WILMINGTON, N.C.—Capitol Broadcasting Company recently worked with Broadcast Electronics, part of the Elenos Group, to launch ATSC 3.0 at W30ER-LD, the broadcaster’s low-power digital station here.

The project is rooted in the 2019 installation of a Broadcast Electronics ATSC 1.0  Genesis TV-1k2 transmitter at WARZ-CD in Smithfield, N.C, which is part of the Raleigh-Durham market. BE engineer Jeff Clampitt worked with WRAL’s engineering team, including director of engineering and operations at CBC/WRAL Pete Sockett, Matt Brandes, Mike Mory and Dan Lane on planning, commissioning and training to support the conversion to 3.0. 

“Capitol Broadcasting has been at the forefront of innovation of NextGen TV with ATSC 3.0 and extending this to our station in Wilmington was the next logical step,” said Sockett. “We currently carry WILM’s local programming as well as MeTV and H&I TV on the new ATSC 3.0 channel and intend to take full advantage of NextGen capabilities, including datacasting and mobility.”

“The BE transmitter has been extremely reliable since turn on, and the transition to ATSC 3.0 was smooth and simple," he continued. "We couldn’t be more pleased.”

All BE television transmitters feature Pro TV inside technology providing an advanced, software-defined exciter that is future-proof. Support for IP content distribution with 4x IP Gb ports is standard, the company said.

BE’s Opti Power advanced precorrection and crest factor reduction software yield increased MER performance and efficiency that works in concert with next-generation high efficiency Doherty amplifier technology to reduce energy consumption and lower operation costs, it said.

“We are delighted to partner with Capitol Broadcasting to continue their NextGen TV leadership and thank them for trusting Broadcast Electronics to help deliver their content to the Wilmington area,” said Rich Redmond, president and COO of Broadcast Electronics.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

QUINCY, Ill.—Elenos Group’s Broadcast Electronics subsidiary has big plans for ATSC 3.0 in small- and medium-sized markets.

Elenos Group has entered into an agreement with DigiCAP to make available the company’s all-in-one broadcast gateway, which performs eight virtualized ATSC 3.0 headend functions on a commercial off-the-shelf server, through Broadcast Electronics.

Newly appointed Broadcast Electronics COO Perry Priestly views this market segment as being underserved and aims to help these stations implement 3.0 inexpensively using the DigiCAP gateway, the company said.

The virtualized services available via the gateway can be turned on as needed, which Priestly sees as a way for smaller stations to launch 3.0 at a low cost and activate other services in the future as Next Gen TV business models evolve and new revenue opportunities emerge, the company said.

Broadcast Electronics transmitter-translators-exciter tech offers the Pro Television supercomputer, also known as PTV inside, which makes converting ATSC 1.0 operations to 3.0 quick and easy. No hardware changes are required, the company said.

The feature will make it easy for stations to test 3.0 and more quickly initiate Next Gen TV service by offering stations a way to start the FCC’s five-year countdown clock to discontinuing 1.0 service.

More information is available on the Broadcast Electronics website.

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

QUINCY, Ill.—Broadcast Electronics and its owner Elenos Group have brought on some new team members.

Earlier this month Elenos, which had acquired BE in late 2017, announced that itwould make BE its “face” in North and South America.

Nautel alum Chuck Kelly has been named vice president of the Elenos Group’s television division and will guide BE’s growth into the TV market. Kelly worked for BE prior to Nautel, so this is a return engagement for him.

Another Nautel alum signing on is former Nautel president/CEO Peter Conlon. He is set to be an advisor to Elenos Group CEO Leonardo Busi.

The company also tapped Ricardo Jimenez to serve as vice president of sales for Latin America. Its U.S. sales team now consists of John Lackness, west regional sales manager for Broadcast Electronics; Frank Grundstein, east regional sales manager; and Joe Myers, central regional sales manager and Canadian sales manager.

Elenos Group brands include Elenos, BE, Itelco and ProTelevision.

In the announcement, Busi said, “Our recent developments in our Itelco line of TV transmitters is now industry leading and we continue to work on the next generation of both our BE and Elenos lines of FM and AM transmitters.”