The NAB has told the FCC that it needs to start treating broadcasters, MVPDs and OTT video providers as competitors and let broadcasters go forward with their own innovations, specifically through NextGen TV transmissions.

The National Association of Broadcasters believes that the FCC should give broadcasters some space to determine how to work with the new ATSC 3.0 standard, despite calls from MVPDs and others for the Commission to look into retransmission consent, capacity or content issues in its upcoming Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

The FCC today voted unanimously to allow broadcasters to voluntarily deploy the emerging “next-generation” television transmission standard known as ATSC 3.0.

A plan for voluntary adoption the “next-generation” television broadcasting transmission standard known as ATSC 3.0 has been proposed at the Federal Communications Commission, which represents a seminal event in the development of the standard.

The National Association of Broadcasters has been a long-time supporter of the ATSC 3.0 next-gen television standard.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai is on the ATSC 3.0 bandwagon.

The issue of whether or not a station can get out of the simulcasting mandate for ATSC 3.0 is still up for debate, as it is one of the questions that the FCC is currently seeking comments on.

It’s in the books, the FCC will take some time at the end of June to discuss the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard with stakeholders.