ATSC Standards Update: Candidate Standard Update

Posted on July 18, 2024 in ATSC News

Since the last issue of The Standard newsletter, no new Standards or Recommended Practices have been published; however, an update to the revision of A/324:2024-04, “Scheduler / Studio to Transmitter Link,” is expected to be published soon. Also, the Candidate Standard period for A/345, “VVC Video,” has been extended to 30 September 2024.

Voting is an important element of membership in ATSC. All Standards, Candidate Standards, Recommended Practices, and Corrigenda must be approved via one or more ballots, conducted on the Causeway workspace. Online voting is easy, but we sometimes receive questions about certain elements of the process; for example, how the Primary/Alternate voter protocols work. Details are as follows:

• Either Primary or Alternate voters can cast a vote on an open ballot.
• The vote of a Primary will override the vote of an Alternate.
• If a Primary voter has cast a vote, then the Alternate will not be able to cast a vote.
• If more than one Primary voter casts a vote on a given ballot, the last vote cast is the one that prevails.

It is important for Voting Members of ATSC to participate in ballots. Every ballot on a given document provides three options: Yes, No, or Abstain. Because there are minimum participation requirements for Technology Group (TG) and Membership ballots, all members are urged to carefully consider each ballot and vote accordingly. There may be instances where a member has no opinion on the question presented in the ballot. In that case, an Abstain vote may be cast. This is important, since Abstain votes count toward meeting the minimum participation requirements.

All ballots open at 6:00 p.m. ET. The default ballot length is 4 weeks for TG and Membership ballots; however, the ballot may be longer or shorter at the TG level if directed by the TG. All ballots close at 11:59 p.m. ET on the closing date.

Notification of an open ballot is sent to all voting-eligible members when the ballot opens. Reminders are issued to voters who have not yet voted one week before the close date and again one day before the close date. ATSC staff sends a notification of ballot results on the next business day following the close of the ballot.

Voting eligibility on TG ballots is documented in the ATSC Bylaws, Section X.4.1.2. After each meeting, a current TG Voting Eligibility List is posted to the group. That list is in effect until after the following TG meeting.

Ballots of the full ATSC Membership are conducted on a dedicated group on Causeway known as the Member Representatives group. This group is made up of the primary representative from each member company.

ATSC staff are available to answer any questions that members may have on voting.

Posted in ATSC News