FCC’s Nathan Simington: I Don't Want to Regulate Wireless Receivers

john.eggerton@futurenet.com (John Eggerton) — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 14:48:03 +0000

Federal Communications Commission member Nathan Simington said he doesn’t favor the agency setting standards for wireless receivers, but is arguing the industry needs to do so.

The Republican commissioner has clearly been getting pushback on his push for wireless receiver standards, which he argues are necessary given how much of the world is and will be running on wireless devices. He said the government may have to threaten to implement a standards regime if the industry does not do it voluntarily, though he says he favors voluntary action.

Also Read: Simington Has Dynamic View of Spectrum Sharing

He made that clear in a speech to the Free State Foundation Friday (Oct. 15), marking that free-market group's 15th anniversary.

Simington said he had heard from some that building better receivers was an added expense, but so too are guard bands (swaths of spectrum set aside as a buffer between spectrum band users) and interference. In his view, not having those standards and allowing the wireless future to be built “on the back of cheap edge devices that are sensitive to interference in an increasingly spectrally dense midband environment” could be a big expense “when” — he did not say “if” — those devices fail.

Simington suggested it would be cheaper to develop receiver standards.

Then, he said, there are those who say receiver standards — which he equates with building better receivers — stifles innovation, or is beyond the FCC's authority. He disputed both points, though signaled he recognizes pushback is an occupational hazard in Washington, joking that: “I‘m sure if I came out today in support of chocolate ice cream, I'd be hearing from the vanilla lobby in due course with a PowerPoint on the importance of vanilla beans to the economy of Madagascar,” he said.

As to stifling innovation, he says he is skeptical. He says better standards could put (price) pressure on Chinese manufacturers and make it more feasible for non-Chinese manufacturers, a sort of rising tide of spectral-wave receivers that lifts all boats. That sounds to him like actually protecting innovation, or at least mitigating some of China's dominance in the market.

As to the argument that the FCC regulates transmissions, not receivers, he said the agency clearly regulates reception since it regulates interference and interference to an end user is part of that process. He agrees that the FCC has not focused on receivers, but does not see an outright prohibition.

The FCC can encourage industry coordination and self-regulation, he said, but he suggests it may take shaking a big stick. “I do think that the specter of regulation, from time to time, must loom in order to help industry act,” he said. “Eventually, either this issue will be solved, or the commission's hand will be forced by public opinion, which is not the best way to get nuanced, thoughtful, capacious regulation.”

The Consumer Technology Association, one of the critics device security regs, has said that it has questions about whether the FCC, which has sought comment on standards, "will duplicate or disrupt other ongoing efforts, whether changes would undermine the existing equipment authorization process, and whether the agency has the authority to take the actions contemplated..."

Industry Standards will Accelerate Tech Transitions in 2016

Charlie Vogt, Imagine Communications — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 18:30:00 +0000

The media broadcast industry continues to evolve at warp speed. Consumers are watching video differently than ever before and they expect to be able to view video content anywhere, at any time and on any device. This TV Everywhere culture has put consumers in the driver’s seat and traditional media companies are racing to keep up.

Don’t expect things to slow down in 2016, which is shaping up to be a pivotal year when it comes to putting your business on the optimal path to future success. It is also the year that we will see many proof of concepts reaching the marketplace as media companies look to realize the massive benefits of IP, software and the cloud to more effectively move, manage and monetize video content.

Crucial to the long-term success of media companies transitioning operations to these more agile environments is the development, standardization and adoption of open protocols for media over IP. The recently announced Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) was launched to do exactly that – through the promotion of standards that foster the transition of the broadcast and media industry from SDI to IP.

An open and multivendor approach avoids vendor lock-in and encourages innovation and interoperability to facilitate the modernization of broadcast and media facilities. It ensures that investments – made today or tomorrow — will be fully realized and that media companies will be able to navigate future technology transitions, including the following, seamlessly and at a pace that best meets their business objectives.

Cloud and Virtualization

Media companies around the world are beginning to transition channel origination, processing and playout, including master control, to virtualized environments. The flexibility of cloud software allows the easy launching of “pop up” channels for events (think sports, award shows), binge watching of popular content or even to hyper-localize content. Locating operations in the cloud also allows media companies to eliminate geographic boundaries and enhance the customer experience.

Progress toward moving your operations to generic computing and networking resources in 2016 will likely be influenced by several factors, including your level of confidence in a software-only solution’s ability to provide adequate security, reliability and operational transparency. And if you do decide to make the move, your next assignment will be to prioritize the order in which you transition operations, including encoding/transcoding, editing, master control, playout or distribution to a private or even public cloud environment.

UHD

On the surface, the transition from HD to Ultra HD seems like the most pedestrian of all the technology transitions confronting media professionals. The broadcast industry, after all, is marked by continuous advancements in resolution and picture quality. But one confounding factor is reconciling the relationship between UHD and IP, and deciding if the transition to these technologies should be done at the same time. When and how to move to higher resolutions and adopt advanced compression schemes may turn out to be the most difficult riddles for media companies to solve in 2016.

Cloud DVR

Today’s video consumers want a mix of live/linear and on-demand services. Cable operators and other content distributors will continue to embrace cloud-based DVR (cDVR) and dynamic ad insertion technologies that enable them to deliver all of a consumer’s content — live/linear, VoD, recorded – from a single device, anywhere in the world. In 2016, they will also face decisions about when and how to migrate recording capabilities to a datacenter environment and how to best navigate legal and storage optimization barriers.

2016 and Beyond

Content distributors and aggregators are in a prime position to deliver the personalized and unified TV experience that consumers increasingly crave. This coming year, however, will present service providers and the entire media broadcast industry with multiple technology crossroads. By choosing the open and multivendor route to an agile and versatile operating environment, media companies will make significant progress toward the modernization of their infrastructures in 2016 — and beyond.

-Charlie Vogt is CEO of Imagine Communications, a global supplier of video and advertising solutions for the media and entertainment, multi-channel video programming distributors and enterprise markets

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