ATSC 3.0 is finally real
LAS VEGAS – Yes, off-air TV is still viable and popular and a new spec has the potential to make it much more useful and flexible.
Over a decade in the making, the first U.S. consumer television receivers equipped with Nextgen TV (ATSC 3.0) over-the-air capabilities are coming to retail stores later this year announced the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) at CES.
“Viewers in South Korea have been enjoying 4K video and immersive audio delivered via ATSC 3.0 since 2017 and a number of U.S. broadcasters are already on-the-air with Nextgen TV. Many more channels in the U.S. are expected to sign on as the spectrum repack is completed and stations work co-operatively to launch this revolutionary new service while also preserving current digital TV broadcasts. With a focus on the Top 40 Nielsen markets and more than 20 additional cities, Nextgen TV (signals) are expected to reach more than 70% of the U.S. population over the next year,” predicted ATSC president Madeleine Noland in a press release.
The sets will be available from LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony and follow an earlier announcement at CES regarding the initial nationwide rollout of NextGen TV service, powered by the ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard, planned for more than 60 markets across the U.S. ATSC also released a guide to ATSC available for download.
Cartt.ca is unaware of any announcements touting Canadian TV stations upgrading to ATSC 3.0, however.
“Developed by hundreds of consumer technology and broadcasting experts across the globe, the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards has the capability to easily deliver 4K Ultra HDTV signals to give viewers access to more 4K content – along with a host of other features comprising Nextgen TV,” added Noland.
New television sets with Nextgen capabilities will have access to several new video and audio features that will enhance and customize the viewing experience.
“Throughout the year and into 2021, more and more programming will become available in 4K Ultra HD with High Dynamic Range and with immersive audio to provide consumers with an amazing new experience. This is not an easy or immediate transition. There are myriad of rights issues, collaboration opportunities, channel sharing agreements, and many other details that broadcasters are now working hard to execute.
“The final piece, of course, is the availability of consumer receivers – which is why the announcements this week at CES are so vitally important,” explained Pearl TV managing director Anne Schelle in a press release.
Pearl TV is a business alliance that includes Cox Media Group and other broadcasters and represents more than 400 television stations in the United States and is coordinating Nextgen TV development with the Phoenix Model Market.
During a CES panel discussion this week on the roll out of ATSC 3.0 Schelle responded to critics of the standard who say that with the wireless industry’s 5G tech on the horizon, the new OTA TV standard will be DOA.
She noted research carried out by the Phoenix Model Market indicated that 91% of consumers say they are either “interested” or “very interested” in using a service like ATSC 3.0.
“Consumers find most value in the combination of features. The combination of enhanced video, 4K video with high dynamic range and immersive 3D audio have the broadest appeal,” said Schelle. She noted that consumers are also interested in the ability to deliver an app over the air, which can include additional content for news that’s been delivered traditionally. While the ATSC 3.0 standard could in the future be used to support 8K broadcasting, its highest supported resolution at this time is 4K.
Another topic of discussion that came up during the panel is whether cable operators and other pay-TV providers will pass through or retransmit ATSC 3.0 signals and services over their networks.
Schelle responded that there is a strong desire from broadcasters to provide ATSC 3.0 advanced features (such as mobility, audience measurement, addressable advertising and other data-driven possibilities) to cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors and work is underway to develop a technical solution for its implementation.
She said she expects cable related announcements around the ATSC 3.0 standard to come during in April during NAB.
Sinclair Broadcast Group and One Media were demonstrating live Nextgen TV demonstrations across the CES show floor with signals from KSNV-TV, the Sinclair NBC Las Vegas station which has switched its back-up transmission to ATSC 3.0. Using an LG OLED TV, Sinclair and One Media are demonstrating the first home over-the-air (OTA) and over-the-top (OTT) converged application to make switching effortless between broadcast and broadband-delivered channels.
Gaian Solutions is showcasing the first ever “AI & Data Lake powered Nextgen TV Broadcast Platform as a service” that spans across broadcast control systems, full stack receiver solutions and cloud based microservices addressing business management functions, Ad-tech, data analytics, app designer tools and AI agents for rapid service curation and spectrum monetization. Gaian is demonstrating its “3 in 1” service that enables broadcasters to immediately begin offering Nextgen TV services with low cost modular receivers and negligible capital investment by only utilizing the existing ATSC 1.0 infrastructure.
One of the most interesting aspects of ATSC 3.0 is that it is the first broadcast standard built on an Internet Protocol backbone and promises to deliver new choices through both over-the-air broadcasts and broadband connections. Consumers will be able to watch broadcast content with sharper images and crisp audio quality with additional, customizable audio features such as “voice boost” and consistent audio levels – and the ATSC 3.0 capabilities of Nextgen TV can be upgraded for future advanced interactivity and more comprehensive and detailed emergency messages.
“CES is just the beginning of Nextgen TV for the consumer technology industry. And I know we will be back next year with even more stations on the air offering a growing list of new Nextgen TV features and welcoming news of even more receivers to be introduced for viewers,” added Noland.
