ATTC To Cease Operations

The Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC), which played a major role in the development of U.S. DTV standards will shut down in September.

Located in Alexandria, Va., the facility started up in 1988 and was funded by the TV networks, and broadcast and consumer electronics industry groups. In the early years, the center was the focus of testing for development of the DTV standard.In recent years, the facility focused on testing DTV consumer products, datacasting, enhancements to the ATSC standard and the IBOC digital radio standard.

In January, NAB and MSTV voted to fund a new facility to test enhancements to the DTV standard, bypassing the ATTC, which was already set up for testing, according to Paul Degonia, ATTC's Executive Director.

Dr. Charles Einholf, deputy executive director of the ATTC said the facility was shutting down due to lack of funding.