For our readers in the television business, there have been recent developments in two proceedings about which we have written recently. Last week, we wrote about the extension of time to file reply comments on the CALM Act implementation Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, where the FCC is implementing a Congressional act to curb loud commercials. The extension on the reply comments was granted as the Advanced Television Systems Committee was about to announce new amendments to its protocol that is the standard proposed as the basis by which compliance with the act is measured. Given the importance of these standards, the FCC wanted to give interested parties at least a brief opportunity to comment on the revisions, thus warranting the extension. According to an FCC Public Notice, those revised standard have now been announced, and can be viewed on the ATSC website, here. Interestingly, as I write this article, the link to the Standards provided in the FCC Public Notice does not work, and the full report is not evident on the ATSC site. Hopefully, those issues will be short lived, as the Reply comments are due on August 1.
Please see full publication below for more information.