CAGW Files Reply Comments Regarding Permissive Use of “Next Generation” Broadcast Standards

BEFORE THE

Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D.C.

 

In the Matter of	)
	)
Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard	) ) )	GN Docket No. 16-142 MB Docket No. 16-142

Reply Comments of

Thomas A. Schatz

President

Citizens Against Government Waste

Regarding

Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard

June 5, 2025

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating the American public about waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government.  On behalf of the more than 1.2 million members and supporters of CAGW, I offer the following reply comments regarding the petition for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose additional requirements in the Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard (GN Docket No. 16-142; MB Docket No. 16-142).[1]

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has petitioned the FCC to make modifications to existing requirements in deploying Next Generation Television (Next Gen TV) technology that is currently operating on ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 technologies.[2]  The FCC issued a report and order on November 17, 2017, that authorized broadcasters to use the ATSC 3.0 standard “on a voluntary, market-driven basis.”[3]

Currently, ATSC 3.0 is available in more than 80 markets and reaches more than 75 percent of the U.S. population.  Broadcasters are simultaneously continuing to use current-generation digital television (DTV) transmission with other stations in a local market using ATSC 1.0 technology.[4]  This free market solution to a technical transition that compliments innovation in new technologies with how consumers seek to receive video content in the marketplace is how the FCC agreed the process should work.[5]

However, rather than continue to follow the report and order to deploy ATSC 3.0 on a voluntary basis, the NAB petition asks the FCC to mandate that broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributers (MVPD) upgrade their systems to ATSC 3.0 for digital TV services and offer simultaneous programming on both ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0, with ATSC 1.0 sunsetting by February 2028 for the top 55 markets, and the remaining markets by February 2030.

While the scope of this conversion is not as comprehensive as the switch from analog to digital broadcasting between 1996 to 2009, there are similar concerns and consequences.  Consumers who received over the air services were required to obtain converter boxes to receive signals in the new digital format for each television they owned.[6]

According to a July 27, 2010, Government Technology article, 36 percent of Americans were entirely unaware of the government-mandated transition, and 75 percent of respondents to a Consumer Reports National Research Center survey had serious misconceptions of its impact.[7]  Congress provided $6.5 million to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the FCC to assist consumers with the transition, and the federal government offered a coupon to consumers to help offset some of the costs of purchasing a converter box.[8]

A February 17, 2005, Government Accountability Office report found that a set-top box subsidy for OTA households, “could range from about $460 million to about $2 billion, depending on the price of the set-top boxes and whether a means test – which would limit eligibility to only those households with incomes lower than some specific limit – is employed.  If cable and satellite subscribers also need new equipment (case two), the cost of providing the subsidy could range from about $1.8 billion to approximately $10.6 billion.”[9]

The Consumer Technology Association’s (CTA), May 7, 2025, comments to the FCC noted that mandating ATSC 3.0 would, “increase costs and limit competition and choice in technology design.”  CTA, along with NAB, America’s Public Television Stations, and the AWARN Alliance initiated the “petition requesting that the FCC authorize voluntary use of the Next Generation TV transmission standard,” which led to the adoption of the 2017 report and order.  CTA stated that the “key element of the 2016 Joint Petition was the voluntary nature of the transition,” which “recognizes the importance of consumer choice and the role of a functioning marketplace.  …A tuner mandate does not ensure a successful transition to ATSC 3.0; high-value content driving consumer demand and adoption does.”[10]

In their comments to the FCC, Weigel Broadcasting, which was one of the first broadcasters to experiment with ATSC 3.0 noted, “that broadcasting using the ATSC 3.0 standard creates very real costs to viewers.  Broadcasting succeeds because it is free and simple.  Anyone with a television and an antenna can get a wealth of programming, for free.  But ATSC 3.0 changes this equation, potentially making a free service expensive, and a simple service complicated.”[11]  Weigel has not seen any consumer demand for using ATSC 3.0 but found that some broadcasters want to use ATSC 3.0 for other services besides broadcasting.  They include a terrestrial broadcasting service invented and patented by the NAB, software updates, Internet of Things, and in-vehicle entertainment systems.[12]

The National Television Association, which represents owners and operators of low power television (LPTV) and television translators in the U.S., noted that requiring stations to convert to ATSC 3.0 would “require significant coordination, so that changes made by the originating station do not cause disruption to the viewers who rely on Translators, but it also requires significant cost to Translator operators.  Many of these operators are owned by local governments who have limited budgets and are not prepared to make the investments needed to upgrade their Translator stations in the limited time proposed by the NAB.”[13]

The association also cited the cost to consumers, noting that, “ATSC 3.0 is not backwards compatible with ATSC 1.0 television equipment used by consumers today.  Should a Translator upgrade to ATSC 3.0, consumers who rely on these Translators would need to purchase a new television or an ATSC 3.0 converter box.  Prices for converter boxes start at $70, but these boxes are not DRM capable.  Users who purchase these low-cost converter boxes will find that they are not able to receive DRM encrypted programing, typically programming offered by major networks, that they otherwise receive in ATSC 1.0 today.  Prices for converter boxes that are DRM capable start at $90, but such boxes require a constant internet connection.  Many users in rural areas today lack an internet connection.  Some consumers use their cellular phones for internet access or in some cases, they do not have an internet connection at all.  Prices for DRM capable converter boxes that do not require an internet connection start at $150.  As of this filing, the lowest cost ATSC 3.0 capable television is over $500.”[14]

According to Nielsen, over the past five years the number of households in the U.S. that receive their TV content from an internet connection has increased by more than 210 percent.[15]  At the same time, the percentage of households with only OTA has remained constant at 14.5 percent.

The marketplace has spoken and is telling the FCC that it should reject NAB’s petition to mandate a transition to the ATSC 3.0 standard.  The mandate is unnecessary, harmful, and costly.

Agreeing to the NAB’s demands would also be antithetical to President Trump’s deregulatory agenda and the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding.  For these reasons, CAGW urges the FCC to deny the NAB petition for a rulemaking that would mandate the adoption of ATSC 3.0 and allow the transition to continue a voluntary basis.

[1] Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “MB Seeks Comment on Petition for Rulemaking in NextGen TV Proceeding,” MB Docket No. 16-142, April 7, 2025, https://www.fcc.gov/document/mb-seeks-comment-petition-rulemaking-nextgen-tv-proceeding.

[2] National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Petition for Rulemaking, In the Matter of Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard, GN Docket 16-142, February 26, 2025, https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10226086607681/1.

[3] Federal Communications Commission (FCC), FCC Authorizes Net Gen TV Broadcast Standard, November 20, 2017, https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-next-gen-tv-broadcast-standard-0.

[4] FCC, Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, June 22, 2022, https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-22-47A1.pdf.

[5] Ibid., NAB, Petition for Rulemaking.

[6] FCC, “Digital Television,” June 2009, https://www.fcc.gov/general/digital-television.

[7] Government Technology, “Major Confusion about Digital Television Transition, Survey Finds,” July 27, 2010, https://www.govtech.com/archive/major-confusion-about-digital-television-transition.html,

[8] Ibid.

[9] Government Accountability Office, “Digital Broadcast Television Transition: Estimate Cost of Supporting Set-Top Boxes to Help Advance the DTV Transition,” February 17, 2025, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-05-258t.

[10] Consumer Technology Association, Comments, Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard; Media Bureau Seeks Comment on Petition for Rulemaking and Future of Television Initiative Report Filed by the National Association of Broadcasters to Facilitate Broadcasters’ transition to NEXTGEN TV, MB Docket No. 16-142, May 7, 2025, https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10507299146733/1.

[11] Weigel Broadcasting, Comments, Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard, (GN Docket No. 16-142), May 7, 2025, https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10507041648615/1.

[12] Ibid.

[13] National Television Association, Comments, Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard (GN Docket No. 16.142), May 7, 2025, https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10508559703984/1.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Nielsen, “Beyond big data:  The audience watching over the air,” January 2024, https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2024/beyond-big-data-the-audience-watching-over-the-air/#:~:text=While%20the%20way%20in%20which,3%20in%20third%2Dquarter%202023.