CEI joins ATR in FCC rulemaking re ATSC 3.0 broadcast mandates: Urging a Continued Voluntary, Market-Driven Approach to Next Generation Television

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Thank you for the opportunity to provide further comments on proposed “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standards.

We, the undersigned organizations, urge the Federal Communications Commission to reject any adoption mandates for Next Generation Television. With broadcasters operating under the strain of onerous regulation dating from the Second World War, new mandates on them or device manufacturers are not the solution.

Video accessibility is a noble goal, and one that the market has already demanded thanks to the purchasing power of those in need. Next Gen TV is already operating with advanced ATSC 3.0 technologies available for broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributers (cable and satellite) should they choose to use it.

And they have chosen. More than three out of every four Americans have access to ATSC 3.0. It is available in more than 80 markets in parallel to ATSC 1.0 technology delivering digital television. By any reasonable standard, this is a success.

Under the Commission’s original 2017 report and order authorizing ATSC 3.0, broadcasters are allowed use the new standard on a “voluntary, market-driven basis.” The Commission should maintain its voluntary, market-driven adoption policy that has reached the vast majority of Americans, not embrace a mandate just to reach the small minority of markets.

The Commission should take the plight of broadcasters and those in need of accessibility features seriously. The solutions lie in deregulatory efforts, such as those the Commission is successfully pursuing through Delete, Delete, Delete that make their technologies cheaper and more widely available to consumers. They also allow genuine market competition to dictate which technologies survive and thrive. This is precisely what the FCC did in 2017 with the original ATSC 3.0 order. The FCC should stick to this roadmap that has empowered consumer choice.

We thank the FCC for its attention to this matter and urge you reject mandates and maintain market-driven approaches to new technologies.

Sincerely,

Grover Norquist

Americans for Tax Reform
President Chief Government Affairs

Brent Gardner

Officer
Americans for Prosperity

James Erwin

Executive Director
Digital Liberty

Tom Giovannetti

President
Institute for Policy
Innovation

Phil Kerpen

President
American Commitment

Dick Patten

President
American Business Defense Council

Tom Schatz

President
Citizens Against Government Waste

Deborah Collier

Executive Director
Innovation and Technology
Citizens Against Government Waste
Policy Center

David Williams

President
Taxpayer Protection Alliance

Rosemary Becchi

Founder and President
Jersey 1st

Jeff Mazzella

President
Center for Individual Freedom

Edward Longe, PhD

Director of Technology and Innovation
James Madison Institute

Bartlett Cleland

Executive Director
Economy Alliance

Jessica Melugin

Director of Technology and
Innovation
Innovation Competitive Enterprise Institute

Jarrett Skorup

Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Lisa B. Nelson

Chief Executive Officer
American Legislative
Exchange Council

Andrew Langer

President
Institute for Liberty

George Landrith

President
Frontiers of Freedom