The FCC wants to jump-start wireless 5G TV growth

By Jeff Kagan
August 14, 2023

We all know how Cable TV is on the decline. It is slowly switching over to other technologies including wireless pay TV. In recent years, we have seen AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon try to deliver pay TV wirelessly. However, these early efforts have not caught on fire. Not yet anyway. So, the next step seems to be the FCC giving a six-month experimental license to two low-power television networks. Will this work?

Sometimes innovation sweeps across the landscape changing everything seemingly overnight. Think the super smartphone like the iPhone and Android as one example. Other times it develops in fits and spurts, or it never grows at all. 

Why did AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon miss with wireless pay TV?

Wireless Pay TV sounds like an exciting new technology which could change both the wireless and the pay TV marketplace. After all, we all use smartphones and tablets everywhere. 

So, why hasn’t AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon been successful delivering and growing this new service? They started playing around with it more than five years ago. 

I remember because I wrote a few columns on the subject in 2018. Since that time, it has not really moved the needle. 

5G TV vs. Wireless Home Internet

It is important to understand there are two different technologies. 

·      One is wireless pay TV or what we are talking about here, 5G TV. This is a full service, cable TV replacement. Today cable TV companies offer limited channels to the smartphone and tablet when we are out. 

·      The other is wireless home Internet. This can bring 5G wireless speeds to the home. This is something that some wireless carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile are offering. 

The delivery of pay TV using 5G technology would replace the cable that cable TV uses and deliver a wireless signal to the home. 

There are many benefits to this. A few of them include how it would increase the number of competitors in the industry. How that would keep innovation higher and prices lower. How it would provide an alternative in areas where older cable is still in operation. How it would allow us to watch TV everywhere, at home and away, and so much more. 

Xfinity, Spectrum, Altice use wireless with their cable TV

Cable TV competitors offer a scaled down version of wireless pay TV. Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum and Altice let users watch some channels over a wireless connection or over their app. 

This is not the full cable TV experience. That being said, I can imagine how the cable TV industry would really benefit from this new direction. It would be such a cost savings to them. It would use the Internet and wireless to deliver signal. 

Traditionally, this is a large expense just keeping the wire line cable TV network up and running. That’s why you always see cable TV trucks around town fixing the weak links of the network as they continually develop. 

That being said, they have not yet moved the needle either. 

FCC grants experimental 5G TV license helping wireless development

The next step is the Federal Communications Commission giving an experimental license to a smaller company when the large companies had no luck.

Just to note, the FCC did grant the Sinclair Broadcasting Group an experimental license in 2021. 

The hope is, low power TV networks, who work with the users that traditional cable TV don’t may be able to be creative and unlock the code, making 5G TV a reality. 

XGen Networks and Milachi Media will use this new experimental license. 

XGen Networks and Milachi Media secured FCC experimental 5G TV license

I have not yet met with XGen Networks and Milachi Media, so I don’t yet know exactly what they have in mind. When I do, then I can fill in some of the blank spots..

That being said, if they are working with the FCC on this experimental license, they must be formidable enough, and have some cutting-edge ideas they want to develop. 

With the experimental license, it gives them the ability to do just that.

Wireless continues to move forward as an industry on many fronts. 5G TV is just one of them. Since wireless TV has not really hit a homerun over all these years with the big competitors, apparently the FCC thinks these smaller companies can come up with some new thinking and new ideas to build a new market.

Cracking the code with 5G TV

I hope the FCC is right. We will see what happens next.  

This is the way many explosive growth sectors have started. Remember when wireless data and the app market started when the iPhone and Android were introduced, there were only a few hundred apps, and most people didn’t participate.

As the wireless carriers dropped their price and advertised and marketed the app market, things started to change. Over a few short years a few hundred apps grew to millions. 

Today, we can do so much more using our smartphones than ever before. But it started slowing.

If these smaller companies can crack the code, 5G TV could be a big and exciting new growth opportunity. It also would let new competitors enter the pay TV space. 

The idea is to change the way we think about and use TV because of 5G wireless technology, just like we did when the app market was new and struggling. 

New thinking, new ideas, new products and services have the potential to change everything. Let’s hope they hit a home run this time. 

Original article: https://www.rcrwireless.com/20230814/5g/kagan-the-fcc-wants-to-jump-start-wireless-5g-tv-growth