Price: FCC Must Mandate A 2028 NextGen TV Transition

It seems like everything you read these days is about relaxing ownership rules, but there is another critical issue before the Federal Communications Commission that is in danger of flying beneath the radar, and you know what happens when you fly under the radar: You might hit the ground.

That issue is the long overdue transition to NextGen TV.

When ATSC 3.0 was first announced back in 2013, it was seen as a game changer for viewers, offering a revolutionary television experience. Twelve years later the transmission system is ready, but the launch is stalled. Unless the FCC acts now, the public is at risk of losing access to one of the great communication innovations of our time.

Let’s start with NextGen TV’s superior picture. The entire world has moved to 4K. Streamers and other competitors routinely offer superior 4K video, yet our current broadcast system is still stuck in HD, which is long past its prime. Television sets are constantly improving, and screen sizes are quickly growing. Many consumers are now buying 85-inch and larger displays. If you have seen 4K video on that size screen, you know the difference can be stunning. Not only will NextGen TV bring the latest video technology to any home with an antenna, but unlike our current system, is upgradeable to future picture advancements.

In addition to a superior picture, NextGen TV is the promise of a personalized two-way consumer experience with advanced local news, perhaps even to the neighborhood level; specialized programming to individual households; free television without a subscription on your phone, tablet and other devices, plus a broad range of other services, all free.  In short, NextGen TV will change the viewer experience into something far more valuable than what we have today.

ATSC 3.0 also makes possible a number of data innovations, for instance, a new kind of GPS called Broadcast Positioning System (BPS). Unlike GPS, BPS will not depend on satellite signals. Instead, it will achieve minute positioning from television transmitters nationwide.  BPS has significant potential for everything from emergency services to driverless cars, and that only scratches the surface.

Sadly, ATSC 3.0’s biggest innovation, NextGen TV, is stalled and in danger of remaining so because most television set manufacturers would rather promote their own FAST channels than introduce what some see as a competing, more advanced free service. That is simply unfair to the public. Consumers should have access to all video services, not just those in the financial interest of the electronics industry. That is why every new television set must include an ATSC 3.0 tuner.

NextGen TV also faces other foes, including cable systems and LPTV operators who would like to avoid the expense of conversion. That’s understandable, but not a reason to hold back a major public innovation.

If the current status quo is allowed to continue, the world will move on, leaving local television with an old technology that will be unable to compete with the pay services. 

By the time ATSC 3.0 is eventually mandated, many years, perhaps even a decade from now, it could be too late because consumers will have made other choices. Local television stations, especially the local news, local programming and local emergency services they provide for free are too important to put at that kind of risk. 

The only way to solve this problem is for the FCC to issue a hard transition date, and to do it now. The National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to make that date February of 2028, just over two years from now.

Two years will give set manufacturers plenty of time to install tuners in new sets, for television stations to upgrade news and other internal systems to 4K and for converter box manufacturers to gear up.

A hard transition date worked well when the country moved from the old NTSC system to HDTV in 2009 and should work equally well now. Yes, some conditions are different and there is no government financed converter program, but if the FCC had not mandated UHF tuners in television sets back in 1962 that innovation would have not been launched either.

Speaking of converter boxes, the old clunky boxes and separate remotes of 2009 will not cut it this time. Two years will give manufacturers plenty of time to develop app accessed over-the-air dongles that consumers operate the same way Netflix, Prime Video and all the other apps do. That way viewers will simply select the NextGen TV app and continue to use their set’s remote. We don’t have those converter boxes yet, but they will be essential for public acceptance. A hard date is the incentive needed to make such devices a reality.

The FCC has a lot on its plate these days, including the immediate need for ownership modernization, but the ATSC 3.0 conversion must not be left lingering. If a hard transition date is not announced soon, our industry runs the risk of being leapfrogged by ever-expanding technological advances. 

Whatever those advances are, we know one thing for sure: They will be expensive to the consumer, whereas NextGen TV, which will also be constantly advancing, is absolutely free.  And unlike every other technological enterprise, television station operators are committed to the towns and cities they serve. That means NextGen TV will be all about local.

America’s world class television system is the lifeblood of communities across our nation, bringing trusted local news, local programming and local emergency services free to anyone with an antenna. That is why the FCC must order a conversion to ATSC 3.0 on Feb. 1, 2028.

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