Presentation to public television and radio professionals in Tampa, October 2015. With colleague, made case for stations' passing on FCC spectrum auctions, retaining their spectrum, and innovating. Examined policy, public service, and new financial perspectives. Very well-received.

1. The Case for Keeping Your Spectrum
(All of It and in the UHF Band)
NETA 2015
John Lawson, Convergence Services, Inc.
Vinnie Curren, Breakthrough Public Media
© 2015 Convergence Services, Inc

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‘The spectrum needs of emerging technologies
that some believe may be key drivers of future
economic growth are not specifically addressed in
the Spectrum Act and appear to receive scant
attention from policy makers.’
– Spectrum Policy: Provisions in the 2012 Spectrum Act
Congressional Research Service, March 2014

4. Minorities and Millennials Are Leading the
Return to Over-the-Air Television
4
Free antenna giveaway event, Eastern market, DC, November 2014

5. GfK’s Survey of U.S. Consumers Who Rely
Upon Over-the-Air TV
5
14.7% of US TV
household’s
17.6 Million homes and
46.2 Million people
22% of African-American
households – an 83%
increase from 2010
25% of Latino households
up from 23% in 2010
Source: GfK’s Home Technology Monitor 2013 & 2015 Reports

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7. Public TV Viewers: Cord Cutters and Cord
Nevers
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Over-the-air viewers
(U.S population):
14.7%
PTV/PBS Over-the-air viewers
(U.S. population):
19.1%
Source: GfK Home Technology Monitor 2015 (courtesy of PBS)

8. Retain and Innovate: New Public Services
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 A major upside for public stations and their
communities from next-generation broadcasting
 Increase in video competition and boost to cord cutting
 Low-cost delivery of rich media content for education
 Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN)

9. ATSC 3.0: Dramatic Upgrade to ‘ATSC 1.0’
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1. Flexible Use of Spectrum
2. Robustness
3. Mobile
4. Ultra HD
5. Hybrid Services
6. Multi-view/Multi-screen
7. 3D Content (Video)
8. Enhanced & Immersive Audio
9. Accessibility
10. Advanced Emergency Alerting
11. Personalization/Interactivity
12. Advanced Monetization
13. Common World Standard

10. 10
Public TV stations
can provide rich
media emergency
messaging to
indoor TV’s,
smartphones,
tablets, and in-car
systems

12. Low-Cost Rich Media Delivery for Education
12

13. The Financial Case
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14. ATSC 3.0 Revenue
Confidential © 2015 Pearl12
• ISP Traffic to OTA
• Mobile Traffic to OTA
• Subscription Services
Capability (e.g. be your
own MVPD, radio
streaming, etc.)
• Automotive Connectivity
• Targeted Advertising
(Demographic & Zoned)
• Programmatic ad sales
• Interactive Advertising
• Ultra HD + HDR to
enhance viewer
experience
• Increase viewership &
ad inventory through
additional multi-channel
capacity and
programming
Core Business
Enhancements
Advanced
Advertising
Wholesaling
Data Capacity
New Business
Lines &
Ancillary
Services
14
Shared with permission by Pearl LLC

15. Annual Incremental Increase in Recurring
Revenue from ATSC 3.0 Deployment
$20 Billion
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Yes, public stations can monetize some of their
spectrum under the FCC’s 2001 ‘Ancillary and
Supplementary’ Rules

16. Home Gateway for Return of Indoor
Reception
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A new category of devices
combine OTA television
with broadband to create
‘smart TV’ networks –
then redistribute signals
via WiFi to every TV,
tablet, PC, and
smartphone in the home.

17. Single Frequency Networks: Reuse Main Channel to Infill
Coverage
Source: DARBS
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18. Driver: Winter Olympics 2018
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19. ATSC Countries
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22. A Clear Choice
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 Reclaim public broadcasting’s historic commitment to
equal opportunity
 Deploy new public services
 Develop recurring financial upside
All Benefits Depend Upon Retaining Spectrum

23. The Policy Ground Has Shifted

24. Actions in Past Nine Months
Net Neutrality Order Adopted
Comcast-Time Warner Merger Denied
FM Chip Activated by AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile
FCC Agenda to Upgrade EAS
22 Civil Rights Groups Petition FCC for
Multilingual Emergency Alerting

25. Retain and Innovate: A Policy Agenda
 Harmonize channel repack with ATSC 3.0 conversion
 Use $1.75 billion, 39 month window to deploy next-gen services
 Ensure access for next-gen PTV on smartphones
 Follow FM chip activation
 Deploy advanced emergency alerting (AWARN)
 Develop dual-use strategies to secure future funding
 New role for PTV and PBS V6 in replacing legacy EAS
 Pursue regulatory support of ATSC 3.0 and new services
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26. PTV’s Mission: Needed Now More Than Ever
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Source: Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley; Gabriel Zucman, London School of Economics

27. Would You Sell Public Parks?
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29. The Case for Keeping Your Spectrum
(All of It and in the UHF Band)
John Lawson
Convergence Services, Inc
Jlawson@convg.com
www.convg.com
Vinnie Curren
Breakthrough Public Media
vinnie@breakthroughpm.org
www.breakthroughpm.org
© 2015 Convergence Services, Inc