Someone You Should Know : Kang-ok “Jay” Jeon of Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA)

Posted on October 11, 2022 in ATSC News

Jay first got involved in ATSC 3.0 when he joined a Standards working group in 2015 to review and select the most appropriate next-generation digital terrestrial broadcasting standard for UHD transmission service in Korea.

“My role was to examine features and benefits of ATSC 3.0 as compared to DVB-T2, to collect test data to share with the group to support decisions, and to communicate and interact with stakeholders in Korea and related institutions in the U.S.  A Korean delegation visited the U.S. and exchanged information with ATSC, NAB, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Pearl TV, CTA, and the FCC in the winter of 2015, a few months before Korea officially adopted ATSC 3.0.

Jay says, historically, RAPA took a leadership role to promote ATSC 3.0 in many ways.

“RAPA has been coordinating with ATSC and the NAB with the purpose of promotion and global deployment of ATSC 3.0 for many years. From 2016 to 2018, RAPA undertook a promotional project targeting the 2018 Olympics to demonstrate the world’s first commercial terrestrial 4K UHD broadcasting service and ran a UHD mobile broadcast shuttle around the Olympic Park.”

Since then, Jay says RAPA has run international collaboration projects with the Dominican Republic (2018), Bangladesh (2019), America’s News Press and Gazette (2020), America’s Sinclair Broadcast Group and Syncom Media Group (2021), and India’s Saankhya Labs (2022) to support field trials to develop/demonstrate various services using ATSC 3.0.

Beginning in 2020, RAPA initiated a new project called JEJU PILOT to test and verify new applications with ATSC 3.0 using an ATSC 3.0 testbed in Jeju Island in the southern part of Korea. Jay says he’s proud that the ATSC 3.0 standard is operational, and that the technology is out there, but he says we’re not done yet.

“We need to develop new applications to optimize all the features about ATSC 3.0 and incentivize broadcasters to switch on ATSC 3.0 transmission by developing business models to suggest monetization,” Jay says. “I am proud of that I am highly engaged with the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem to develop and verify new applications through the JEJU PILOT activities.”

Jay says RAPA is also taking an important role to bridge among industry stakeholders by funding projects which provide market needs and navigate paths to develop appropriate technologies. He says RAPA contributes public awareness of ATSC 3.0 benefits by trial services and sharing benefits with government members, and that RAPA plays a critical role in global deployment by initiating international collaboration with those who are interested in working together to complete DTV transformation.

When it comes to the most impressive features of ATSC 3.0, a couple come to mind for Jay:

Firstly, the ability of ATSC 3.0 to connect to the Internet and one-to-many delivery PLPs enabling data-centric applications in such areas as distance learning, public safety, emergency alerting, advanced GPS positioning, digital signage, connected car/autonomous vehicle, and many others that can create new businesses.

And secondly, Jay says “ATSC 3.0 is the most reliable, flexible, efficient tool to deliver content and data using the radiofrequency spectrum.”

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After graduating from High school in Korea, Jay studied at York University, Ontario, Canada and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administrative studies, with a specialized honor in marketing.  After graduation, Jay worked at a banking institution as an account manager for three years while in Canada. Jay says he enjoyed working in a bank and passed the CFA level II exam, but then he joined RAPA and was happy to serve the radiofrequency communications and broadcasting communities in Korea.

Jay has worked in international affairs with countries in Asia, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe on behalf of the Korean government. He says he is proud to represent the Korean government for the public interest.

Jay was married to Ahram Lee in 2017 and they were blessed with twin babies, a daughter and a son. Jay says they spend the full day babysitting now, but they used to spend most of their time traveling to many places both inside Korea and overseas.

Posted in ATSC News