several sources and lets subscribers view them seamlessly.

The Evoca user interface features live linear channels that come in via either the ATSC 1.0 antenna or a 3.0 antenna, a catalog of VOD programming that are delivered either via broadband or downloaded into memory built into the set top box and a selection of video apps.

Achilles is looking forward to other broadcasters upgrading to the Next Gen broadcast standard.

“3.0 is the world's best air interface. It's better than 5G. It's more efficient than 5G and it's incredibly robust in terms of the experience,” Achilles said. “We're operating on low-power TV stations in Boise and our signal is as robust, if not more, than a lot of the 1.0 full power folk.”

At the top of the channel guide here is the Weather Channel.

“So this is a classic cable network. We bring it in. We push it over the air,” Achilles said. “We put it in position number one because everybody sort of checks weather first and this is a 3.0 stream that's coming in over the air,” Achilles said.

Last week, Evoca announced the addition of two new channels, BYUtv and Outdoor Sportsman Group. Those fishing and outdoors channels are important to viewers in Boise, Achilles notes.

A week before launch, Evoca subscribers get access via the antenna to local broadcast network affiliates, plus their digital multicast channels such as Antenna TV and Court TV. They also get some cable networks, such as CBS Sports Network, A+E Networks-owned A&E, History and Lifetime, and the Hallmark Channels and channels like Cowboy Channel, World Fishing Network, MAV TV, Stadium and Law&Crime.

Missing from the list are most of the biggest channels from the biggest media companies, which sell their programming in expensive bundles and have resisted letting them be sold on an a la carte basis.

Evoca’s Achilles sees that changing. “It's definitely an industry in transition,” he said. “In our conversations with them, number one is there aren't a lot of growth opportunities, so they're really excited about this, and number two [00:16:57] is, you know, they're moving into a direct-to-consumer VOD application model and they're kind of moving away from ‘Take our 26 channels.’"

But he acknowledges that negotiating with media companies has slowed Evoca down, particularly during the pandemic.

Similarly, Evoca doesn’t yet offer apps for popular streamers like Netflix or Hulu.

“Like everything else, it’s a work in progress,” he said.

Evoca will focus on mid-size and small cities starting in the Mountain West region not served by the cable giants.

“They’re basically TV deserts now,” he said. They’re chronically under-servce and they’re very little competition. What service there is is usually expensive and poor. And there’s a ton of broadcast spectrum available in these markets.”

Eventually Evoca will sell advertising and is set up to do advanced and addressable advertising.

“Out of the gate we're not going to be super aggressive on the advertising side,” said Achilles, noting that Evoca doesn’t have a sales team yet. “We'll do the basics. But as we as we scale and we ramp up up then clearly that's a big part of the business.”

“We should blow up the franchise model for cable regulation,” FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said on Wednesday, adding that the “mind-boggling … over-regulation of broadcasting needs to be shredded.”

And he was just getting started as O’Rielly described his goal “to deregulate legacy industries” as part of the sweeping process reform he has championed during his seven years as a commissioner. In remarks to the Media Institute's monthly Communications Forum in Washington on July 29 (speaking from his home via a webcast), O’Rielly also criticized the Department of Justice for “repeatedly and inexplicably” failing to evaluate the competitive landscape in the new digital ecosystem. He denounced the lethargic status of broadcast ownership diversity. He lamented slow decision-making to release additional spectrum. And, in an upbeat riff, he lit up when describing NextGen TV, emphasizing how “implementation of ATSC 3.0 can significantly update over-the-air products and services.”

“Notably, the NextGen TV process has been one of the few opportunities for broadcasters to make their own decisions about deployment without constantly looking to the regulator for permission,” O’Rielly enthused.

Focusing on the FCC's extensive process reform agenda, which includes industry realignment, O’Rielly said, “I remain hopeful we can close out all open media modernization proceedings by the end of the year.”

Related: Bezos Predicts Fire TV Deal for HBO Max 

He reminded the audience that he has been urging new rules to dispense with the cable attributable interest record keeping requirement and fix a loophole in the timing of program carriage complaints.

“However, from my conversations with members of the industry, these types of changes merely help around the edges and do not significantly reform the underlying regulatory framework,” O’Rielly said, complaining that “even such modest proposals receive pushback within and outside the agency.”

Lambasting entrenched industry interests as well as regulators, the commissioner lamented that “despite all the changes in the marketplace that are widely agreed upon, we still have great difficulty making even the smallest of reforms.”

“Grasping for relevance, backward looking officials and stakeholders refuse to lessen their grip on the remaining regulated industries,” O’Rielly said. He criticized the “thinly veiled guise of ‘local control’” that franchise authorities continue to use to “extract undue bounties” from cable operators.

“Amazingly, in some cases, local officials have even campaigned on promises of mandated network builds, additional tax revenues, and higher franchise fees, superficially promising the ‘preservation’ of local jobs,” O’Rielly explained, emphasizing his belief that these fees prevent operators from “using those funds to lower consumer bills and deploy new services.”

“It’s time to get local officials out of the business of harassing cable companies,” he said, suggesting that the process can start with removal of some “burdens,” such as ending local review of transactions, requiring common accounting practices, preventing rights-of-way discrimination, reducing PEG and INET mandates, and standardizing customer service requirements.

O’Rielly observed that the cable rules are “completely contrary to promoting network efficiencies and economies of scale, both of which are features that high-tech companies possess and use to compete head-to-head with legacy providers.”

Moving on to broadcasting, O’Rielly said current rules are “outdated” and don’t account for certain mergers “that are in the public interest and would provide increased local and live programming.”

Broadcasters Must Choose How to Use NextGen TV

O’Rielly repeated his enthusiasm for NextGen TV during the online Q&A session, emphasizing that it’s “inherent upon broadcasters” to determine what features and services to offer via the new digital platform. “There are lots of different basic directions they can go [to assure] stickiness and encourage audiences to stay with them."

Earlier in his prepared remarks, O’Rielly acknowledged, “We don’t yet know which NextGen business models will ultimately prevail” citing options such as broadcast targeted advertising and OTT-like functionality.

“The point is, here’s a real chance to let the market decide how a flexible standard can be utilized, based on what consumers prefer.”

In response to a later question about collaboration between broadcasters’ NextGen TV and wireless 5G development, O’Rielly envisioned - without details – possible partnership between 5G providers and TV station operators “to reach viewers during the pandemic.”

Embarrassing Diversity Record

Turning to ownership diversity in the broadcasting industry, O’Rielly confessed that, “Make no mistake: the dearth of African American ownership of local broadcast properties is beyond embarrassing, resting in the low single digits.”

“No one should be able to say with a straight face that our rules meant to promote diversity have been anything but a complete failure,” he said, contending that “removing our limitations would set the stage for more minority investment and ownership.” He cited FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s effort to adopt a radio incubator program that would entice existing broadcast owners to partner with minority small business entrepreneurs. But he admitted that the initiative “was upended by a few squabbling industry participants” when the effort was expanded into television ownership.

“Absent Supreme Court intervention, it will be years before any action is even considered again at the Commission,” he said. “This represents a huge disappointment for the agency and a lost opportunity for society.”

O’Rielly declined to describe his plans to reevaluate the Ligado approval, which has led Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) to hold back his Senate confirmation for another term as an FCC Commissioner. The Senate Commerce Committee approved O’Rielly’s re-appointment last week, but Inhofe has protested that the seven-year commission member’s support of the Ligado plan to use L-Band spectrum to support 5G and other internet of things services.

“I’ll work with his staff,” O’Rielly said, referring to Inhofe’s office. Emphatically, he insisted that “our job is to reform the rules to be in line with the marketplace.”

Related: Ligado to FCC: NTIA's Petition Fails on All Counts

During a wide-ranging Q&A session, O’Rielly fielded queries about 5G (which he had barely mentioned in his formal remarks), the escalating Communications Decency Act (“Section 230”) controversy, the post-pandemic regulatory outlook, diversity and payola.

In response to a Multichannel News question about Wednesday’s House hearings on high-tech, O’Rielly shrugged that, “The FCC doesn’t have a great deal of authority over high tech companies,” but he acknowledged that “sometimes they go into our space,” citing Amazon’s satellite project.

He briefly alluded that hearings would entail Silicon Valley’s opposition to Section 230 requirements, but dropped the topic saying that he has just begun to read the last documents from NTIA and other entities.

Related: Study: FCC Needs to Double Licensed Midband Spectrum for 5G

As for 5G, which he barely mentioned in his prepared remarks, O’Rielly acknowledged there is “No doubt that the pandemic has slowed development,” but he voiced confidence that the growth will evolve. He contended that this is “not just a race against China” for 5G dominance, citing a few other countries which intend to be very active 5G developers. He said he expects Open Standards to emerge for 5G.

“U.S. wireless providers are doing a wonderful job,” he said, “I believe they’ll continue to rollout 5G.”

Cable TV operators, satellite service providers, and the behemoth telcos are happy to sell everyone their TV program service — to the tune of $217 per month on average, according to research firm Decision Data. That’s about the same as the average bill for all major utilities combined (electricity, gas, water, sewage and garbage). If you can’t afford that, like many in minority and underserved communities, too bad.

Thank heaven there is an alternative, and it’s free. Over-the-air TV is not only still available and free, but with recently developed and approved new technology, broadcasters will be providing new services to parts of the market written off by pay TV providers. No more “let them eat cable!”

Next Gen TV is based on a new technological standard — ATSC 3.0 — established by the Advanced Television System Committee as the newest version of over-the-air TV. It allows viewers to have a truly amazing array of services, starting with ultra-high definition (4K) video and immersive audio delivering beautiful pictures and sound. It is IP (internet protocol) based, but no internet access is required for it to work. It allows distance-learning channels with no buffering or pixelating and targeted emergency alerts that are not blocked because the cell phone system is down during a storm or overloaded in a crisis. Best of all, it does not need to be anchored to a TV set on your wall at home — it can be available to mobile devices as well — in your car, on your laptop and on your phone.

Next Gen TV for Everyone

This technology is now being incorporated into some new high-end TVs. That’s good as far as it goes. But what if you can’t afford an expensive TV? To make these services available to everyone — including those most in need and who can’t afford pay-TV service in minority and underserved communities — the technology needs to be in ALL receiving devices: TVs, laptops, tablets and phones. This is what the FCC and Congress need to move on. 

Similar to the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, where the FCC required all television set manufacturers to include UHF tuners, not just VHF tuners, so the UHF band (then channels 14 to 83) could be received by all, broadcast receiver chips should be mandated for all laptops, tablets and cellphones. Broadcast (TV and radio) receiver chips cost less than $5 and would open to everyone the remarkable benefits afforded with the ATSC 3.0 standard. 

Receiver chips in mobile phones and computers would empower all of us to use this free over-the-air Next Gen technology directly with the electronic device we use. Just imagine, no internet access required, classrooms broadcast to your TV or phone, targeted disaster and emergency alerts and information tied to your location, and sent in multiple languages. And, if the FCC and Congress won’t move on this, the president should consider advancing this crucial public service pursuant to the Defense Production Act, which allows him to influence the domestic industry in the interest of national security.

When a disaster (natural or terrorist) hits, such as 9/11, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, communication networks are too often overloaded. The massive number of instant users during a crisis paralyzes the phone system. That’s the nature of the cellphone system designed to create a one-to-one connection. The broadcast system, on the other hand, has a one-to-infinite architecture that can never be overloaded. 

Many are recognizing that outages are becoming more and more frequent within the telephone infrastructure. Telcos are also subject to hostile takedowns or the migration of malicious code from other systems. Emergency systems lack interoperability or range, as was the case during the 2011 earthquake in Washington, D.C., or the California fires and other catastrophes. Based on its large area coverage and high-power/high-tower infrastructure, NextGen TV would extend the limited coverage area of first responders, allow remote data and information access during emergencies, and provide for backup due to loss of communication networks during a cyber-attack on communication systems. 

Next Gen broadcast also provides a highly dependable signaling allowing device “wakeup” and deep indoor penetration, coverage due to loss of the first responder network (FirstNet) during catastrophes, and is compatible with the cellular network Advanced Emergency Alerting & Informing (AEA&I) system.

Many Side Benefits

There are other important side-benefits to the Next Gen system. The ability to transmit multiple highly robust broadcast signals provides a basis for building an alternate, terrestrial positioning capability or secondary “GPS” system. Along with positioning comes a secondary precision timing system, which would further protect time-critical functions such as Wall Street trading and financial transactions. 

Finally, Next Gen broadcasting is capable of providing location augmentation and a terrestrial-focused Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) for use by autonomous vehicles and truck freight. That means enhanced tracking of driverless cars and package delivery services. It’s not your father’s broadcast TV anymore.

Those without access to pay TV services should not be relegated to a permanent second-class life. How many kids during this pandemic who didn’t have reliable Internet connections missed out on classes that could be broadcast to a TV in the house or to areas with spotty connectivity? And when there’s a school shooting and the cellphone network melts from overwhelming demand, wouldn’t it be great for everyone to have access to shelter information, evacuation routes and hear it in multiple languages? ATSC 3.0 will be available to 100% of the U.S. population.

With broadcasters seeking greater flexibility to deploy Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0), broadcasters and computer companies are squaring off over the issue of distributed transmission systems (DTS). And one powerful tech player argues it may be about broadcasters trying to create a national footprint for competitive broadband services.

Cable operators represented by NCTA-The Internet & Television Association (meaning all the large companies) generally don’t oppose expanding broadcasters’ DTS, and the Federal Communications Commission also seems generally amenable to the change. But there is definitely pushback from some major players — notably technology firms that want the spectrum for their own broadband buildouts.

While FCC commissioner Brendan Carr has been talking about broadcasting as the next broadband competitor (see sidebar), some big tech players are talking it down, at least where it runs into their plans to close the rural digital divide.

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 will take away from their ability to use broadcast “white spaces,” the unused spectrum between channels, for wireless broadband.

Stations Press FCC for Use

Back in March, the FCC voted to seek comment on amending its rules to allow DTS signals, which use multiple transmission sites in a market to boost a station’s signal, to extend beyond a station’s authorized service area by more than a minimal amount. The National Association of Broadcasters and America’s Public Television Stations petitioned the FCC for the change.

Broadcasters also want protections for DTS signals that spill over their maximum coverage areas. They argue that viewers will benefit from better coverage at the edges of their service areas and that the spillover beyond a station’s current service area is the unavoidable result of that public-interest benefit.

RELATED: Stations Launch ATSC 3.0 Broadcasts in Las Vegas

Stations want the FCC to weigh in soon, they said, because their plans for the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard will depend on whether they can densify through on-channel DTS systems.

That is as opposed to the FCC taking time “examining the hypothetical concerns” of secondary and unlicensed “white spaces” services, broadcasters said.

In that “hypothetical concerns” corner, though they see it quite differently, are computer companies and some broadband providers.

New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI), whose funders include major tech companies, said the FCC’s regime for allowing use of the white spaces between channels already overprotects broadcasters by calculating “exclusion” zones far beyond the real-world interference potential, as well as by excluding use of the first channel adjacent to a broadcast channel for unlicensed devices.

Microsoft Weighs In

Microsoft filed individually to argue against the DTS expansion, saying it would threaten its Air Band rural broadband initiative.

In meetings with FCC staffers, Microsoft talked up the progress on that initiative, saying it has agreements with broadband partners in 25 states and Puerto Rico that would get broadband to more than 4 million people in rural areas, 3 million by 2022.

Microsoft told the FCC that broadcasters can try for individual waivers of the DTS rules if they want to. But the company has concerns that rather than just being an issue of getting better broadcasting to viewers on the edges, DTS would instead create a more seamless broadcast Internet coverage footprint into an adjacent community “without commission assignment of spectrum for that purpose, as is required.”

RELATED: FCC Provides Push to Internet Broadcasting

Given that some of those services might compete with mobile and fixed broadband operators, "it may raise some issues of fairness," Microsoft said.

If the FCC does allow “spillover” of DTS signals beyond a station’s maximum service area, OTI said, it should consider those signals unlicensed and no more entitled to interference protections than unlicensed signals.

The FCC will have to sort it out, applying its “highest, best use” spectrum equation as it balances the public’s interest in broadcasting remaining vital and relevant in an increasingly broadband world and its interest in getting rural broadband Microsoft is delivering within broadcast “white spaces.” 

The FCC has resolved some major outstanding issues in its framework for a transition to the ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard, which will allow for higher-definition pictures, targeted ads, interactivity and "broadcast internet."

The FCC declined to allow vacant in-band channels to be used for ATSC 3.0 deployment, which broadcasters sought but computer companies opposed because they want to use those channels for wireless broadband.

That came in a Report and Order resolving various petitions for reconsideration of its Next Gen Tv order and "other matters" related to local simulcasting rules, use of vacant broadcast channels and the "significantly viewed" status of "Next Gen TV stations" (the FCC has adopted broadcasters' rebranding of ATSC 3.0).

The item provides guidance on how the FCC will evaluate waiver requests for processing of its simulcasting rules--the ATSC 3.0 signals are not compatible with current sets, so the FCC is mandating a transition period in which ATSC 1.0 signals must also be broadcast, either by the station transitioning or another station in the market with which it has struck a deal.

The FCC retained the sunset of that mandatory simulcasting at 2023, which means cord-cutters will have to get new sets or adapters by then. 

The commission is allowing for an expedited simulcast waiver for stations who don't have an available broadcast partner and a presumptive waiver for noncoms with no viable partner.

The FCC is requiring TV stations to broadcast in both ATSC 3.0 and the current ATSC 1.0 standard during a transition period since viewers can't receive the new transmissions without a new set or adapter and, unlike the digital transition, there is no government money for subsidizing adapters.

The FCC is also putting a "soft" 60-day shot clock for action on waiver applications, which FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly said landed in about the right spot in terms of making sure the FCC acts expeditiously.

Related: FCC Provides Push to Internet Broadcasting

The FCC also concluded that the "significantly viewed status" of a station conveys if the ATSC 1.0 signal is transmitted by another station.

In a victory for broadcasters, the FCC rejected a petition by NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, that the the ATSC 3.0 standard must be licensed on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) basis. But the FCC said if a patent issue arose, "it will consider it and take appropriate action."

Related: PTC Stations Seek Blanket ATSC 3.0 Simulcast Waiver

O'Rielly supported declining to allow for vacant channel use for simulcasting during the transition period, citing the need to keep those "white spaces" open for wireless broadband (Mirosoft's Air Band initiative is a notable example).

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, another fan of white spaces for broadband, also said she was pleased the agency had declined to authorize vancant channels for ATSC 3.0 so those channels could instead be used to "help bring broadband to households that are among the hardest to reach and most difficult to connect."

She was not a big fan of keeping the 2023 cut-off for simulcasts. "[T]he agency is setting a day by which households nationwide could have to replace their televisions in order to continue to watch broadcast programming. That means the FCC is planning to make consumers shoulder the cost of this transition—and that’s not right."

She also wanted the patents to be on a RAND basis. "When the agency adopted the ATSC 1.0 standard, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms were a part of the package. By failing to follow history here, FCC is conferring special status on those who hold key patents without requiring fair terms in exchange." 

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks was generally supportive, but also had a number of issues. He said the FCC missed the mark by suggesting, rather than mandating, that broadcasters would be fulfilling their duty to keep viewers with older sets connected by making a free ATSC 3.0 converter available. He said the FCC should mandate, as a condition of a simulcast waiver, that a broadcaster do so.

He also said the order did not adequately address the concerns of smaller MVPDs who would have to upgrade to ATSC 3.0 for stations that got waivers from the ATSC 1.0 simulcast mandate. 

Starks would have preferred no 2023 sunset, but said he appreciated the FCC's commitment to revisit marketing conditions before allowing those plugs to be pulled. He also joined with Rosenworcel and O'Rielly in applauding leaving vacant channels open so that "other existing and valuable users of TV band spectrum, including wireless microphones and white spaces devices," would not experience interference.

“By recognizing the enormous challenges some public television stations would face in finding simulcasting partners, particularly those with transmitters located in remote, often isolated areas, the FCC is ensuring that these stations have the flexibility to pursue the public service benefits of ATSC 3.0 in a way that best serves their local communities and ensures that their viewers have access to the one-of-a-kind services in education, public safety and civic leadership provided by local public television stations as they transition to Next Gen TV," said America's Public Television Stations, which had sought the presumptive waiver. 

“NAB appreciates the Commission’s action to reject the baseless petitions for reconsideration of the order authorizing voluntary use of Next Gen TV. We also appreciate the FCC providing additional clarity regarding waivers of the simulcasting requirement," the National Association of Broadcasters said in a statement. "With the recent launch of Next Gen TV transmission in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, broadcasters are more excited than ever to bring better and new services to viewers in the near term.”

Mike Gravino, managing director of the Next Gen TV Coalition and executive director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, has died, according to the Advanced Television Broadcast Alliance and various reports.

Gravino had retired last week to enter a D.C. hospice to deal with pancreatic cancer, former D.C. lobbyist and broadcast executive Preston Padden had tweeted May 29.

FCC chair Ajit Pai called Gravino "a strong advocate for low-power TV stations across the country," and said "he always began and ended every meeting with me with a smile."

FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly called Gravino a "powerful force for the LPTV community."

Padden called Gravino "a tireless advocate with an endearing charm" and said Gravino was always at ease writing things and saying things Padden would have wanted to say but didn't have the guts to. "He is my hero!"

He was the LPTV industry's hero as well, successfully pushing for funds in the digital TV transition after those stations were initially left out of the repack fund and always advocating for giving LPTV, arguably the Rodney Dangerfields of local TV, the respect they should get.

The coalition was formed in June 2013 and represented the industry during the incentive auction and repack process, most notably helping secure $150 million in repack funding.

Gravino's last email to B&C/Multichannel News was about the pandemic and LPTV's role:

“It is a honor to share the stories of how the LPTV community is responding to the needs of their local communities in this national emergency. These small businesses, with no support from the FCC or Federal government, have taken up the challenge to keep their communities informed by giving considerable air time over to local government meetings and officials. They are producing daily news shows focusing on the needs of their communities, and are creating a constant trusted source of local information. Some are focused on helping local closed businesses get their information out, others are making sure everyone knows where to get food, supplies, and needed critical services. Others are inserting national pandemic PSA’s into national network feeds to keep everyone updated. They go into their stations each day to keep them on the air and to keep the local information flowing.”

“The FCC needs to recognize these unsung local heroes and to acknowledge the valuable and critical roles they are now serving. Unlike the full power primary broadcasters with limited air time to offer the local public, many LPTV stations are turning over their entire programming day and ad insertions to covering the pandemic. They are truly providing the “highest and best use” for their FCC licenses.”

"My heart breaks today with the news of Mike's passing," said Adonis Hoffman, chairman of strategic consulting firm, Business in the public interest, and a former top FCC staffer. "He was one of those rare people who had character, competence and charm. He was indomitable yet humble and always gave both sides of the story to you straight. Whatever future success comes to LPTV, much is owed to the tireless efforts of Mike Gravino, who should be remembered as a Titan of television.  He will be sorely missed."

Gravino was a 1976 graduate of the University of Oregon.

The FCC has released its tentative agenda for the March 31 public meeting and it includes proposals to 1) mandate the STIR/SHAKEN default robocall blocking technology, 2) adjust the methodology for significantly viewed station, 3) revising program carriage dispute resolution rules, 4) and adjust FCC rules to "facilitate next generation TV. 

FCC chair Ajit Pai has circulated all those items for commissioner review before the meeting. 

1) The STIR/SHAKEN (formerly the more James Bondlike "SHAKEN/STIR") item is a report and order and further notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would "adopt rules requiring originating and terminating voice service providers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework in the Internet Protocol portions of their networks; and (2) [in the FNPRM] propose additional measures to combat illegal spoofing, including measures to implement portions of the TRACED Act.

The item follows Congress' mandate in the TRACED Act that STIR/SHAKEN be made mandatory, and would set a June 30, 20201 deadline in alignment with the legislation. It would also extend STIR/SHAKEN to intermediate access providers. 

The FCC has already voted unanimously to allow carriers to block robocalls by default via STIR/SHAKEN, but had made it voluntary.  

2) The "Amending Distributed Transmission System Rules to Facilitate Next Generation TV" is an NPRM that seeks comment on whether to modify the Commission’s rules "governing the use of distributed transmission systems by broadcast television stations."  

The item would seek comment on amending the FCC's rules to allow DTS signals, which use multiple transmission sites in a market to boost a station's signal, to extend beyond a station's authorized service area by more than a de minimus amount. The National Association of Broadcasters and America's Public Television Stations petitioned the FCC for the change. 

It would also seek input on the impact of the change on translator and LPTV stations. 

3) "Defining Significantly Viewed Local TV Stations" is an NPRM seeking comment on "whether to update the methodology for determining whether a television broadcast station is 'significantly viewed' in a community outside of its local market. 

The syndicated and network programming on an out-of-market TV station imported into a local market must be deleted per syndicated and network exclusivity rules, unless the FCC determines that out-of-market stations also has significant viewership in that market. 

The item seeks comment on, among other things, whether Nielsen or some other methodology should be used to determine "significantly viewed" status and whether terminology, like "independent station" or partial network station" should be updated given changes in the marketplace. 

4) "Revising Program Carriage Rules and Part 76 Review Procedures" is an FNPRM and NPRM – seeking comment on "whether to modify the Commission’s rules governing the resolution of program carriage disputes between video programming vendors and multichannel video programming distributors." 

The item would seek comment on, again among several other things, whether to modify the time limit requirements for filing program carriage complaints to "clarify that it applies only in circumstances where there is not an existing program carriage contract or contract offer and a defendant MVPD has denied or failed to acknowledge either a request for program carriage or a request to negotiate for program carriage." 

New FCC chairman Ajit Pai signaled Thursday (Feb. 2) that he wants broadcasters to be able to start working on tomorrow's TV today.

Pai, who has only been in the job since Jan. 20, wasted no time prioritizing that goal. He has already circulated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to the other commissioners that would allow TV stations to start rolling out the ATSC 3.0 advanced TV transmission standard on a voluntary basis. He hopes to issue final authorization for the new standard by the end of the year, he said in an op-ed explaining the importance of the initiative.

Related: CES 2017: Why Sinclair Has the Hots for ATSC 3.0

"Next Gen TV matters because it will let broadcasters offer much better services in a variety of ways," Pai wrote. "Picture quality will improve with 4K transmissions. Accurate sound localization and customizable sound mixes will produce an immersive audio experience. Broadcasters will be able to provide advanced emergency alerts with more information, more tailored to a viewer’s particular location. Enhanced personalization and interactivity will enable better audience measurement, which in turn will make for higher-quality advertising–ads relevant to you and that you actually might want to see. Perhaps most significantly, consumers will easily be able to watch over-the-air programming on mobile devices."

Related: Pay TV Ops Take Aim at ATSC 3.0

The NPRM is responsive to the petition filed last April by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Consumer Technology Association (CTA), America's Public Television Stations (APTS) and the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, but also incorporates stakeholder input on that petition, according to an FCC official speaking on background.

The next-gen standard will allow for interactivity, ultra high-definition TV, advanced emergency alerts (where AWARN comes in), more channels in the same bandwidth, mobile broadcast TV, and datacasting, all ways for broadcasters to remain competitive in a multi-platform world.

The NPRM authorizes the voluntary use of ATSC 3.0 while requiring stations to continue to deliver an ATSC 1.0 version of their signals. It also proposes to require simulcasting in ATSC 1.0, the official said. It also proposes to require MVPDs continue to carry the ATSC 1.0, but does not require them to carry ATSC 3.0 during the transition to a new standard. It asks questions about how the retrans consent regime might look and about interference protections.

Broadcasters promised to simulcast their signals during such rollouts given that the standard is not compatible with current TV sets.

Related: NAB Fires Back at ATVA on ATSC 3.0

The NPRM takes the petition's comments into account. For example, the request that the FCC allow a simulcasting partnership in which two stations in a market could take a Jack Spratt approach, with one station delivering the ATSC 1.0 versions for both of their primary their signals, and the other delivering the ATSC 3.0 versions.

At the FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee meeting Jan. 27, Patrick McFadden, NAB associate general counsel, briefed the members on broadcasters' ATSC 3.0 asks, or in this case "not asks." "We're not asking for federal subsidies. We're not asking for any money from the federal government. We're not asking the federal government to underwrite a federal converter box program. We're not asking for more spectrum."

Pai is no Ajit-come-lately to the ATSC 3.0 effort.

He called for action in testimony for a Senate oversight hearing last September, saying: "I believe that it is important for the Commission to act with dispatch. Just as the United States is leading the way on 5G in the mobile space, so too should we be at the forefront of innovation in the broadcast space."

Broadcasters had initially wanted an FCC decision on ATSC 3.0 by October, then the end of the year when that didn't happen -- former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler declined to set a timetable for action. They have since called for final rules on the launch by the end of 2017.

Given that the post-auction repack timetable is more it to last more than three years and it won't be triggered until sometime this year, That would allow the rollout and the repack to dovetail if Pai's end-of-year authorization is achieved.

The FCC did not take ATSC 3.0 into account when planning the repack, but outgoing Media Bureau chief Bill Lake has suggested that the two could, indeed, dovetail.

Over-the-Air broadcasting is growing thanks to cord-cutters, the NAB said, and is well-positioned to compete against a host of rivals, but to assume that position it will need ATSC 3.0.

Broadcasters have told the FCC they are hamstrung by the lack of permission-less innovation accorded the competition. For example, the NAB pointed out that Netflix was ramping up 4K content, much of it live. Broadcasters need “a path to that future” if they are to remain viable, the NAB insists. Without it, they say, there will be a 4K divide between those who can afford to pay for hi-def video and those who can’t.

Not if Chairman Pai can help it.

"We expect and want the United States to lead the world in technological innovation. Moving forward with Next Gen TV would enable us to do just that," Pai said.