FIRST ATSC 3.0 CANDIDATE STANDARD BALLOT

Posted on May 1, 2015 in ATSC News

Big news! Voting on the first TG3 document is now open and is set to close on May 6. Voting instructions and clarifications are listed at the end of this update for the benefit of first time voters and as a refresher to others.

The first TG3 ballot is to elevate the Working Draft System Discovering and Signaling document to Candidate Standard.  This important part of the Physical Layer is known as the bootstrap or preamble, which provides robust signaling and synchronization. This will be the first part of ATSC 3.0 elevated to Candidate Standard status and represents a major milestone of the process.

The CS period would be for 9 months from the date of approval. This step is significant as it is the first ATSC 3.0 ballot issued. Additional documents describing the physical layer and other layers of the system are expected in the coming months.

“This is a major milestone,” said Jerry Whitaker, ATSC Vice President for Standards Development. “Completion of this portion follows intensive work done in TG3/S32 and its Ad-Hoc groups. Everyone in TG3 is excited to see the first document move forward to ballot.”

A numbering scheme has been selected for the new ATSC 3.0 standards that will be in the “A/300” range, using blocks of ten for each specialist group. The first document from S32, therefore, will be known as A/321.

TG1 Activity

The TG1 side of the house is focused on wrapping up some long-term projects including publishing a new standard in the 3D-TV suite, A/104 Part 4 – Service Compatible Hybrid Delivery 3D using Broadband or ATSC NRT. TG1 has also elevated the revision of A/104 Part 5, “Service Compatible 3D-TV using Main and Mobile Hybrid Delivery,” to Candidate Standard, for a period of time ending July 31.

An update to A/105, the Interactive Services Standard, is currently at ballot of TG1, with a closing date of May 26. Last year TG1 approved a ballot to elevate the document from Candidate Standard to Proposed Standard. Comments were submitted during the ballot, which led to substantive changes in the resolution. Now that the standard has been reworked, it has moved back to a re-ballot of TG1.

Lastly, two proposed revisions have moved into the final stage of the approval process—the membership ballot. Both A/72 Part 1 (Video System Characteristics of AVC in the ATSC Digital Television System) and A/78A (Transport Stream Verification) are at membership ballot; they close on May 19 and 20, respectively.

Voting Reminders for First Time Technology Group Voters

Voting eligibility is determined in accordance with the Bylaws, Section 10.8.2. The TG1 and TG3 voting eligibility lists, posted after each meeting, identify eligible voters. Only members with voting eligibility may cast votes on Technology Group ballots. Only one vote per company is permitted.

There is another aspect to casting your vote, and that is how members set their voting role when they joined TG1 and/or TG3.

When a member joins a Technology Group, that person can select their voting role (Non-Voter, Primary, or Alternate). After joining the group, however, the member cannot change their voting role. That can only be done by an Administrator. The voting role options are found only on TG1 and TG3, since those are the only two groups for which balloting is enabled.

There are a number of members on the TG1 and TG3 rosters that have set their voting role to Non-Voter. Voting roles on Kavi are easily changed by Administrators, but staff needs to know how you want the settings configured.

If your company is voting-eligible per the voting eligibility list and you cannot vote on a current open ballot because it says you are “ineligible,” please do the following:

• Go to the TG1 or TG3 Roster page and scroll down to your entry. Your voting role should be shown on the right. (If for any reason you cannot find this, just let ATSC staff know and we will send it to you.)
• If your voting role is set to Non-Voter and you have the authority to vote for your company, send Jerry Whitaker or Daro Bruno a note stating how your voting role should be set on Kavi for TG1 and/or TG3. The voting role options are “Primary” and “Alternate.”

The Primary Representative from a member company may want to review the voting role settings for his/her entire organization. If changes need to be made, just let Jerry or Daro know.

All ATSC ballots open at 6:00 p.m. ET, and close at 11:59 p.m. ET on the closing date. A four-week ballot is the default, unless otherwise specified. The length can be extended or shortened on TG ballots by direction from the Technology Group.

The Kavi system sends out a notification when each ballot opens. Reminders are sent to members who have not already voted one week before the ballot closes and also one day before the ballot closes. After a ballot has closed, voting details are available to members of the group. Comments submitted during the ballot period also may be viewed.

Posted in ATSC News