John Lawson

The false alert of a nuclear attack on Hawaii is an inexcusable, but hardly isolated example of the fragility and fragmentation of America’s emergency alerting system. As natural and manmade threats persist and increase, it is clear that our alerting system is not up to the task of serving the mobile and connected America of the 21st Century.

Broadcasters have different ideas on how best to proceed with ATSC 3.0. Some advocate an initial rollout of 4K Ultra-HD programming followed by a gradual move into targeted advertising. Another faction touts the near-term potential of a nationwide datacasting business that will first seek B-to-B customers like auto makers and content delivery networks. In any event, 2018 will be crucial.

John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance, will inform attendees at next week’s TV2020: Monetizing the Future conference of the progress toward implementing an advanced emergency alerting system as part of the coming ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.

The “soft focus” on strategic planning is putting public TV far behind commercial broadcasters in preparing for next-gen TV.

The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) based on ATSC 3.0 will save lives and renew broadcasters’ role as “first informers.” It turns out that the first AWARN alert prototypes are also pioneering some of the core business enhancements and new services that promise major financial upsides for the television broadcasting industry.

Consultants are warning public TV licensees not to put too much weight on the opening bids for next year’s spectrum auction, which the FCC is expected to release as soon as this week. John Lawson, former president of the Association of Public Television Stations, and Vincent Curren, former CPB COO, gave that advice Wednesday. Over-the-air viewership is growing, they said, and innovations in broadcast technology holds promise for new revenue models for stations that continue to broadcast over the air. In addition, the cellular carriers who will buy spectrum won’t be interested in most markets.

Fisher Broadcasting’s KOMO Seattle and Hubbard Broadcasting’s KSTP Minneapolis are set to debut test runs this spring of the Media 500 Alliance’s service to dongle-equipped iPhone and iPads.

The group of broadcasters promoting mobile DTV is ramping up its plans for a service that will be compatible with whatever the other major mobile initiative, Mobile Content Venture, develops. Mobile500 planners are proposing a joint venture with broadcasters that will develop and market 15-20 channels, including five or six local free channels, 14 or 15 national pay channels and a “hybrid” VOD service using the wireless broadband network, but fully integrated with the broadcast service in a single user interface.

The Mobile 500, concerned that other mobile DTV proponents may be working toward a closed platform, details in 12 points that it’s in the best interests of broadcasters, consumer electronics manufacturers and the public to avoid “any sort of proprietary technical barriers and rate structures that would make it prohibitive for some broadcasters to use the system,” according to Mobile500 Executive Director John Lawson.

John Lawson, the former Ion exec, will lead the effort to promote mobile DTV that’s made up of 40 groups that operate more than 400 TV stations.