NAB President Curtis LeGeyt and a contingent of broadcasters made the rounds at the FCC a couple of weeks ago, during which they admitted that the industry’s transition to ATSC 3.0 had “stalled” and that the entire push for the new broadcast standard was “in peril,” according to the required public notification of their visit.
The admission should not come as a surprise to anybody who has been closely following the rollout of 3.0. It’s been more than five years since the FCC authorized use of the standard, and I haven’t found anybody outside the range of this column who knows what it is.
(It might come as a surprise to those who have been reading broadcasters’ press releases and comments in the FCC’s latest 3.0 proceeding in which they emptied Roget’s to describe 3.0 progress as “substantial,” “great,” “remarkable,” “incredible” and “tremendous in a very short period of time.”)
To get things moving again, broadcasters beseeched FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and two other commissioners to signal that 3.0 is a priority and launch a task force that would concentrate agency resources in getting 3.0 unstuck and moving ahead.
The commissioners should grant the requests if:
They think it’s a good idea to preserve free, universal over-the-air TV for another generation or two, and They don’t want to be remembered as the gang responsible for killing off a prime source of local news and a critical and