Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley signaled that his company is open to selling “assets” amid rumors that it's eyeing divesting 60 stations. Meanwhile, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said broadcasters can’t have confidence about transactions in the current regulatory environment. The CEOs spoke during their respective Q1 earnings calls last week. Ripley, Sook and executives from Gray and E.W. Scripps also discussed progress on ATSC 3.0, a backloaded political advertising market, and streaming during earnings calls.
LAS VEGAS -- ATSC 3.0 is finally in a position to generate cash for TV stations and remains the industry’s hope, according to interviews with broadcasters and several 3.0 product announcements at NAB Show 2024. However, not everyone is convinced and even 3.0 supporters concede the transition still faces challenges. “We need a date certain” for the end of the FCC’s substantially similar requirements, said BitPath CEO John Hane. “If we had some relatively minor adjustments in the transition rules, a lot more stations would be converted.” “I’m sure it’s gonna pan out, it just won’t happen as fast as Americans like,” said Byron Allen, Allen Media CEO, in an interview.
Broadcasters attending the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas will focus on exploiting and guarding against the latest advances in artificial intelligence, on making the now 7-year-old transition to ATSC 3.0 finally pay off, and on surviving an unfavorable regulatory landscape, industry officials told us. “We’ve been building out the service; now it’s put up or shut up time,” said Gray Television Senior Vice President Rob Folliard of ATSC 3.0. The show kicks off Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Sinclair Broadcast will provide free carriage of virtual channels from public TV stations that haven’t transitioned to ATSC 3.0 -- sometimes called NextGenTV -- in markets where Sinclair stations are broadcasting 3.0, Sinclair and America’s Public Television Stations said in a joint release Wednesday. Virtual channels are essentially websites accessible by 3.0-enabled devices; to a viewer using a 3.0-enabled television they appear similar to other ATSC 3.0 channels but aren’t delivered over airwaves and don’t take up spectrum capacity (see 2203300052). The virtual channel would allow the public TV stations to take advantage of 3.0 capabilities such as high dynamic range video, said the release. Many public TV stations have been slower to transition to 3.0 due to the expense and a lack of channel-hosting partners in their markets. “This partnership with Sinclair will help serve local communities while we work with other public television stations to transition to NEXTGEN TV to advance their public service missions,” said APTS CEO Patrick Butler in the release. Sinclair has 3.0 stations in 43 markets, 36 of which have public TV stations without 3.0, the release said.
Lawmakers should examine AI's implications, ensuring it doesn’t threaten broadcast journalism by spreading misinformation or using copyrighted content without compensation, NAB said Tuesday in a policy agenda for the 118th Congress. “The improper use of artificial intelligence poses novel threats to broadcasting’s unique and indispensable role in American life,” the agenda said. “The lack of attribution and sourcing in AI-generated outputs could undermine trust in broadcasters.” For example, the growing use of AI increases the likelihood that copyrighted broadcast content is ingested and mixed with “unverified and inaccurate third-party content.” In addition, AI-generated deepfakes created to look like broadcast talent could be used to spread misinformation, the agenda said. That can lead to broadcasters devoting more money and resources to fight disinformation, while AI cannibalizes their content without compensation, the agenda said. “Congress should closely evaluate how to harness the power of AI, while ensuring new technologies do not threaten the trusted local journalism broadcasters provide.” On Wednesday, NAB issued a news release announcing that it would open the NAB Show 2024 with a presentation on audience perspectives on AI's use in broadcast media and including an AI-powered humanoid robot. The policy agenda also called for lawmakers to address several longtime NAB causes: require AM radio in cars, prevent a performance tax on radio broadcasters, and allow broadcasters to jointly negotiate with tech companies about the use of their content. Lawmakers should also encourage the FCC to refresh the record on virtual MVPDs and to maintain “a reasonable, flexible framework” for ATSC 3.0 deployment, the policy agenda said.
Public television stations are focusing on streaming and pursuing advances in ATSC 3.0 and leadership transitions, speakers at America’s Public Television Stations Public Media Summit said Tuesday. “We are a system in transition in terms of technology and clearly in terms of leadership,” said Franz Joachim, CEO of New Mexico PBS and APTS board chair.
America’s Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler is “hopeful” that Senate legislation maintaining funding for PBS will advance over a House FY24 federal funding legislation bill that would zero out that money, he told the APTS Public Media Summit in a farewell address Monday after 13 years leading the association (see 2307210065). Butler plans to retire this year once a replacement is hired (see 2311010050). “I’m hopeful. I can’t say I’m confident, but I am hopeful,” he said after the speech.
An FCC draft order allowing broadcasters to use FM boosters to originate geotargeted radio content would initially require that stations seek special temporary authority grants, agency and industry officials told us. In addition, they said the grants would permit use of the geotargeted content for a maximum of three minutes per broadcast hour. A further notice included with the item seeks comment on rules for a more permanent application process replacing the STA grants, which will need to be renewed every six months.
Streaming music company Roxi is partnering with Sinclair on an offer of interactive music channels broadcast over ATSC 3.0 in U.S. homes starting this year, said a Sinclair news release Tuesday. The initial Roxi music, karaoke and games channels will “feature the interactivity and capabilities of a music app, without having to download or launch an app,” the release said. “Our viewers will be able to pause, play and skip on broadcast TV for the first time,” said Roxi CEO Rob Lewis in the release. The Roxi Music Video Channel will feature “curated collections of the very best high-quality music videos from the biggest names in music” and allow viewers to pay for an ad-free version. The Roxi Music Games Channel features interactive music games, and the Roxi Music Video Karaoke Channel will feature karaoke tracks with original music videos and scrolling lyrics, the release said. “We’re confident this partnership will help accelerate the adoption of NextGen TV by delivering entertainment features that consumers will increasingly come to demand on their televisions,” said Skip Flenniken, Sinclair vice president-general manager, technology business development.
Consumer sales of ATSC 3.0 products are expected to increase by 45% in 2024 and TCL has joined the ranks of manufacturers building ATSC 3.0 TVs, the Advanced Television Systems Committee said in a news release from CES 2024 Monday. “We’re projecting that NEXTGEN TV will cross the 75% household reach milestone in February -- a significant achievement that also will mark 75 Nielsen broadcast markets with service,” ATSC President Madeleine Noland said in the release. ATSC 3.0 is expected to launch in Chicago, San Diego, and Tucson in 2024, Noland said. The number of accessory receiver models, such as ADTH’s device (see 2401040048), is expected to double in 2024, the release said. ADTH, Stavix, ZapperBox and Zinwell are displaying the devices at CES, the release said.