The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking looking toward relaxing restrictions on Distributed Antenna Systems (“DTS”) for full-power television stations and making DTS newly available to Class A and Lower Power Television (“LPTV”) stations. With DTS, a TV station installs multiple transmitters at separate sites. Each transmitter operates on the...… Continue Reading
When the FCC released its Next Gen TV Report and Order in November 2017, we wrote about how this authorized television broadcasters to use the “Next Generation” broadcast television transmission standard (also known as ATSC 3.0) on a voluntary, market-driven basis. The rules from that Order became effective on February 2, 2018, except for the...… Continue Reading
In a decision issued Tuesday, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved the proposed merger of AT&T and Time Warner. In doing so, he rejected the “must-have” programming theory that was the core of the government’s antitrust case seeking to block the merger. The “must-have” programming theory asserts...… Continue Reading
New Opportunities for Next Gen Broadcasters and Simulcast “Host” Stations, but Controversies Remain. Today, the FCC adopted a Report and Order authorizing television broadcasters to use the “Next Generation” broadcast television (Next Gen TV) transmission standard (also called “ATSC 3.0”) on a voluntary, market-driven basis. This Order may herald a revolutionary change in TV broadcasting,...… Continue Reading
The FCC’s rules contemplated waivers extending, at most, for two years. Those two years are just about up. With December just around the corner, full power TV licensees and MVPDs should probably be checking their compliance with our old friend, t...