LAS VEGAS — With key executives of the leading broadcast television companies in the U.S. gathering Monday at the 2025 NAB Show to push their EdgeBeam broadcast data services business, the FCC’s Media Bureau is moving forward with seeking comment on the NAB’s Petition for Rulemaking seeking the Commission to “establish a clear timeline to complete the transition” from ATSC 1.0.
EdgeBeam Wireless, a joint venture with some beta customers today, can only reach its fullest potential with a full transition to ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast technology.
Until the end of the Rosenworcel Commission and the Biden Administration, the story has been that a voluntary transition to ATSC 3.0 was acceptable. This would allow consumers to acquire compatible TV sets bringing NEXTGEN TV signals — and more recently, NEXTGEN TV dongle devices bringing it to non-compatible sets via a USB port — on their own timeframe and budget.
With President Trump back in the White House and Brendan Carr serving as FCC Chairman, the tone has changed from the industry and its loudest advocate inside the Beltway: the NAB.
In the petition, filed in late February, the association contends that “decisive and immediate action” is required to complete the transition and that “[r]eaching the finish line requires industry-wide coordination and engagement—something individual broadcasters cannot do alone.”
The NAB proposes that the Commission mandate a two-phased transition deadline. In the first phase of the NAB proposal, full-power stations in the top 55 markets (reaching about 70% of viewers) would be required to transition fully to ATSC 3.0 (i.e., end ATSC 1.0 simulcasting) in February 2028, with limited waivers for smaller and noncommercial stations if necessary. In the second phase of the NAB proposal, stations in the remaining markets would be required to transition fully to ATSC 3.0 in February 2030.
Hearing Sinclair Inc. head Chris Ripley talk on Monday, these suggested dates are, to him, already set in stone. Of course, that’s not the case, as the FCC will accept comments on an ex parte basis through May 7 and reply comments through June 6.
While EdgeBeam Wireless is dependent on ATSC 3.0 technology and a full transition date is essential for its flourishment, the discussion of an ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate to “ensur[e that] consumers who buy new TVs can continue receiving broadcast programming” received attention during the Monday press conference for EdgeBam. Monty Tayloe of Communications Daily asked specifically about the TV leaders’ support for this, and all at the press conference seemed to agree that this would be an equivalent to FCC Chairman Newton Minow’s decision that required all TV sets in the early 1960s to include a UHF dial.
That move helped launch Sinclair’s first TV station, WBFF-45. A similar move for ATSC 3.0 could also help launch EdgeBeam.
Meanwhile, the FCC will consider comments regarding NAB petition topics including potential updates to MVPD “must-carry” carriage rules.
