Lon.tv, of YouTube fame, created a petition to prevent stations from adding DRM to their new ATSC 3.0 broadcast channels.
You probably already know this already, but ATSC 3.0 is the new broadcasting standard that allows for more channels, 4K resolution, surround sound, interactivity features, and much better reception (also a bunch of additional features that probably won’t be used ever). Along with these features is DRM — a way to restrict what can be done with the broadcast once it gets to your home. For instance, the broadcasters can place restrictions to only allow a set of manufacturers to receive broadcasts and prevent/restrict DVR recordings. They’ve already rolled out this “feature” to several ATSC 3.0 stations, even causing several issues with newly purchased ATSC 3.0 tuners.
Thankfully there’s a few places that you can go to get your voice heard before ATSC 3.0 is fully rolled out:
Head over to the petition on change.org here:
https://www.change.org/p/tell-the-fcc-no-drm-encryption-of-atsc-3-0-broadcasts
Also, please raise your concerns to the FCC by following the instructions here:
https://www.change.org/p/tell-the-fcc-no-drm-encryption-of-atsc-3-0-broadcasts/u/31735780
Thanks for listening.