WASHINGTON—Fifty state broadcasters associations, as well as groups representing stations in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have passed a resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to set a clear industry-wide transition plan to the full deployment of NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0.
The NAB has been pushing a plan for the FCC to approve a February 2028 sunset for the top 55 markets and the remaining stations to make the transition by February 2030.
Most major broadcasters, such as Sinclair, support the cutoff dates while some LPTV groups and other broadcasters, like Weigel Broadcasting, have opposed it. TV set manufacturers and the CTA have also opposed proposals that would mandate 3.0 tuners in all TV sets.
The resolution supported a firm cutoff but did not make any mention of a specific date.
The resolution stressed that broadcasters have worked hard to deploy NextGen TV broadcasts in markets reaching 75% of the population and that new standard offers a number of benefits for consumers, local news and national security. The resolution also argued that those benefits can’t be fully realized under the current deployment requirement to air 1.0 broadcasts alongside the 3.0 broadcasts.
“Continued reliance on spectrum-sharing agreements and regulatory and market uncertainties limit the full deployment of Next Gen TV on a voluntary basis alone,” the resolution said.
“Whereas without a date-certain for a Next Gen TV transition, the transition itself—and the significant improvements ATSC 3.0 makes for broadcasters and viewers alike—could be at risk,” the resolution stated, “be it resolved this 31st day of July, 2025, by the broadcaster associations named below, representing all 50 States, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, that we support the Federal Communications Commission establishing a clear, industry-wide date-certain transition plan for the full deployment of Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0) as well as a sunset date for ATSC 1.0.”
The full resolution can be found here.
