16 September 1996, Download PDF File

This document specifies a recommended practice for use of the ATSC Digital Television Standard to ensure interoperability internationally at the transport level with the European Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) project as standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Guidelines for use of the Digital Television Standard are outlined which ensure avoidance of conflict with DVB transport in the areas of Packet Identifier (PID) usage and assignment of user private values for descriptor tags and table identifiers.

Note: ATSC is considering withdrawing this document. Comments can be submitted by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

26 May 2008, Download PDF File

This ATSC Recommended Practice describes methods for testing, monitoring, and measurement of the transmission subsystem intended for use in the digital television (DTV) system adopted as the U.S. Standard by the Federal Communications Commission. Both 8-VSB and 16-VSB are described in this document.

25 December 2009, Download PDF File

This document provides a set of guidelines for the use and implementation of the ATSC Program and System Information Protocol. The information contained herein applies to broadcasters, network operators, infrastructure manufacturers, and receiver manufacturers.

7 April 2010, Download PDF File

This Recommended Practice addresses the front-end portion of a receiver of digital terrestrial television broadcasts. The recommended performance guidelines enumerated in this document are intended to assure that reliable reception will be achieved. Guidelines for interference rejection are based on the FCC planning factors that were used to analyze coverage and interference for the initial DTV channel allotments. Guidelines for sensitivity and multipath handling reflect field experience accumulated by testing undertaken by ATTC, MSTV, NAB, and receiver manufacturers.

Field ensembles described in Section 4.5.2 of the Recommended Practice are available from NAB  by request to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Send a USB drive of at least 60 GB capacity to:

Victor Tawil
National Association of Broadcasters
1771 N Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

Be certain to include a complete address for return of the USB drive.

26 July 2001, Download PDF File

This document presents the objectives of, and general methodology for conducting field tests of over-the-air terrestrial digital television (DTV) systems. The scope of the work includes reception, demodulation, and recovery of the transmitted data. The scope of the work herein is not concerned with the decoded data or analog signals except when these signals are used as a means to determine that the data has been correctly recovered.

Note: While this document provides considerable useful information, it has not been updated and may therefore not reflect current practices.

09 May 2007, Download PDF File

This Recommended Practice provides a common methodology for describing Transport Stream conformance criteria. This RP explicitly describes the elements and parameters of A/53 and A/65 that should be verified in an ATSC Transport Stream for it to be considered a proper emission. It does not cover RF, captioning, or elementary streams.