NAB: Prolonging ATSC 3.0 Restrictions Could Drag Out Transition

Prolonging the ATSC 3.0 substantially similar requirement “risks making the backwards compatibility issue” worse because it will drag out the 3.0 transition, said NAB in a video conference with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Friday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. Broadcasters are “hamstrung by capacity constraints” in the ATSC 3.0 transition, NAB said. “With multiple partners sharing a single ATSC 3.0 facility at the outset, broadcasters are exceedingly unlikely to have the available bandwidth to offer the compelling service enhancements needed to help spur consumer interest in ATSC 3.0,” NAB said. NAB “knows of no station that has switched its primary programming stream from HD to SD through more than 60 market launches” since ATSC 3.0 was approved more than five years ago, NAB said. The trade groups also urged the FCC to relax rules on broadcasters hosting one another's multicast channels during the transition. "No party -- even the notoriously consumer-friendly cable lobby -- has been able to provide a cogent articulation of any potential public interest harm lateral hosting could potentially cause," NAB said.