President’s Memo: Strong Partnerships for a Stronger NextGen Future

Posted on May 20, 2026 in ATSC News

Strong Partnerships for a Stronger NextGen Future

Around the world, momentum behind ATSC 3.0 continues to build, not only through deployments and new consumer services, but also through the expanding recognition that modern broadcasting is becoming an essential platform for communications, connectivity, public safety, and innovation.

Just as THE STANDARD was “going to press,” we learned about fresh test results issued by India’s state-owned public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, demonstrating how ATSC 3.0 can be used as the underlying technology to send broadcast signals to millions of consumer handsets. Key findings from the tests include:

• The ATSC 3.0 Single Frequency Network architecture performed exactly as designed. When a high-power broadcast TV tower was synchronized with multiple low-power transmitters mounted on existing cell tower sites, the network produced strong, measurable SFN gain.
• Spectrum coexistence between the D2M broadcast signal and adjacent cellular frequencies was equally successful with broadcast energy contained cleanly within its allocated band and away from neighboring telecom carriers.
• Voice calls and SMS services remained fully undisrupted throughout the trials. The system gracefully switched from unicast to broadcast and back, demonstrating that users will be able to enjoy broadcast content without missing calls or messages.

Congratulations to Prasar Bharati and the India Institute of Technology Kanpur for this major accomplishment.

As we prepare to gather once again in Washington, D.C. for the ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference (June 2-3 at the NAB Headquarters at Navy Yard), it is clear that we are standing at an important inflection point. This year’s conference reflects both the extraordinary progress we have made and the important work still ahead. Across the United States, broadcasters, policymakers, manufacturers, and technology companies are actively shaping the next phase of the ATSC 3.0 transition.  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering next steps for advancing the transition. Discussions surrounding the eventual completion of an ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 transition, expanding low-cost receiver availability, and accelerating consumer adoption are all critical to ensuring a successful path forward.

At the same time, the innovation ecosystem surrounding ATSC 3.0 continues to expand rapidly. Conference attendees will explore advances in datacasting, emergency communications, Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) technologies, hybrid broadcast-broadband architectures, cloud-native workflows, AI-enabled operations, and converged ATSC 3.0 / 5G Broadcast services. These developments demonstrate that ATSC 3.0 is evolving far beyond a next-generation television standard into a versatile communications platform capable of supporting a wide range of industries and public services.

This conference also provides an opportunity to recognize the individuals whose leadership and technical excellence continue to shape the future of broadcasting. Following tradition, we will unveil the winner of the 2026 Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, which recognizes an individual representative of the membership whose technical and leadership contributions to ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary. It will be a great honor to bestow the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal to Mark Aitken of ONE Media / Sinclair, recognizing the many achievements he has done to champion ATSC technologies throughout the world.

The NextGen Broadcast Conference offers the opportunity to reconnect, exchange ideas, and continue building the future of broadcasting together. The conversations taking place among engineers, broadcasters, policymakers, researchers, and innovators will help define how broadcasting serves viewers, communities, industries, and nations in the years ahead. To Register for the Conference: [CLICK HERE]

International collaboration remains one of the most exciting aspects of this evolution. During the recent KOBA Show (May 12-15) in Seoul, ATSC partnered with the Korea’s Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) and Brazil’s Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital Terrestre (SBTVD) Forum to sign a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement reflects a shared commitment among the three standards development organizations to cooperate in creating a framework that ensures consistency and worldwide promotion of standards related to terrestrial broadcasting.

The MoU recognizes that the continued evolution of broadcasting, depends on successful cooperation among the parties and their respective members to develop standards and recommended practices to advance terrestrial broadcasting worldwide. This collaboration further strengthens the growing international alignment around next-generation broadcast technologies and underscores the importance of global partnerships as countries modernize their media and communications infrastructures.

Equally important is the ongoing technical work taking place within ATSC’s specialist groups and committees. As highlighted in this issue’s Standards Column, our members continue to make significant progress across a wide range of standards development activities.

Thank you for being part of this important journey and for your continued commitment to ATSC and our mission. Looking forward to seeing so many ATSC stakeholders at the ’26 conference!

Madeleine Noland

President, ATSC

Posted in ATSC News