Repacking Talk and ATSC 3.0 Expected to Dominate NAB Show
The post-incentive auction repacking’s recent cash infusion, construction process and looming phase deadlines are expected to dominate discussions at the NAB Show, which begins Saturday, broadcasters and their legal representatives said in interviews. NAB expects attendance to approach 100,000, a spokesman said. Exhibitions will feature about 1,700 companies, including 244 first-timers, the association said.
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The first few repacking phases are expected to go smoothly, but many broadcasters expect later phases to be more difficult, said Gray Television Deputy General Counsel Robert Folliard. Along with the repack, broadcasters at the show will focus on ATSC 3.0 and the potential of Chairman Ajit Pai’s media deregulation efforts, industry officials said. The FCC aims to do away with what it considers one outdated media regulation per month, noted Garvey Schubert broadcast attorney Melody Virtue: “There’s a lot of potential there.”
The repacking is the main issue worrying broadcasters now because the first phase deadlines are getting close this fall and there’s a lot of work to be done, said broadcast consultant Preston Padden. Broadcasters in the earliest phases are preparing, but problems are expected to crop up in later phases, Folliard said. If projects in the earlier phases hit a snag, it could cause a cascade of delays in later ones, as limited resources get tied up, he said. Though Folliard said recent additions to the repacking reimbursement fund helped ease these concerns, broadcast industry officials said many licensees already counted on those funds. The FCC could use the show to release more specifics about how the additional funds will be dispensed or to issue the second allocation of reimbursement funds (see 1803290051).
The addition of repacking reimbursement funds for low-power TV and translators “legitimized” the LPTV service and assured low-power broadcasters they will continue to be around, said Louis Libin, managing director-strategy for LPTV and full-power licensee HC2. Also the former executive director of the Advanced TV Broadcasting Alliance, Libin said LPTV broadcasters are now able to plan more securely for their repacking, and to look to future plans using 3.0. “Now there is a place for low power,” Libin said. The extra repacking funds changed many broadcasters’ plans to shutter outlying LPTV and translator stations that otherwise wouldn't have been cost effective to continue operating, Folliard and Virtue said.
The FCC has changed so many rules in broadcasters' favor under Pai that they don’t really expect a specific policy “gift” ahead of the show, broadcast officials said. Pai is to speak Tuesday, and broadcasters hope to hear about future media modernization efforts and the upcoming 2018 quadrennial ownership review. The review is expected to include relaxing the AM/FM subcaps (see 1801080059). Radio broadcasters anticipate that news and are also looking to hear about Pai’s plans for a future C4 FM class (see 1802140060), Virtue said. Interference between the growing number of FM translators and full-power stations is also a topic of big interest in the radio industry, she said.
This will be the first NAB Show since the FCC approved 3.0, and most broadcast industry officials interviewed raised it as a central topic for the convention. Demonstrations of ATSC 3.0 tech such as autonomous cars will be featured, and the increased repack funds will make it easier for broadcasters to upgrade their technology, broadcast attorneys said. Many broadcasters are concerned about Microsoft efforts to get the FCC to cede vacant broadcast channels to white space uses, Padden said. One Media and other 3.0 boosters argued the channels should be preserved for use in the TV transition. Either use of vacant channels could be an issue for low powers and translators, Libin said. Microsoft didn't comment.
Though broadcasters likely will use the show to talk about prospective deals, that sort of discussion is “always ongoing,” Folliard said. Some station lawyers said FCC relaxation of media ownership rules could facilitate dealmaking at the show, but others said there’s still hesitancy based on the uncertain outcome of the Sinclair/Tribune transaction. Sinclair buying Tribune, should it be approved as is expected, is likely to show how this FCC and DOJ will treat large broadcast agreements, and how the new rules for top four duopolies will work, broadcasters said.