Presidents Memo: Closing the Gap with ATSC 3.0

Posted on November 5, 2024 in ATSC News

As the beautiful fall foliage in New England gives way to colder weather, ATSC is leaning forward on several initiatives that will continue to drive growth for ATSC 3.0 technology in Latin America, in India, and in the USA.

A follow-up to the very successful September IBC Amsterdam conference from show organizers noted that Brazil’s TV 3.0 project will help to “close the gap” between broadcasting and streaming of digital content.  Brazilian Broadcaster TV Globo emphasizes that the drive to next-generation television in that key Latin American country is all about both higher-quality video and immersive audio, as well as fundamentally enhancing the experience with personalization, interactivity, and dynamic content management.

“The viewer won’t have to think about whether they are consuming content through broadcast or streaming,” TV Globo’s Carlos Octavio, Director of Corporate Strategy and Architecture, told the IBC’s publication. The goal is to deliver a seamless hybrid model, where the line between broadcast and streaming is blurred. “We are aiming to bring high personalization, advanced segmentation” and Dynamic Ad Insertion into broadcast, Octavio explains.  ATSC is closely collaborating with Brazil’s SBTVD Forum on the final development stages of Brazil’s standard, which should be formalized in 2025.

In addition to greeting ATSC members at IBC in Amsterdam, I also enjoyed meeting with our members who exhibited in October’s NAB New York event.  Data-driven insights are a key part of the U.S. strategy, too.

There, Pearl TV announced that NEXTGEN TV broadcasts hit a new deployment milestone, with more than three out of four U.S. households now able to view ATSC 3.0 broadcasts.   Pearl noted that some 80 million households now have access to better picture quality with the various types of High Dynamic Range being broadcast by local stations, and that Dolby Atmos audio is now available to NEXTGEN TV viewers in more than 30 million households.

Pearl also announced that new consumer devices for ATSC 3.0 reception are entering the consumer market this fall.  Panasonic announced that they will return to the U.S. display market with a line of Fire TV-powered OLED products that also incorporate NEXTGEN TV electronics.  ADTH is readying another new product, too – a small USB-sized receiver that connects to an over-the-air antenna and can turn a display running the Android or Fire TV operating system into a NEXTGEN TV receiver.  Best of all, this new pocket receiver is expected to be priced very affordably once available.  Anne Schelle from Pearl also noted that more than 500 services (what most of us would call “channels”) are now available to NEXTGEN TV viewers throughout the country.

The power and flexibility of ATSC 3.0 continues to impact viewers – for the better.  Sinclair and Nebraska Public Media announced the launch of a “Broadcast-Enabled Streaming TV” (BEST) Channel in Omaha, Nebraska.  As a result of the launch, Nebraska Public Media’s PBS and local programming is now hosted on KPTM, Sinclair’s Fox affiliate in Omaha, as a free, virtual channel in addition to its other programming offerings. Nebraska Public Media’s virtual channel delivers programming in high dynamic range, which significantly enhances video quality for viewers.

Additional news from Sinclair came from India, with the joint announcement that Saankhya Labs and Sinclair are collaborating on the design and launch of a variety of Direct-to-Mobile broadcast consumer devices in India.  With more than a billion (with a “b”) cell phone users in India, the announcement could put next-generation TV in cell phones on a trajectory that may one day see affordable handsets with ATSC 3.0 receivers becoming more widely available.  The devices being produced in India will be powered by Saankhya’s Pruthvi-3 ATSC 3.0 chipsets. The company has done pioneering work on bringing to market broadcast radio heads for cellularization of single frequency networks (SFNs) and building the Mark One reference design of a 3.0-enabled D2M smartphone.

All of these announcements – from Brazil, to Europe, to the United States, and India – point ultimately to the flexibility of the ATSC 3.0 standard and the interest by broadcasters and many in developing the ecosystem of broadcast equipment and receivers.

While the end of the year is coming, we know that more work is underway with projects to be announced in the new year.  As we soon enter the holiday season for many, it’s a time to be grateful for the many ATSC members who are working hard to bring the full capability of ATSC standards to life.

Posted in ATSC News