WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez acknowledged broadcasters will receive greater benefit from ATSC 3.0 if the agency raises or eliminates the national broadcast ownership cap before voting to move forward with the agency’s congressionally mandated 2022 quadrennial review of broadcast-ownership rules.
“A station group with a nationwide footprint and data about their audiences will be able to compete for national targeted advertising campaigns,” Gomez, the FCC’s sole Democrat, said. “They also plan to sell datacasting services using the broadcast spectrum made available by the more efficient standard to, for example, broadly and efficiently transmit technical updates to devices such as phones and cars outside traditional broadband connections.”
(Editor’s note: Gray Media, Nexstar Media Group, E.W. Scripps and Sinclair formed the EdgeBeam Wireless joint venture in January 2025 with the goal of achieving a near nationwide footprint for 3.0-based datacasting services.)
Saying 3.0 datacasting “may well be a great use of spectrum,” Gomez called for a thorough examination of “the policy implications of allowing this before it happens.”
The commissioner, who appeared to be thoroughly knowledgeable about NextGen TV, recognized that the ATSC 3.0 standard will enable broadcasters to use their spectrum more efficiently, which may enable them to tap into new revenue streams, such as targeted advertising and datacasting. She also acknowledged that “the financial pressures on local broadcasters are very real.”
However, she noted that transitioning to NextGen TV raises questions about costs associated with 3.0 as well as related policy issues that must be considered.
During today’s monthly FCC Open Meeting, the commissioner pointed to NAB’s rulemaking petition—without specifically naming it—to establish dates certain for sunsetting ATSC 1.0 and completing the transition to 3.0.
(Editor’s note: In February, NAB filed a petition for rulemaking for a two-phase ATSC 1.0 sunset with markets 1-55 shutting down 1.0 in February 2028 and the rest in February 2030.)
“Broadcasters can use this [NextGen TV] to evolve technologically and to provide additional services to better compete with digital platforms, through both services they offer and through targeted advertising they will sell,” said Gomez. “It will allow more efficient use of spectrum, which will in turn free up spectrum for non-broadcast uses they can monetize.”
While there are “many good things about this technology,” completing a NextGen TV transition will financially affect CE manufacturers, MVPDs and consumers, she said.
The principles guiding the commission as it moves forward with its quadrennial review as well as possibly sunsetting the legacy DTV standard should be protecting “localism, viewpoint diversity and competition,” she said.
“Financial gains for corporate giants … [are] not a basis to abandon our, and broadcasters’, obligations to serve the public interest,” she said.
“The question remains, however, what can we do, how do we move forward to maintain and grow this critical infrastructure of democracy that depends on the broadcast ecosystem?”
Gomez called on all stakeholders to approach these issues with “an open mind” to find changes that can be made to existing rules that “both shore up the economics of broadcast television and preserve the public interest.”
