Get Ready for ATSC 3.0, But Don’t Ignore 1.0
Work continues on refining standard, deployment plans
COVID-19 has slowed, but not stopped, the transition to ATSC 3.0. Work continues in the ATSC to refine the standard and stations and corporations like Public Media Group and broadcaster groups like Pearl TV are readying plans to deploy. “Safe-at-home” regulations have led to huge increases in ratings for local TV stations, particularly news. People are (re)discovering broadcast TV.
I’d like to make the argument that while we’re building out ATSC 3.0, viewers shouldn’t ignore ATSC 1.0. One thing I’m finding when I talk to people about ATSC 3.0 (Pearl and ATSC have done a good job marketing it as “NextGen TV”), is that there is much hope (or, for some, fear) that ATSC 3.0 will make broadcast TV programming available for free to everyone who buys a small antenna. They might even get free 4K UHD. Ads like the one in Fig. 1 show how crazy some of the claims are. Search Google for “4K UHD Antenna” (without quotes) and see what comes up.
Posted in ATSC News
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