LG just dropped a bombshell on the FCC, as they pull ATSC 3.0 support due to patent licensing challenges. While this country has thrived on fruitful public+private technological partnerships that benefit all parties, including serving the greater good, ATSC 3.0 is not that. And hopefully the FCC backs off this nonsense (including facilitating deployment of an incomplete standard, without full hardware support and certification).
This challenging and uncertain patent landscape has forced LG to make the difficult decision to suspend the inclusion of ATSC 3.0-compatibility in its 2024 television lineup for the United States. This decision was not made lightly, because LG has been a vocal ATSC 3.0 advocate, a strong supporter of local broadcasters, and a leading developer of television products with the latest NEXTGEN TV technologies. […]
Even though current voluntary industry standards and RAND commitments appear in general to have worked well, a number of factors – including emerging patent challenges, unwillingness of certain parties to commit to RAND terms, and other threats – may undermine the ability of industry participants to innovate, develop new and exciting technologies and applications, and provide ongoing services and features that consumers desire.
As to Sinclair’s relevance to the ATSC 3.0 conversation, they own hundreds of stations in dozens of markets and they own a number of critical ATSC 3.0 patents, standing to profit from widespread adoption from any other broadcasters who similarly seek to further track and monetize consumers via the public airwaves. And I’m left to wonder if rolling our own DVR services, via HDHomeRun or Tablo, runs counter to some of those “subscription” services they want in on.