WASHINGTON—After receiving a petition from the National Association of Broadcasters and America’s Public Television Stations on Oct. 3 asking for updates to the rules surrounding single frequency networks as broadcasters attempt to build out ATSC 3.0, the FCC has officially filed a public notice seeking comments on the petition.
Single frequency networks, also known as distributed transmission systems (DTS), allow broadcasters to extend RF coverage by building transmission systems that fill gaps and improve reliability and reception quality.
With the rollout of ATSC 3.0, otherwise known as NEXTGEN TV, expected to begin within the next year, the petition states that “many broadcasters are interested in exploring the advance capabilities of ATSC 3.0 to facilitate the use of DTS.” The petition specifically asks for more flexibility in the current rules so broadcasters can deploy more transmitters at the edge of their coverage areas, which they believe would allow them to improve their service, mobile reception and spectrum efficiency.
The full petition is available on the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System.
The public notice is calling for any comments regarding the petition to be filed through the ECFS by Nov. 12. The reply comment deadline will be Nov. 27.
The complete FCC public notice is available here.
For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.
