President’s Memo: Flipping the Switch!

Posted on November 9, 2022 in ATSC News

October 2022 has drawn to a close, and I am sure I’m not the only one taking a deep breath from the flurry of industry activity that has occurred.  It really does feel like someone flipped the switch – and not just at a transmitter broadcasting ATSC 3.0!

October featured TV of Tomorrow in San Francisco, NAB New York, and the SMPTE Media Technology Summit in Hollywood in rapid succession, each of which offered many opportunities for “show and tell” of the many facets of television and broadcasting.

NAB New York was a big success by all accounts. Attendance was strong and the show floor was bustling. There was a sense of exuberance as colleagues reconnected and shared their progress since the last time NAB New York was held face-to-face in 2019.

Monetization of ATSC 3.0 and NextGen TV services took center stage at ATSC’s busy NAB New York booth, displaying the latest in the U.S. deployment of NextGen TV and featuring demonstrations from Pearl TV, Gaian Solutions, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Visitors to the ATSC booth were treated to Pearl TV’s latest developments for the Run3TV application framework. The demonstration underscored the concurrent announcement about the addition of digital video advertising technology to the Run3TV platform. Gaian showcased the latest updates to the Mobius Marketplace NextGen TV monetization platform, which garnered “Product of the Year”  recognition at the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) demonstrated solutions to enable broadcasters to transform their businesses with datacasting opportunities. I teamed up with Fincons Group’s Francesco Moretti on the Tech Chat stage to explore how successful interactive television launches in Europe can guide U.S. broadcasters like Nexstar, which is launching a pilot interactive app on NextGen TV broadcasts.

To compliment the NAB New York show, ATSC members provided updates via the ATSC Fall 2022 Progress Report . Learn about Pearl TV’s Fasttrack Program for accessory receivers, HPE’s work on converging 5G and ATSC 3.0, and BitRouter’s Zapperbox which is now out of beta phase, to name a few. Surf all the industry progress by solution category from advanced emergency messaging to mobility to deployments and more.

Looking ahead, the upcoming December ATSC meetings hosted by Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco will bring the Board of Directors, Technology Group 3 (TG3), and Specialist Group (SG) members together to continue the work of developing the ATSC 3.0 platform. In addition to honing the ATSC 3.0 standards, TG3 and its SGs are also developing new features, including a deeper study of Portrait Mode vide and ongoing work on Broadcast Core Network, Inter-tower Communications Network, VVC, and CMAF. Look to THE STANDARD to keep track of documents as they’re completed month to month. Thanks to Dolby for bringing both work and fun to the meetings – ATSC members will be treated to a special movie screening at the Ray Dolby Theater!

CES 2023 is expected to be as exciting as ever, and your destination for NextGen TV will be the ATSC booth in Central Hall (located behind Samsung this year), in booth #17783.  We are anticipating some major announcements, including yet more major market launches of ATSC 3.0 in the U.S.

Of course, none of our progress would be possible without the robust involvement of our growing membership and the many hundreds of volunteers who help to create the very standards we promote.  It’s a credit to all of our ATSC members – from the smallest to the largest – that we are able to help build a robust and growing television broadcast marketplace based on the most advanced broadcast and broadband standards available worldwide.  Membership in ATSC might even be the best gift you could give your company and yourself.

As your holiday season begins, we hope that you take some time to relax and enjoy friends and family. We look  forward to charting an even stronger year ahead together!

Posted in ATSC News