CHICAGO—Viewers in America’s third-largest television market now have access to NextGen TV with the launch of ATSC 3.0 broadcasts by five Chicago stations.

The launch makes Chicago the latest large market to begin offering NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, broadcasts in recent months. It follows the launch of services in New York in October, the launch of 3.0 broadcasts on additional stations in Miami in December and the announcement in late December that ATSC 3.0 broadcasts would come to Chicago in early 2023. 

Chicago viewers can now access five channels over-the-air for free with Nextgen TV, including: CBS’ WBBM-TV (CBS, channel 2); Fox’s WFLD-TV (Fox, channel 32); NBC’s WMAQ-TV (NBC, channel 5); WGN (WGN, channel 9); and Univision’s WGBO-TV (Univision, channel 66). 

“America’s third-largest TV market is riding the NextGen TV wave, with the addition of new capabilities for broadcasters and viewers.  We’re especially appreciative of our partners, Heartland Video Systems and LTN and their commitment to getting broadcasters on-the-air. The momentum for NextGen TV is building with TCL about to join the roster of TV manufacturers with consumer models, High Dynamic Range coming for key sports contests, and new upgrade accessory receivers for consumers in the wings,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV group of TV broadcasters that coordinated the Chicago launch.

“Chicago will get the most out of live news and sports programming,” continued Schelle. “Live linear television has never been stronger in sports than it is now, and Chicago is home to a bold sports market with six professional teams spanning NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB and NHL organizations. NextGen TV will transform the fan experience with immersive features such as brilliant color and personalized, interactive bonus content.” 

TV Tech has been tracking all the launches of NextGen TV around the country. Our complete coverage can be found here and our complete list of markets where the broadcasts are available is here. 

WASHINGTON D.C.—In the runup to CES 2024, the Pearl TV consortium of U.S. broadcast companies has released new data showing that NextGen TV broadcasts, aka ATSC 3.0, expanded dramatically in 2023 by 22% and announced that it would be demonstrating new 3.0 feature, new devices, and insights into the NextGen TV rollout at CES 2024. 

CES 2024 will be a pivotal one for NextGen TV given concerns that patent disputes could reduce the amount of NextGen TV-capable TV sets and consumer devices.

The group also announced that ATSC 3.0 broadcasts would begin in Chicago in early 2024 before the Super Bowl. 

The group noted that since the NEXTGEN TV rollout commenced in 2020, broadcasters have driven nearly 18% year-over-year growth in U.S. household access and spiking 22% in 2023 boosted by the launch of six top 20 markets. As the rollout and delivery of new features continues, NextGen TV broadcasts are on track to reach 75% of American viewers in January 2024.

Broadcaster collaboration, technical expertise and visionary investment enabled NextGen TV to reach 12 new markets in 2023 and deliver 83 free channels to viewers. Top 20 media markets launched include New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Miami. NextGen TV has changed the landscape of broadcast TV to provide viewers with a future-proof and innovative way to enjoy local news, sports, and entertainment.

“2023 was a key year for major markets in their NextGen TV transition, as these six metros represent significant opportunities for viewers to enjoy the benefits of NextGen TV while also enabling broadcast innovation to flourish and preserve the role of local news and entertainment in American homes,” stated Anne Schelle, Managing Director of Pearl TV. “As 2024 approaches, it’s all about the consumer and more—more interactive features, more accessory options at retail, more broadcaster applications enabled by the RUN3TV platform, and more new markets and second sticks. CES is the perfect place to showcase what’s new and in store for consumers who are excited to be on the NextGen TV wave.”

Multiple NextGen TV features and advantages will be showcased within the Advanced Television Systems Committee booth, #19744 in the Central Hall. In addition to standalone upgrade accessory receivers, new integration options for consumer electronics manufacturers will be shown, including a new platform offered by Sony Semiconductor, Alticast, and Amlogic, a global leader in system-on-chip platforms for the smart TV market. 

Pearl TV describes highlights of demos and technologies on display at the the exhibit  as follows:

• Thrilling Over-the-Air Sports: Every game feels like a front-row seat with favorite sports teams whose games are delivered from local stations. Understanding the overarching popularity of live sports viewing, broadcasters throughout the country are expanding the range of free, over-the-air sports matchups.
• More Accessory Devices at Retail: While millions of NEXTGEN TV sets will be sold in the coming year, a new crop of NEXTGEN TV upgrade accessory receivers that are both certified to carry the NEXTGEN TV logo and also verified for content security are now available to consumers – with more options on the horizon in 2024.  A wide variety of affordable devices enable easy upgrades of existing TV sets.
• Better Picture, Better Sound: In addition to an immersive audio demonstration, the outstanding picture quality delivered by HDR through NEXTGEN TV will be highlighted as an ideal way to add color depth and brightness to broadcast images.
• Broadcast Internet Protocol (IP): Another benefit for NEXTGEN TV viewers is the availability of more viewing options through IP connections, enabling broadcasters to add services that aren’t able to transition due to spectrum constraints and opening the door to more viewing choices with the same innovative features of NEXTGEN TV.

Also on display during CES, James Xie, senior vice president of corporate business strategy at Amlogic said that “Amlogic has joined forces with Sony and Alticast to offer a high-performance reference design solution to enable faster time-to-market for ATSC 1.0/3.0 smart TVs. This turnkey solution is integrated with Sony Semiconductor’s market leading tuner/demodulator chips, as well as Alticast’s ATSC 1.0/3.0 software stack that has been validated through industry conformance testing. This collaboration ensures a seamless and high-performance foundation for next-generation smart TVs.”

In addition, the Pearl Group reported that more large markets are coming online with 3.0 broadcasts. 

“The Chicago market—a top three media market in the U.S.—will be one of the first NextGen TV launches in 2024, bringing the free service to approximately 3.6 million television households according to industry rankings, and just in time for Super Bowl LVIII, especially as live linear television has never been stronger in sports,” continued Schelle. “Unique in 2023 was the rise of second sticks in markets that have previously launched, like New York, Minneapolis, and Miami, underscoring the demand for NextGen TV from viewers, and embrace by broadcasters. These second sticks enable more stations in those markets to deliver NextGen TV services and we’ll continue to see this in 2024, when San Antonio and others launch.”

As broadcasters continue to deploy ATSC 3.0, the current reach of 70% was achieved with the launch of NextGen TV in New York earlier this month with the WNET Group. That figure will jump to 75% with the anticipated launch of 3.0 in the nation’s third largest market, Chicago in early 2024.

Details of the Chicago launch are sketchy (currently WRME-LD, aka “Jewelry Television” is listed as the only 3.0 station in the windy city, according to rabbitears.info), but the prediction was made by Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, the consortium of broadcasters and manufacturers promoting NextGen TV, who told TV Tech last week that Chicago will launch in January. 

With the launch in New York, the number of markets deploying 3.0 exceeds 70, with signals now reaching 70% of U.S. households, according to the ATSC. As for the TV sets, Pearl TV estimates that 10 million devices will have been shipped by the end of 2023, since hitting the market in 2020.

And although that vast majority of these devices are TV sets, Pearl is honing in on  auxiliary devices (boxes or “dongles”) that allow viewers to access 3.0 via the HDMI port on their set. 

Among the newest products is the NextGen TV box from ADTH, the first on the market certified to carry the NextGen TV logo. The box—whose price tag has been cut from $120 to $99 and began shipping in late August—has been restocked after the company sold out its initial supply, according to ADTH.

Well-known antenna manufacturer Channel Master is teaming up with Taiwanese TV box manufacturer Zinwell to bundle a 3.0 NextGen TV certified box with an OTA antenna, Schelle added. The bundle will run between $160-180 according to Dave Arland, Pearl TV spokesman. 

“Channel Master has been hunting for a set top solution,” Schelle said. “Zinwell is well known, they’re a big white label provider and produce all the boxes for Comcast.”

A current complaint among 3.0 viewers is the issue of security with many noting that current 3.0 channels are encrypted, preventing them from recording programs. Schelle pointed to the Zapperbox which has been on sale for more than a year and is scheduled to achieve NextGen TV certification by the end of the year. 

Updated Zapperboxes now include a memory card slot that will allow viewers to record directly onto the card but security protocols in place will prevent them from sharing video beyond what can be played via the memory cards.  

On the current box, “you could record ATSC 1.0, but the hurdle was how do we get security verified so the security community is comfortable… that whatever is recorded stays on that box—in the end a memory device so they're tied to each other,” Arland added.

Whether the DVR capability on the Zapperbox is memory card-based is beside the point; that functionality can be either via a memory card or embedded in the box. The important thing, according to Arland, is that the industry take the necessary precautions to satisfy broadcasters’ and content owners’ concerns over security issues. 

“The security authority has said broadcasters are not permitted to restrict recordings of simulcast content,” he said. “So it has to be able to be recorded so long as it's secure. And nobody's trying to prevent recording… what we're trying to do is prevent piracy.”

With most basic streaming devices from Roku and Amazon featuring an entry point of around $35, that “sweet spot” for retail would seem to be a goal for 3.0 advocates. However, Schelle added that manufacturers of such devices are now working on adding capabilities for viewers to plug (or “daisy chain”) their 3.0 devices into existing popular streaming dongles.

“There are plans to do that,” Shelle predicted, adding that security issues must be resolved first. However, she hinted that further developments on that front could be announced by CES 2024.

“Those players [i.e. Roku and Amazon’s FireStick] are OS’s [operating systems],” Schelle said. “And OS’s are working on NextGen TV.” 

With LG’s recent announcement that it was suspending including support for 3.0 in its 2024 TV sets due to a patent dispute, concerns were raised about how this would impact the future of the standard and whether fellow manufacturers Samsung, Sony and Hisense would follow suit. 

Such concerns are overblown, according to Pearl TV. 

“[The LG issue] is ‘a bump in the road,'” Schelle said. “These kinds of patent disputes happen all day. And it's just this one is so highly visible because there's only a handful of manufacturers.”

LG recently lost a court involving a patent dispute with Constellation Designs, which is not a member of the ATSC or its patent pool. If Constellation had been, it would fallen under the so-called FRAND terms (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms. Constellation's infringement suit against LG resulted in a claimed $6.75 per unit royalty rate for its one patent.  

In comments filed with the FCC announcing its decision, the company “strongly” recommended that the commission examine the ATSC patent process in light of the fact that companies that hold ATSC patents and don’t follow the FRAND approach to patents can have a “chilling” impact for companies bringing “advanced technologies” like NextGen TV to market.

Despite LG’s temporary exit from the market, another major TV manufacturer, TCL, announced several months ago that it joined the ATSC 3.0 MPEG-LA. Could we see a fifth set manufacturer enter the 3.0 market in 2024? Stay tuned. 

(Editor's note: This article was updated Nov. 1)

MCCOOK, Ill.—Production Resource Group has opened a new digital studio in the McCook area of Chicago, which can be used to create pre-recorded or live content like commercial shoots, corporate presentations and musical events, all while adhering to COVID guidelines.

This is the latest digital studio from PRG, which has a network of similar spaces in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nashville, New York and Orlando.

The Chicago digital studio is more than 3,000 square feet with a 45x33-foot stage. It offers PRG proprietary services, including PRG Enhanced Environments, which is comprised of LED screens to create natural-looking backgrounds and lighting reflections on the set; Ncam for in-camera previsualization and real-time camera tracking; and a 35LIVE! mulicamera production technology.

The studio space also has flexible LED ceiling panels, floors and walls to accommodate large set pieces. Close to PRG’s Chicago camera prep facility, PRG can provide cameras, lenses and other services to the space.

“We believe PRG’s studio, with its enhanced environment capabilities is a great resource for Chicago’s advertising industry as they explore new ways to shoot ads quickly and cost effectively,” said Eric Hansen, vice president, Sales, for PRG.

For more information, visit www.prg.com/digitalstudios-chi.  

BALTIMORE—While Sinclair signaled Wednesday (Feb. 21) that it will be divesting ownership in WPIX-TV New York and WGN-TV Chicago to get under the FCC's 39 percent ownership cap, it could still be keeping its hand in the number one and number three markets, respectively, where it does not currently own any stations.

Sinclair said it already has a purchase agreement for both stations and both those agreements include services agreements, in which Sinclair could provide some services to the new owner.

The amended deal filed with the FCC includes footnotes on the sales of both WGN and WPIX to the effect that: “The purchase agreement provides that upon closing of the sale of this station, Sinclair will enter into an option and master services agreement [the WGN footnote simply says 'services agreement' or 'agreements,' plural] with the buyer of this station [WPIX], copies of which will be filed as part of the assignment application for such station.”

[FCC IG Agreed to Investigate Pai Handling of Sinclair-Tribune]

One analyst talking on background said a sale of both stations to Cunningham, which already owns a bunch of stations with various management agreements with Sinclair, is a definite possibility.

The FCC as part of its media deregulation efforts scrapped the previous Democratic FCC's advisory on joint agreements, which warned that the FCC viewed them essentially as a way to skirt FCC ownership rules.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication B&C.