Leading broadcast television associations, research laboratories and standards development organizations from around the world have organized a strategic conference focused on the future of terrestrial broadcast television.

The Future of Broadcast Television (FOBTV) Summit will be held to foster global collaboration to exchange technical advances in the rapidly converging areas of terrestrial broadcasting, consumer electronics and networking technologies, discussions that that may lead to the development of common strategies for the future of terrestrial broadcasting.

The FOBTV Summit will take place on November 10-11, 2011 in Shanghai, China. The National Engineering Research Center of Digital Television, China will host the historic event. NERC, established in 2010, is a leading high-tech institution co-founded by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and other mainstream digital TV researching institutes, manufacturers, broadcasters and agencies.

Watch the Broadcast Engineering interview with Mark Richer from IBC 2011. For more information, visit FOBTV

TSG/S4 Specialist Group on ATSC Mobile DTV

Work has begun to develop an amendment to A/154, "ATSC Mobile DTV Recommended Practice," that would add new informative text relating to the system physical layer. This work will initially be done in a sub-group of S4 (S4-6). A timeline for completion of a Working Draft has not yet been established.

Work is underway to consider issues relating to audio metadata, a possible outcome of which could be amendments to A/153 Part 3:2009, “Service Multiplex and Transport Sybsystem Characteristics,” and A/153 Part 8:2009, “HE AAC Audio System Characteristics.” Draft text has been developed and discussed, and liaison with DVB and CEA (and possibly other SDOs) is anticipated.

A Working Draft Amendment to A/153 Part 2, "RF/Transmission System Characteristics," is at a ballot of the ATSC Membership. The changes include adjustments to A/153 Part 2 that were identified during work to update A/53 Part 2, "RF/Transmission System Characteristics."

TSG/S5 Specialist Group on Transmission Infrastructure

The ATSC membership has approved a standard for studio-to-transmitter link (STL) systems used to support ATSC Mobile DTV. The system is documented as a revision of A/110, “Synchronization Standard for Distributed Transmission. An interim version of A/110:2011 has been published on the ATSC Web site. The new title of A/110 is "ATSC Standard for Transmitter Synchronization."

A revision of A/111, "Recommended Practice—Design of Synchronized Multiple Transmitter Networks," is under consideration to align the document with changes to A/110. A timeline for the work has not yet been established.

TSG/S6 Specialist Group on Video and Audio Coding

Work continues to update A/52:2010, "Digital Audio Compression (AC-3) (E-AC-3) Standard," to more completely describe E-AC-3 and reflect current practice. Draft text has been developed and is under review. Liaison with the effected SDOs continues.

In an effort to support ATSC 2.0 and other potential applications, work has begun to update A/53 Part 6, "Enhanced AC-3 Audio System Characteristics," to document constraints on E-AC-3 for use in the “main stream” rather than for E-VSB "fallback" (as currently written). In addition, the 2010 Revision of Part 5 removed some functionality that will be added into Part 6 to support certain audio services.

Work is underway to consider the differences between A/72, "Video System Characteristics of AVC in the ATSC Digital Television System," and SCTE-128, and to develop a recommendation for changes to A/72. This effort will also involve some work by TSG/S8 on transport issues. To support this effort, a TSG-level AHG has been established to identify what ATSC should do about AVC in the main service from a requirements point of view.

Work is pending to merge A/63, “Standard for Coding 25/50 Hz Video,” into A/53 Part 4, "MPEG-2 Video System Characteristics."

TSG/S7 Specialist Group on Security

An updated version of the A/70-2 Candidate Standard, "Conditional Access System for Terrestrial Broadcast," has been approved as a Proposed Standard by a ballot of TSG. Editorial comments were received during the ballot. Issuance of the Membership ballot is pending.

TSG/S8 Specialist Group on Transport

A sub-group within TSG/S8 is developing a Working Draft RP on the broadcast station workflow aspects of handling local live updates to PSIP-related metadata. A date for completion of the Working Draft has not yet been set.

Document maintenance has been completed on A/53 Part 3, "Service Multiplex and Transport Subsystem Characteristics;" and A/65, “Program and System Information Protocol For Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable.” This work involves removal of E-VSB elements and collected errata and updates. Coordination of ballots for the E-VSB removal work is under consideration.

TSG/S9 Specialist Group on Transmission

TSG has approved a ballot on a Working Draft update of A/53 Part 2:2007, "RF/Transmission Subsystem." The proposed changes include removal of E-VSB and clarification of existing text. Comments were received during the ballot and are currently under consideration.

TSG/S10 Specialist Group on Receivers

TSG has approved a ballot on a Working Draft Recommended Practice on "ATSC Mobile DTV Receiver Performance Guidelines." This document mirrors the scope of A/74, "Receiver Performance Guidelines," but the focus is on mobile services. Comments were received and resolved. The ATSC Membership ballot closes on 26 September 2011.

TSG/S11 Specialist Group on ATSC 2.0

Work continues to coordinate activities within TSG relating to ATSC 2.0. S11 gathers information from potential users of the standard to ensure that their business needs are met by the elements of the standard, and, if not, suggests course corrections. S11 focuses on the high-level requirements for what the system should do. S11 coordinates with other working groups on their drafting of the standards that support and enable the framework S11 develops.

TSG/S12 Specialist Group on 3D TV

This newly formed specialist group has been charged with developing a three-dimensional (3D) broadcast TV standard that will provide methods for transmission of 3D-TV content to both fixed and mobile devices. The S12 work builds on extensive efforts over the last year by the ATSC 3DTV Planning Team. The new standard, which could be completed in a year, will allow 3D content delivered on one ATSC terrestrial channel to fixed receivers, with delivery of both views (left and right eye) in real-time or non-real-time. It will also provide for delivery on one ATSC terrestrial channel to Mobile/Handheld receivers. The effort is being led by Dr. Youngkwon Lim, representing the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI) in Daejon, South Korea.

TSG/S13 Specialist Group on Data Broadcast

Draft changes have been developed to the Candidate Standard on "Non-Real-Time Services." The CS period runs until 10 October 2011.

Work continues to develop elements of ATSC 2.0. Work relating to new NRT features is done in the S13-1 AHG; other elements of the work are done in the S13-2 AHG.

Work on a revision of A/90, "Data Broadcast Standard," is underway. Extensive errata has been developed over the years and is being reviewed for incorporation in the revision.

TSG-7 AHG

The AHG on AVC Requirements is narrowly scoped to focus on what ATSC wants to do about AVC in the main service from a requirements point of view.

Planning Teams

PT-1 – 3D TV: This group has reached agreement on its final report on the potential for 3D television services. In late July, PT-1 developed a New Work Item Proposal on 3D-TV, which was subsequently approved by the ATSC Board of Directors. Work on the NWIP has been assigned by TSG to TSG/S12.

PT-2 – Next Generation Broadcast Television. Work continues to complete the final report of the group, expected in late September. The ATSC Board of Directors, meanwhile, authorized a letter ballot to create a new Technology Group to focus on next-generation television systems. The ballot closes on 2 September 2011.

PT-3 – Internet-Enhanced Television. The group is working to complete its final report on the current landscape for Internet-enhanced television, focusing on the opportunities and challenges for broadcast services. Some of the information collected has been identified to be potentially useful to the TSG groups working on ATSC 2.0. Liaison with the appropriate groups is underway.

New Technology Group

The ATSC Membership has approved formation of a new technology group to develop "ATSC 3.0," a series of voluntary technical standards and recommended practices for the next-generation digital terrestrial television broadcast system. Formation of the new ATSC 3.0 Technology Group, called "TG3", will allow the ATSC Technology & Standards Group (now called "TG1") to accelerate its current activities including development of ATSC 2.0, NRT, 3D, and Mobile DTV. TG3 was recommended by the ATSC Board of Directors in July and adopted by the Membership on 2 September 2011.

Ballots

The following Membership ballots are underway:
Bylaws Revision (closes 13 September 2011)
Proposed RP on Mobile DTV Receiver Performance Guidelines (closes on 26 September 2011)
A/153 Part 2 Amendment (closes 7 October 2011)