FCC Seeks Comment on ATSC 3.0 Petition

As promised, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has moved swiftly to seek comment on a proposal by broadcasters to deploy the new ATSC 3.0 transmission standard while still simulcasting their DTV broadcasts in the current standard—the two are not compatible. In a public notice, the FCC set an initial comment deadline of May 26 and a reply comment deadline of June 27.

On April 13, the National Association of Broadcasters, Consumer Technology Association (representing receiver manufacturers and other consumer tech companies), America's Public Television Stations (noncoms) and the AWARN Alliance (broadcasters and others advocating for advanced emergency alerts) filed the joint petition, which asked that they be able to roll out the new standard on a market-by-market basis. The next-gen system would allow for interactivity, ultra high-definition, 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.