The ATSC is “on track” to move to an ATSC 3.0 “candidate standard” later this year, said Luke Fay, a Sony Electronics software systems engineer and chairman of the ATSC’s S32 specialist group, in the March issue of The Standard. Once a candidate standard is done, “those who would implement the details will have a chance to build equipment and test the Candidate Standard in a real world environment,” Fay said in the ATSC monthly newsletter released Tuesday. “That’s where all of the poking and prodding will be done with the elements of the system. It’s a trial of new technology, and a chance to see if anything was overlooked when developing the standard.” Next in the process, ATSC 3.0 as a “proposed standard” will be balloted on, he said: Once approved, ATSC 3.0 will be done. The upcoming audio system tests for ATSC 3.0 “will be world’s first to evaluate immersive sound for a broadcast television standard,” the newsletter said. Three immersive audio formats will be tested, it said: (1) A 7.1 surround system ("7.1+4") with four height channels added in a square above the listener; (2) The 22.2-channel three-dimensional surround format pioneered by NHK as part of its Super Hi-Vision system, (3) High-Order Ambisonics (HOA), a “scene-based” format that’s independent of channels and "can be rendered and optimally mapped into whatever reproduction channels are available to the listener." ATSC will test HOA "as rendered" to 22.2 channels, the newsletter said. ATSC’s S34-2 ad hoc group on ATSC 3.0 audio has selected about 60 sound tracks for testing the three audio systems that have been proposed for ATSC 3.0, it said. The three proponents are Dolby Labs, DTS and the MPEG-H consortium of Fraunhofer, Qualcomm and Technicolor (see 1501130054). March 9 is the deadline for all three proponents to deliver detailed technical proposals to the S34-2 ad hoc group, ATSC President Mark Richer said in the newsletter. In all, about 12-14 clips have been selected for each of the five different channel formats being tested, the newsletter said. They include Suzanne Vega’s "Tom’s Diner," a rare a cappella solo, with very little reverb added, which is why it originally came into use for this purpose, pieces from the Henry Mancini orchestra rendering of "Moon River," a live version of "Whole Lotta Love" from Robert Plant, Fleetwood Mac’s "Never Going Back Again," a clip from the soundtrack from the filmed version of Chicago featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones, and an excerpt from NBC Nightly News. “The rest are from lesser known classical or jazz artists, specialized solo-instrument recordings, applause, sports commentary/game sounds (golf and hockey), ambient recordings and cinematic sound effects,” the newsletter said.

The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition joined NAB as an associate member to protect low-power TV and TV translators in the incentive auction and repacking process, the coalition said in an email Friday. It also will work with NAB to see if the ATSC 3.0 standard will be developed before 2016, so LPTV broadcasters can use the standard during the post-auction repacking process, it said. The FCC is closely monitoring the development of the ATSC 3.0 standard (see 1502250051).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a writ of mandamus sought by PMCM against the FCC Friday, according to a court order. The writ would have directed the FCC to rescind the suspension of operating authority for PMCM's WJLP-TV Middletown Township, New Jersey. PMCM wants the station to be allowed to use virtual channel 3.1, which is opposed by the owners of the station currently using channel 3, Meredith Corp. The Media Bureau issued an order suspending WJLP's operating authority while it holds a notice and comment proceeding on the matter, and PMCM failed to show it needed relief, the court said.

Cox Media and TubeMogul are partnering to create a cross-device video advertising initiative to give marketers a new way to reach local and regional consumers, a news release from Cox Media said Friday. The partnership offers programmatic digital video ad inventory alongside local TV inventory across many screens including mobile, tablets and on traditional TV sets. The service is available to marketers in all of Cox’s designated market areas.

The FCC seeks comments on EchoStar’s petition for a waiver of over-the-air analog tuner requirements, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday in docket number 15-47. EchoStar wants the waiver to market “a new model of SlingLoaded HD, Internet-enabled, digital video recorder” that doesn’t include analog tuners, said its waiver petition filed Thursday. The bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology previously said the "all channels" provision meant any TV receiver that includes over-the-air digital tuners must include over-the-air analog tuners, EchoStar said. Comments are due March 12, replies March 19.

The FCC Media Bureau denied Gray Television’s request for a waiver of the network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules to allow it to exercise exclusivity rights against West Virginia stations WOWK-TV Huntington and WVAH-TV Charleston, an order issued Wednesday said. Gray had argued that WOWK and WVAH are no longer significantly viewed in Parkersburg, where it owns stations including WTAP-TV. Gray submitted Nielsen survey data showing WOWK and WVAH didn’t meet the requirements for significantly viewed, but the stations’ licensees and cable operator Suddenlink said Gray’s surveys were using incorrect ZIP code data. “Parties opposing the Petition have raised legitimate questions regarding the zip codes used to prepare the Nielsen data that support the Petition,” the bureau said.

The FCC should require broadcast executives to sign an ethics statement before the TV incentive auction, pledging not to engage in collusion on selling their licenses, said Jim Snider, president of iSolon.org, in a filing at the FCC. The statement should hold them responsible for reporting any such behavior to the FTC or FCC if they detect violations outside their company, he said. Snider said broadcast executives have every incentive to engage in price fixing, and it would be difficult to detect. Snider made the filing in docket 12-268.

The National Religious Broadcasters approved a resolution opposing "a power grab of the Internet" by the FCC, NRB said in an email Tuesday. NRB urged the commission to reject Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband. The commission's net neutrality and Title II plan will "send a poor signal to nations that have or are considering more state governance of the Internet," encouraging "repressive regimes that would like an international body like the International Telecommunications Union to have increased authority over the Internet," said the association.

The FCC Media Bureau Video Division issued several admonitions Tuesday to KMCB, Coos Bay, Oregon; KMTR, Eugene, Oregon; and KOGG, Wailuku, Hawaii, for failing to comply with the commercial limits in children’s programming, in dockets 15-246, 15-248 and 15-250. The stations showed URLs during advertisements for several seconds or less, violating the commercial limits, the bureau said. The Children’s Television Act of 1990 limited the amount of commercial matter that commercial TV stations can air during children's programming to 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekdays, the bureau said. The commission also restricts showing web addresses during children’s programming, it said.

The Federal Aviation Administration dropped its proposal of the regulation of FM stations, said a letter posted at the FCC Jan. 28 in docket 12-338. The FAA is no longer pursuing its proposed frequency notification requirements for FM stations operating in the 88.0 to 108 MHz band, it said. The Fletcher Heald law firm blogged about the letter Wednesday.