• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 26, 2023

Having recently agreed to a partnership with television broadcasters, the Federal Communications Commission is now moving quickly to help accelerate national adoption of the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard, aka NextGen TV.

On Friday, the FCC issued an order that will modify its ATSC 3.0 rules to allow for preserving over-the-air (OTA) television viewers’ access to “the widest possible range of programming” while “supporting television broadcasters’ transition to the next generation of broadcast television technology.”

Specifically, since most OTA users are still using equipment compatible with the 1.0 transmission standard that cannot be made compatible with 3.0 without a new set or an adaptor, the FCC requires broadcasters to simulcast their primary programming streams in 1.0.

But because 1.0 and 3.0 signals can be simultaneously broadcast from the same station, the FCC will now allow stations broadcasting in 3.0 to contract with other TV stations to deliver the 1.0 simulcast signal. It is also temporarily allowing broadcasters to do the same with multicast signals.

National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt issued a statement praising the FCC’s changes.

“Next Gen TV holds the potential to offer tremendous benefits for viewers,” LeGeyt said. “To unlock that potential, broadcasters are undergoing a complex and challenging transition. The steps the Commission has taken to facilitate the hosting of multicast programming and provide an end date to a rule mandating identical ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 broadcasts will help make that transition possible.”

NAB lobbied for years to get more help from the FCC to accelerate the transition to 3.0 in the face of infrastructure and other challenges.

Large television-owning media companies have invested in the necessary equipment and even cooperated with one another, with long-term paybacks in mind including the audience-building benefits of being able to transmit ultra-high definition (UHD/4K) video signals capable of providing high-quality video and theater-caliber sound, interactive programming and mobile reception. NextGen-equipped smart TVs and other connected devices could also be used for targeted advertising, encrypted pay-TV signals and hyper-local community emergency alerts.

But broadcasters have said that growing competition from virtual multichannel streaming video providers could derail NextGen TV if it does not now rapidly become the nationwide de facto standard.