At today’s Open Meeting, the FCC unanimously adopted a Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to accelerate the transition to the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard (NextGen TV). The NPRM sets the stage for significant progress towards a nationwide transition, proposing to shift from mandatory to voluntary ATSC 1.0 simulcasting because broadcasters are now “best positioned to determine how to continue to serve their viewers while rolling out 3.0 services.”
Under current rules adopted in the FCC’s 2017 First NextGen TV Report and Order, full-power and Class A stations seeking to transition to the ATSC 3.0 standard must maintain an ATSC 1.0 simulcast of their primary stream through a partnership with one or more ATSC 1.0 “host” stations assigned to the same designated market area, and the ATSC 1.0 simulcast stream must be “substantially similar” to the ATSC 3.0 stream. The simulcasting requirement was intended to be transitional, and the Commission initially scheduled the “substantially similar” requirement to sunset on July 17, 2023. As that date approached, however, the FCC adopted the June 2023 Third Report and Order and Fourth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking extending the sunset date to July 17, 2027.
Since then, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and many individual broadcasters have continued to press the FCC for greater simulcasting flexibility in order to more effectively showcase the benefits of the ATSC 3.0 standard, including in comments submitted in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding. NAB also filed a Petition for Rulemaking (NAB Petition) earlier this year asking the FCC to, among other things:
- Establish a two-phase mandatory transition under which stations in the top 55 markets would move fully to ATSC 3.0 by February 2028 and all remaining markets by February 2030, with limited exceptions for noncommercial educational or smaller, independent stations;
- Eliminate the “substantially similar” requirement prior to the scheduled 2027 sunset date;
- Relax the 95 percent coverage threshold required for expedited application processing;
- Update the tuner and carriage standards to ensure that consumers can continue to receive broadcast programming as the industry transitions to ATSC 3.0; and
- Consider updates to the MVPD carriage rules, including the “good quality signal” rule.
The Media Bureau received more than 900 comments and replies in response to the NAB Petition in a pleading cycle that closed in June 2025.