Carrier ID Rules Causing Satellite News Truck Industry Outcry
Looming FCC requirements for carrier identification digital video uplinks have satellite news gathering (SNG) truck operators raising red flags about what they said are regulations that could put them out of business by requiring SNG companies buy tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of new modulators. “The guys that sell this equipment are champing at the bit -- it’s great for them,” American Satellite Uplink President Don Collopy said. “It’s going to kill us.” The FCC, already having delayed implementation of its Automatic Transmitter Identification System (ATIS) rule for such transportable earth stations by a year, to September 2017 (see 1603040054) is considering whether to further delay implementation.
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That delayed implementation and a subsequent public notice seeking input on a better schedule for implementation came after the agency heard reactions from SNG operators about how some modulator models couldn't be upgraded and would need replacement, an FCC official told us. Given a lack of suitable external modulators in the marketplace, the FCC said in the PN last month it's inviting comment on "the appropriate schedule" for carrier ID requirements for digital video transmissions. That PN hasn't appeared in the Federal Register but the FCC already is receiving a wave of SNG commentary.
The costs of upgrading to support carrier ID could be as much as $75,000 for smaller SNG companies, to $500,000 for large ones, California's Transvision International said in a filing in docket 12-267. "Whether it is a matter of a (price unknown) software upgrade to equipment that can be upgraded, or in most cases, a replacement altogether (at a minimum of $10,000 per unit) of equipment which can still be used but is rendered obsolete by virtue of the fact that it cannot be upgraded, there will indeed be a burden to each company.”
Control 1 Communications of North Carolina said the carrier ID requirement, necessitating replacement of modulators on its satellite truck, "will tax our financial resources heavily," with costs in excess of $17,000. Its current modulators, "while still working fine, will have no resale value since they're not [Carrier ID] compliant," Control 1 said in a filing in the docket.
When the FCC updated the ATIS requirement in 2013, the record at the time indicated the new ATIS digital video rules could be met though use of an embedded modulator in new facilities and external modulator in existing earth stations, the International Bureau said in the PN. It said then the FCC adopted a two-year grace period for modulator upgrades, seen as "a sufficient implementation period" since ATIS didn't need to be embedded, so existing facilities didn't need to be replaced. But the PN said input from earth station operators and market surveillance have pointed to earth station operators often being unable to retrofit their transmitting equipment and thus would need to replace it.
Whether the agency would delay further depends on the comments it receives in the docket, the FCC official said, saying the comments have been informal, with no one suggesting a new implementation date, though that could change once the order is published in the Federal Register and more parties make formal filings. The agency has heard informally that there has been some work on developing plug-in technology that would upgrade problem equipment, the official said.
In a statement, modulator maker Newtec said carrier ID "needs to be implemented." It also said its modulator customers "have Carrier ID on board, and it would be only a software upgrade to activate that; we have this feature for quite a while (several years) onboard of our modulators.”
Some satellite truck operators also question whether they're the cause of much interference, with the ATIS requirement being a solution in search of a problem, Leland Kesler, Midwest Uplink truck engineer and moderator of an SNG message board, told us. "The FCC has failed to cite specific cases where a transportable earth station ... was to blame for incidents of extended" inference, Universal Satellite Communications said in a filing in the docket. "If an error is made accessing a satellite, most can be quickly resolved with minimal outage to the affected ‘service.’”