FCC’s Carr to TV Stations: You Decide When to Pull the Plug on ATSC 1.0
But the agency leader left a lot of jump balls and industry brawls in a draft NPRM released yesterday
NextGen TV: It appears FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has made up his mind on a few key issues related to the transition to NextGen TV, and it also appears he wants to leave it up to TV stations to decide when consumers are ready to lose access to legacy ATSC 1.0. signals. But on a host of other issues, the FCC plans to seek comment and announce decisions later, probably before mid-year 2026, leaving plenty of jump balls and policy brawls.
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In a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM ) released yesterday ahead of a vote on Oct. 28, the FCC said it had tentatively concluded that TV stations “should be allowed to choose when to stop broadcasting in 1.0 and start broadcasting exclusively in 3.0.” Carr’s FCC seems intent on putting the onus on TV stations to ensure they won’t be leaving over-the-air viewers behind because they do not have new ATSC 3.0 TV sets. (More after paywall.)
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