Comment Deadlines Set for ATSC 3.0 Implementation Proposal

On June 9, we wrote that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC") has tried to remove a potential barrier to the deployment of the ATSC 3.0 technical standard by TV broadcasters by ruling that a broadcaster's lease of spectrum to a third party for provision of ancillary, non-broadcast services does not trigger attribution for the FCC's broadcast ownership rules. The FCC also issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM"), seeking comments on other proposals intended to enhance implementation of ATSC 3.0.

The new rules and proposals have now been published in the Federal Register, establishing August 17, 2020, as the effective date of the new rules and deadlines of August 17, 2020, for initial Comments and August 31, 2020, for Reply Comments.

We will be happy to provide further information on request and to assist clients in preparing Comments and Replies.