The FCC
also decided to adopt the latest revisions to the ATSC PSIP
standard since the Second DTV Periodic Report and Order by
incorporating A/65C: ATSC Program and System Information
Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable (Revision C) with
Amendment No. 1, (January 2, 2006) into Section 73.682(d)
by reference. Compliance with the new requirements also becomes
effective 120 days after publication of this Order in the Federal
Register, to allow time for deployment of updated equipment.
The FCC noted the additional benefits from sending accurate
Event Information Tables ("EITs"), especially accurate
titles. They found that the updated ATSC PSIP standard enhances
consumers' viewing experience by providing detailed information
about digital channels and programs, such as how to find a program's
closed captions, multiple streams and V-chip information. The
FCC agreed with the commenters that the benefits of the updated
ATSC PSIP standard to the broadcasting industry and consumers
outweigh any additional burden placed on individual broadcasters.
The FCC
emphasized in the order that it is mandatory to populate the
EITs with accurate information about each event and to update
the EIT when more accurate information becomes available. They
stated that they expect broadcasters to fully implement PSIP
to the extent that ATSC A/65C requires, once the revised Section
73.682(d) becomes effective. They reminded broadcasters of the
need to be consistent at all times and locations.
They then
established an announcement recommendation that is new for PSIP.
They said "For example, if a broadcaster transmits a program
in standard definition, the PSIP information should state that
the programming is being broadcast in standard definition, as
opposed to High Definition." Fortunately this is a "should"
not a must, and did not show up in the text of the rule changes;
as accurate implementation of this requirement is problematic.
There is a metadata element in SMPTE 2010 (BXF) that contains
aspect ratio and H x V resolution for a piece of video. But
is a NTSC source transcoded and sent in a HD resolution raster
HD or SD? The final coding by the encoder could be sent to the
PSIP generator, but no standard defines how to process it. The
metadata from the traffic system would send the PSIP generator
the information that the program was SD in the NTSC example
above and the encoded could send the same metadata element indicating
HD. There are no standards or guidelines on how to use either,
much less resolve conflicting information. After some resolution
process is invented; the result could be placed in one of two
places in PSIP. One place would be by adding it to the end of
title text. A less efficient method would be to generate an
ETM to send the information. There is no PSIP equipment currently
designed to do any of this.
The FCC
went on to say that the Transport Stream Identifier ("TSID")
information should be consistent in the Terrestrial Virtual
Channel Table ("TVCT"), and the Program Association
Table ("PAT"). Moreover, when a program goes overtime,
the station should update the EIT. Proper implementation of
the standard requires broadcasters to populate the required
tables and descriptors with the correct information to help
receivers assemble functioning guides. Adoption of this standard
also mandates completing tables and descriptors that require
one time setup to be set correctly, including TSID, Short Channel
Names, Service Type, Modulation Mode Source ID and Service Location
Descriptor. Also, broadcasters must accurately fill the contents
of the fields and the descriptors of each event descriptor loop
with the known information about each event at the time the
event is created and update each field if more accurate information
becomes available. The Commission asserted they will continue
to monitor these issues and act accordingly.
The FCC noted that they will address the carriage or not (that
some commenters pointed out) of program-related PSIP data in
the DTV Must Carry proceeding.
The FCC
also addressed the carriage of one station's programming by
another station, expressly permitting such, but establishing
a specific form of announcement. The announcement is required
to be of the form: "Station WYYY-DT, community of license
(call sign and community of license of the station whose multicast
stream is transmitting the programming), bringing you WXXX,
community of license (call sign and community of license of
the licensee providing the programming)." For example this
might read: "Station WNAB-DT, Washington, DC, bringing
you WANB, Washington, DC." The placement of this message
is described in Section 73.1201, and is sent as part of the
encoded video or audio, not in PSIP. The FCC rule does not take
advantage of the PSIP-defined announcement tools; as they require
direct alteration of the content itself. The PSIP tool for announcing
long channel names is the extended_channel_name_descriptor().
This was explicitly designed to enable announcement of such
channel descriptions without having to post-process the source
program to add the announcement when it is so carried. While
that can be used, under the current rules it is not enough.
The consequences of this FCC requirement may ripple into cable
as when such a program is carried in digital form on cable systems,
it is placed on another multiplex - not the multiplex on which
is was delivered. The hard "burned-in" message will
then still be present, even if the station that delivered it
to the MSO is not on that cable system.
Although
some additional information may be added to describe WXXX, the
Order said it should not include the frequency of WXXX
or its channel. The actual rule is different as it says may
not include either. Unfortunately this rule therefore conflicts
with the industry standard methods as it prevents use of PSIP's
envisioned and permitted (Annex B, #7) method for directly labeling
such multicast with the analog (major) channel of WXXX. The
Standard method reflects the ability to avoid any consumer confusion
as they need not be bothered with the fact that a station is
delivered over another broadcasters transport stream.
The order
can be obtained at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-228A1.pdf.
Most channel assignments are found at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-228A2.xls
The list of 377 stations that were granted extension requests
is at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-228A3.xls.
