Broadcasters: Sync ATSC 3.0, Spectrum Repack

One scenario that would allow broadcasters to reduce their costs as they transition to ATSC 3.0 is to synchronize the switch with the FCC’s upcoming incentive auction.

The auction will free up broadcast spectrum for wireless companies. Stations that don’t take part in the auction and continue broadcasting could be forced to move to a new channel when the agency repacks the remaining broadcasters in the auction’s wake. The auction is currently slated to take place in 2016.

To help broadcasters pay for the costs of moving to new channels, Congress authorized a $1.75 billion reimbursement fund. And some of the equipment needed for the ATSC 3.0 transition qualifies for reimbursement from the incentive auction repacking fund.

Public broadcasters, who operate almost 400 TV stations in the U.S., also want to be able to use the auction reimbursement fund to cover their other ATSC 3.0 conversion costs as well as any channel-moving expenses, said Lonna Thompson, EVP, COO and general counsel of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS).

“What keeps me up at night is where will our stations get the funding to do a second transition to a new standard immediately after the incentive auction repacking?” Thompson said.

“It could be fatal if there’s not some effort to harmonize the timelines of the spectrum auction and the ATSC 3.0 conversion,” added John Lawson, a former APTS president who is now a consultant to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and LG.

Thompson, however, told TVNewsCheck that she believes the transition to ATSC 3.0 is likely to happen, even if the auction repacking happens before the ATSC 3.0 conversion.

The transition, says Thompson, is voluntary for stations. “But if they don’t, they will be left behind.”