CTA’S Shapiro Slams Pearl TV For ‘Outlandish’ Anti-ATSC 3.0 Mandate Claim

The CEO and Vice Chair of the Consumer Technology Association has rattled radio executives over the last several months for his stance on the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act and efforts linked with automakers to block any passage of the long-pending legislation. Now, he’s irked key TV industry figures seeking a FCC-enforced sunset date of ATSC 1.0 digital broadcast signals — and responded to an “outlandish claim” made by Pearl TV.

Gary Shapiro took to LinkedIn on Thursday to respond to the group focused on commercializing and marketing NEXTGEN TV, which saw Managing Director Anne Schelle meet on July 8 with Jessica Kinsey, the Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty.

His beef: Pearl TV “called CTA out by name and made the outlandish claim that we are driven by a ‘conflict of interest’ in opposing a forced transition to ATSC 3.0.”

In particular, Pearl TV asserts that smart TVs are now a competitive threat to broadcasting.

Shapiro’s response? “I can honestly say that not once have I heard any CTA member raise this as a reason to oppose a mandate. We oppose mandates because they hurt American consumers by forcing them to buy something they don’t want. More, they diminish the product or feature by removing all reasons for retailers or manufacturers to market the feature or product as a feature a competitor may not have. Our position is based on the importance of choice and the miracle of the marketplace – something broadcasters happily ignore as they squat on valuable spectrum they were loaned for free.”

Shapiro then offered an “irony alert” — “the very broadcasters crying ‘conflict’ are the ones lobbying the government to mandate a technology that could directly enrich them.

He commented, “Let’s be clear: CTA supports innovation—not mandates. We’ve always opposed government forcing tech into products. But this is the NAB playbook: if consumers aren’t choosing your tech organically, demand the government make them. This isn’t new. Broadcasters have spent years begging the government to prop up their declining business— FM radio in phones, AM radio in cars. Declining demand isn’t market failure requiring government intervention— it’s the marketplace of consumers choosing better options.”

For Shapiro, the real issue is that “broadcasters haven’t bothered to sell ATSC 3.0,” adding, “Their half-hearted deployment of mostly redundant content is not luring consumers to value ATSC 3.0 despite manufacturers cooperating on the standard (based on NAB’s promise it would be voluntary) and investing in building millions of TV sets with 3.0. Despite all this good faith and good will- broadcasters not only push the FCC to mandate, they do so with barely any investment by broadcasters. Where’s the marketing blitz? How much prime time advertising have they done on ATSC 3.0? What killer apps have they consistently deployed? What is the compelling reason for consumers to care? Instead of building demand, broadcasters want to force manufacturers to spend millions of dollars each year to bake it in- whether or not broadcasters actually ever transmit anything compelling or even try to invest in marketing using their free spectrum. That’s not innovation – it’s rent-seeking.”

Shapiro concluded his LinkedIn commentary by suggesting the future of TV should be decided by consumers, not lobbyists. “If the broadcasters want ATSC 3.0 to succeed, they should stop wasting money on expensive lobbying campaigns for mandates and start creating content and services consumers value,” he said. “Maybe government should mandate more productive use of broadcaster spectrum so our nation can reduce the deficit move into the future.”