President’s Memo: Ushering in a New Era in Television

Posted on January 4, 2016 in ATSC News

 The ATSC raises the curtain on 2016 with a sense of great anticipation and excitement. With core Candidate Standards now in place and others in the wings, ATSC 3.0 next-generation television broadcasting is moving to a new phase this year – from concepts and ideas to real standards, products and services.

ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standards that are already approved for the Physical Layer transmission system – as well as other key elements like Internet Protocol transport, video compression, closed captions, electronic service guides and second-screen services – establish a solid foundation for real-world implementations, field tests and demonstrations in the months ahead.

To be sure, there’s still plenty of work to do in 2016 as we finalize the entire ATSC 3.0 suite of standards. Work continues on a few remaining elements of the Management & Protocol and Applications & Presentation layers. The ballot for the audio system Candidate Standard is expected this month followed by security and interactivity later in the year.

Time is of the essence and, thanks to our accelerated schedule, time also is on our side.

In the coming months, we expect that broadcasters will ask the FCC to authorize use of ATSC 3.0 for terrestrial television broadcasting in the United States. While spectrum policy is beyond the purview of the ATSC, the expected commercial rollout of ATSC 3.0 happens to coincide with the channel repack following the spectrum auctions that start this year.

We also understand that other countries, most notably South Korea, are preparing to adopt next-gen broadcasting standards as early as this year. The ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standards already verified in plugfests and early field trials should give regulators, broadcasters and manufacturers the confidence to move ahead sooner than later.

As the New Year dawns, the ATSC board of directors is focused in 2016 on keeping our momentum going, urging the TG3 Technology Group to complete its important work and encouraging stakeholders to demonstrate initial products and services based on 3.0 Candidate Standards.

I want to welcome our two newest members of the board, Chris Homer of PBS and Anne Schelle of Pearl TV, and thank two board members whose terms expired at the end of 2015 for their dedicated service: Ira Goldstone, formerly of Univision, and NAB’s Sam Matheny, formerly of Capitol Broadcasting. I also with to thank the ATSC staff: Standards Development VP Jerry Whitaker for his special efforts in pushing the Candidate Standards documentation and ballots out the door in a timely manner, and Lindsay Shelton-Gross and Daro Bruno for successfully managing the ATSC’s operations and logistics.

2016 promises to be a watershed year for ATSC, and we sincerely appreciate the support, expertise and hard work of the literally hundreds of industry volunteers among our 150-plus member organizations, all working together to define the future of television. I look forward to seeing many of you this month at CES.

Mark Richer, ATSC President

Posted in ATSC News