The problem lies in the ability of broadcasters to separate signals during the transition to NextGen TV.
Broadcasters and cable operators continue to argue about how flexible television stations should be in transmitting their signals as they transition to the new ATSC 3.0 standard, in particular the ability of broadcasters to use another station to carry their digital subchannels.
The idea is to ease the transition from ATSC 1.0 to the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard, also known as NextGen TV, which is not backward compatible.
In November 2021, the FCC tentatively concluded that NextGen TV broadcasters should be granted some sort of sub-license, allowing them to contract with another “host” station or stations to carry their simultaneous multicast streams, whether in ATSC 3.0 or in the current version. 1.0 format.
The FCC allows stations to cooperate in distribution arrangements so that broadcasters can continue to deliver the main TV station’s signal stream to ATSC 1.0, given that ATSC 3.0 is not backwards compatible with current sets.
The National Association of Broadcasters, in a petition for declarative rulemaking, asked the FCC to state “that various multistation mechanisms for hosting and creating multicast streams in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 are acceptable.”
The question for cable operators is whether broadcasters can use the petition as a means to circumvent restrictions on media ownership, which the NAB says is “unreasonable and unrealistic.”
NAB has asked the FCC to allow a source station in the market to make a deal with another station to host its ATSC 1.0 multicast signals, even if the source station does not use its bandwidth to carry those streams in the new ATSC 3.0 standard (non-simulcast agreements) .
Cable operators, represented by the American Television Alliance, told the FCC they were concerned broadcasters could use them to aggregate spectrum and “work around” the FCC’s ban on a single TV station owner controlling more than one of the top four TV stations. stations on the market. Broadcasters objected that the FCC could require a broadcaster to demonstrate that it was not trying to circumvent the rules by showing that it had the ability to host multicast programming if it wanted to.
