Jessell | Pandemic Shows Need For 3.0 Phone Mandate

Blessed be the internet and the wireless networks. Although great parts of our economy have been badly disrupted by the pandemic, great parts of it are still functioning, thanks to those two intertwined technologies. They have also supported first responders, provided outlets for public officials, enabled news gathering and kept us close to family and friends. Their importance cannot be overstated.

Once we get past this, policymakers should do all they can to ensure that the internet and wireless are more capable, more resilient and even more broadly available when the next calamity inevitably arrives.

But lawmakers and regulators must also make sure that the nation is not wholly reliant on them. If for whatever reason they get knocked out or badly crippled in an emergency, the nation will need a solid back-up for getting and news and information out to the public.

Fortunately, they already have one, that old standby broadcasting — TV and radio. Broadcasting, as a one-way medium, cannot do everything that the internet-wireless infrastructure can do, but it can do a lot.

In a letter last February to a House committee that is considering legislation to fortify the communications infrastructure, NAB President Gordon Smith spelled it out.

“As the most trusted source of news and emergency updates, Americans turn to local TV and radio stations first to get the information they need to stay safe during times of crisis,” he wrote. “Local stations are part of the communities they serve, and broadcasters do not hesitate to put themselves in harm’s way to bring critical information to their neighbors.”

Smith also pointed out that broadcasting has often been the only medium left standing in disaster situations and that it has other qualities that make is special.

Among them:

• It covers virtually every home in the country.
• It’s free. You’re not going to be in the dark because you don’t have a wireless phone or a broadband connection.
• It is “localized,” allowing alerts, news and information to be targeted to specific communities or regions.
• It “has no bottlenecks.” It can reach millions simultaneously without concerns about network congestions.
• It has built-in redundancy. Even the smallest markets have several independent owned stations with their own facilities.

Like Smith, I would hope that policymakers recognize the value of broadcasting and take steps to strengthen it just as they are the other media.

They can protect it by not allowing further raids on broadcast spectrum by the wireless carriers and blocking other services from interfering with broadcast signals.

But more important right now they can strengthen broadcasting by mandating that smartphones be equipped to receive FM signals and the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV signals.

Such a mandate is crucial.

There are an estimated 275 million smartphones users in the United States today. Because the devices are portable and battery-powered, they have become the most important link to people in emergencies. And because broadcasters are the most important source of local information in a disaster, they should be able to use that link.

A smartphone mandate is a big ask.

The manufacturers and wireless carriers will strongly oppose such a requirement. They will do everything they can to keep the government and the broadcasters out of their businesses.

So, broadcasters are going to have to counter not only with arguments but also with action. In exchange for the mandate, they should pledge to make their medium an absolute bulwark against whatever man-made or natural disaster comes along.

First of all, they should construct extensive single frequencies networks in every market to ensure blanket mobile coverage of the 3.0 signals. The broadcasters must demonstrate they can deliver strong, steady signals to phones wherever they are or however fast they are moving. Their can be no pixilation or picture freeze.

Second, they should proceed with the implementation of the AWARN emergency-alerting system. This is an easy one. The broadcasters invented it and are far along in its development. See the column in last Thursday’s TVNewsCheck by John Lawson, who is leading the effort.

Third, they should establish at least one emergency TV station, one FM and one AM in every market. These off-the-grid stations would have large capacity gasoline generators and they would be able to produce and broadcast programming without relying on the internet or the wireless networks in any way. In fact, the transmission chain and emergency production facilities should have absolutely no connection to the internet so that they are impossible to hack.

The facilities of the emergency stations should also be hardened against electro-magnetic pulse created by high-altitude nuclear explosions. Hey, haven’t we learned this past month that anything can happen?

Why an AM? Because it’s the most robust mass medium ever invented and to receive AM signals all you need is 50 feet of wire, a set of earphones, a few other items from the junk drawer and a little know-how. You don’t even need batteries.

These stations would not replace or diminish the role of any other station in the market. They would serve as the last redoubt, the last bastion of electronic mass communication.

The cost of all this would be borne by the entire industry with TV carrying the heaviest load, certainly the entire load for the SFNs.

Broadcasters should promise to do all this and, if necessary, they should agree to codify the promises into law or FCC regulations.

I’d be pretending if I said that a smartphone mandate would not benefit broadcasters commercially. The ability to deliver programming directly into 275 million additional receivers without having to run it through an OTT platform or an app would give the medium a big boost with advertising, although it would present some sticky copyright problems.

But what’s wrong with that? A financially healthy broadcasting ensures that its communicators and news gatherers will be on the job and ready to do battle when they are needed most.

Harry A. Jessell is editor at large of TVNewsCheck. He can be contacted at 973-701-1067 or here. You can read earlier columns here.