LPTV broadcasters seek exemption from nationwide ATSC 3.0 mandate

By Daniel Okafor

What is the FCC deciding?

About 1,760 licensed U.S. low-power television stations are pressing the FCC not to impose a nationwide ATSC 3.0 mandate.

The Low Power Television Broadcasters Association, or LPTVA, supports a move from ATSC 1.0 to 3.0. It rejects Sinclair's push for a coordinated national transition. The association made that position clear in an Oct. 29 letter to the FCC. Its response targets the FCC's pending notice of proposed rulemaking seeking faster 3.0 adoption. The filing gives the association a formal chance to separate full-power transition policy from the technology obligations now facing smaller stations across the United States.

What happens to the 2028 and 2030 deadlines?

Broadcasters, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, proposed a two-stage ATSC 1.0 sunset:

• End of 2028: Sunset ATSC 1.0 in the top 55 U.S. markets.
• End of 2030: Sunset ATSC 1.0 in the remaining markets.

The two-stage schedule would bring the largest 55 U.S. markets forward by two years, a timetable proposed nearly two years ago before the FCC delayed its final decision. LPTVA said the deadlines now appear highly unlikely to hold. Neither date is final.

Why do Class A and translator stations want different treatment?

The United States also licenses 397 Class A television stations. LPTVA supports all broadcast standards and says each LPTV station should choose the one that best serves its viewers.

LPTVA President Frank Copsidas said: “If full-power stations wish to mandate a standard for full-power television, we stand behind the National Association of Broadcasters. However, we do not believe Class A stations should be included in any such request.”

Copsidas described Class A stations as LPTV at heart, with more regulatory requirements and contour protection than full-power services. They lack some full-power benefits, in his view. LPTVA opposes mandates covering translators, LPTV or Class A stations, while asking the FCC to preserve each station's right to select its own broadcast technology.

That distinction also appears in NAB's own petition. On Feb. 26, 2025, NAB filed a Petition for Rulemaking seeking a mandatory ATSC 3.0 transition. The filing, in GN Docket No. 16-142, did not recommend requiring low-power television or translator stations to make that move.

Copsidas said Sinclair's coordinated transition request must not impose a mandatory sunset on LPTV, Class A or translator stations. He said the request was consistent with Sinclair's comments in the proceeding.

Does 5G Broadcast offer an alternative?

LPTVA has advocated allowing broadcasters to transmit 5G Broadcast as an alternative to ATSC 3.0. Sinclair Senior Vice President of Technology Mark Aitken takes a different position: 5G can be transmitted through ATSC 3.0.

The distinction frames 5G Broadcast as either a separate operating path for low-power stations or a service delivered through the next ATSC generation, depending on which technical premise the FCC accepts. The choice matters to station engineers. It also shapes whether local flexibility survives a national transition rule.

What does the low-power service case depend on?

Copsidas said: “LPTV stations will continue to serve all the broadcast television viewers left behind by ATSC 3.0, which currently comprises 85-90% of television viewers.”

He said retaining 1.0 would keep free, over-the-air local television universally available during and after any full-power transition. The 85-90% estimate is LPTVA's audience argument, not an FCC transition forecast. For operators, the practical issue is whether they must select one broadcast generation now or retain a local technology timetable.

The FCC's final decision is now the gating event for the proposed 2028 and 2030 sunsets. LPTVA expects those dates to slip and wants each low-power, Class A and translator station to set its own transition path. A national endpoint remains possible, but the association has asked the FCC not to make that endpoint mandatory for them.