WASHINGTON— Advanced Television Systems Committee members have elected four industry executives to three-year terms as ATSC Board of Directors, the committee announced today.

Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle was reelected to the ATSC board. Jim DeChant, VP of Technology, News-Press Gazette Broadcasting; Ira Goldstone, Executive Engineer, Fox Television; and Dave Siegler, VP, technical operations, Cox Media Group are newly elected to the board. Their terms begin in January 2019.

Departing the board with the expiration of their terms at the end of 2018 are Brett Jenkins, EVP, CTO at Nexstar Media Group; Richard Friedel, EVP and GM, Engineering and Operations, Fox Networks; Glenn Reitmeier, SVP Technology, Standards & Policy at NBC; and Wayne Luplow, who represented the IEEE on the board. Friedel’s term as chairman also expires at the end of the year.

Current board members who will remain on the board in 2019 include: Lynn Claudy, NAB; Mark Corl, Triveni Digital; Jon Fairhurst, Samsung; Dr. Paul Hearty, Sony Electronics; Dr. Jong Kim, LG Electronics; Brian Markwalter, CTA; Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE; Andy Scott, NCTA — The Internet and Television Association; and Craig Todd, Dolby. Dr. Yian Wu, Communications Research Centre, has been appointed to the 2019 board by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

More information is available on the ATSC website.

For comprehensive coverage on ATSC 3.0, visit TV Technology's ATSC3 silo.

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PALM DESERT, CALIF.—Broadcasters at this week’s HPA Tech Retreat discussed two timely television technical topics: the introduction of the ATSC 3.0 DTV transmission standard and the on-going TV spectrum repack initiative.

The “Broadcasters Panel” included Dave Siegler, vice president of technical operations for the Cox Media Group; Del Parks, senior vice president and chief technology officer for the Sinclair Broadcast Group; Skip Pizzi, vice president of technology education and outreach at the NAB; and Fox Network’s Rich Friedel, who also chairs the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s board of directors.

Matthew Goldman, Ericsson senior vice president of technology at Ericsson and SMPTE president, moderated the Wednesday afternoon session and kicked off the discussion by asking the group to talk about the current status of ATSC 3.0.

“The good news is that the standard has been released and the government has allowed us, on a voluntary basis, to broadcast [ATSC 3.0],” said Friedel. “Things are very exciting in ‘ATSC land.’ It’s really real and you’re going to see it on the air.”

THE ADVANTAGES OF MOVING TO ATSC 3.0

Goldman also quizzed the group about what they considered to be the single best feature of the new standard and if its implementation was related to the on-going TV spectrum repacking operation.

“There are so many features associated with ATSC 3.0, so it’s hard to pick out just one,” said Pizzi. “But in the early term I would say greater transmission efficiency combined with more robustness. It’s going to allow broadcasters to do more in the same amount of spectrum and at the same time provide higher quality.”

“I would say it’s the marriage of broadband and over-the-air broadcasting,” said Friedel. “Consumers will be able to get an internet type of experience combined with television.”

[HPA Tech Retreat Plays to Sold-Out Crowd]

As for the tie-in between ATSC 3.0 and the repack, the panel agreed that while there was no direct connection, the timing of events was such that they could be coordinated in such a way as to provide introduction of 3.0 signals in a market as the channel changing is taking place.

“They’re not really related,” said Siegler. “But the coincidence of the timing is a good opportunity for broadcasters to make changes, including addition of 3.0,” noting that coordination and cooperation between broadcasters would be important elements in making both transitions happen. “It’s really an aggressive plan, but you have to start somewhere.”

MAKING THE TRANSITION HAPPEN

Parks acknowledged the challenges in store for broadcasters in achieving the joint goal of shifting channels and rolling out ATSC 3.0, but observed that there has been a long-standing spirit of technical cooperation among broadcasters, even those who are business competitors.

“The engineering departments in broadcasting have had a traditional role in cooperation,” he said. “Many of us are on the same towers and sometimes there are opportunities to use common antennas.”

He added that as the repack and its relatively short deadline for completion was occupying a lot of engineering time and vendor resources at stations and within station groups, it may be challenging to make the move to ATSC 3.0 at the same time.

“There are a lot of engineering ramifications to the repack,” said Parks. “Sinclair has some 95 stations to repack and this is a really significant effort on-going with the introduction of ATSC 3.0 at the same time. A lot of resources within our group are being expended to run both projects at the same time.

“It is very tricky. The government is taking spectrum away and has sold it, so we’re being repacked in a smaller amount of spectrum and at the same time we’re talking about how to deploy 3.0. The most popular approach put forward is to use channel sharing on one or two ATSC 1.0 sticks. So broadcasters have to cooperate or there will be no service.”

Goldman then asked the panel to comment on new services that ATSC 3.0 would enable for the consumer.

“I’m most excited about interactivity that comes with the broadband connection,” said Siegler. “This allows so much to be done.”

[Redefining Television]

“ATSC 3.0 is based on OFDM, rather than VSB and the associated fragility which 1.0 is based on,” said Parks. “With 3.0 and OFDM, you now have this ability for reception in a car while it’s while traveling at 70, 80, 90 miles-per-hour,” said Parks. The vehicle now is really a big computer and you need to have some way to get broadband to it,” noting ATSC 3.0 would be a big enabler in this regard due to its IP nature.”

“ATSC 3.0 is the first and, so far, the only IP-based TV transmission standard,” said Pizzi. “This could become a real advantage at the end of the day once the transition takes place.”

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.   

This article is based on a presentation given at the 2016 IEEE Broadcast Symposium.

Broadcast television in 2016 still relies on the ATSC 1.0 standard that was state-of-the-art back in the early 2000s, when the industry was beginning its transition to DTV. Make no mistake: DTV was revolutionary, enabling sub-channels, multicasting, high-definition video and other options that improved the viewing experience. However, like many other technologies from that time—the flip phone, the analog VCR, the dial-up modem—DTV built on ATSC 1.0 now seems dated and its capabilities simply maxed out, particularly given the rapid change occurring in the rest of the world.

With UHD you get better clarity

In the modern digital era of smartphones, Wi-Fi, tablets and the Internet of Things, broadcast television based on ATSC 1.0 just can’t keep up. It can’t address consumers’ powerful desire for higher-resolution images, improved image quality, a better sound experience, and enhanced personalization and interactivity, as well as better accessibility and more robust emergency alert capabilities. Nor can it deliver the accurate audience measurement that media companies demand, or allow them to take advantage of the latest innovations in video compression.

ON DEMAND WORLD

The broadband industry already has shifted to “anytime, anywhere” delivery of content to consumers, who easily access video on their phones, tablets and computers. Broadcasters need to change too, or risk going the way of the dinosaur. Understanding this, hundreds of engineers have spent the past few years working on a new broadcast standard with the flexibility, interoperability and extensibility to serve as a robust platform for broadcast services well into the future. They have developed ATSC 3.0, a marriage of over-the-air broadcast and broadband that soon will open the door to a host of new opportunities.

With HDR you get better contrast

Because ATSC 3.0 breaks from the current practice of using MPEG-2 video compression and supports the H.265 HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) Main 10 Profile codec that can pack up to 50 percent more video data into fewer bits, it could allow broadcasters to transmit up to 25 Mbps within their existing 6 MHz of RF spectrum. With this significant jump from the 19.39 Mbps of ATSC 1.0 and 2.0., broadcasters will be free to embrace 4K UHD, HDR, enhanced HD, wide color gamut, scalable coding, and even 3D, should it ever come back around. The new standard also allows them to target small (HD) and large (UHD) screens and to control multiple selectable video components.

Of course, the move to ATSC 3.0 is not just about delivering better image quality and more channels; it’s about customization. Key audio features of the new standard play a major role in customization. While sound itself boasts improved azimuth, elevation and distance perspective, the use of channels and objects (or “elements”) with metadata allows for rendering at the decoder, with sound placed in the most accurate position the viewer’s sound system can support. This adaptability spans both fixed and mobile devices, and broadcasters can actually target different devices, setups and sound environments.

At the same time, broadcasters can use the standard’s support for object-based audio to give viewers the ability to choose and control audio channels. During a NASCAR race, for example, a viewer could select the pit crew radio channel for his or her favorite driver, and also adjust other audio channels to reduce crowd or background noise. In short, the viewer can control both the audio content and mix.

GETTING PERSONAL

ATSC 3.0 also introduces the application environment critical to personalization of digital content delivery and interaction with that content. On their computers and mobile devices, consumers already take for granted interactive abilities, such as voting and shopping, that are simply impossible with broadcast television’s one-way focus. Building on proven World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) technologies that power the internet, ATSC 3.0 enables broadcasters to offer a tailored and dynamic experience, complete with dynamic ad insertion, personalized graphics, and synchronization with second-screen applications. As a result, viewers enjoy the features and options they want, while advertisers enjoy the benefits of targeted ads and content (at a premium, of course), as well as more accurate audience measurement.

With wide color gamut you get richer colors

Improved accessibility functions give broadcasters far more effective tools for serving the hearing and visually impaired communities. For example, ATSC 3.0 supports robust audio and closed-caption transmission, even when video fails. Better overall audio quality yields improved audio intelligibility, and new capabilities such as track-specific volume control further improve the dialog and narrative intelligibility. In addition to closed captions and video descriptions, the standard’s feature set also includes closed signing and dialog enhancement.

ATSC 3.0 also gives broadcasters the chance to become a much more useful source of information for their communities in times of crisis. Using geo-targeted one-to-many emergency alerting capable of surviving a failure of the electric grid or cellular network, broadcast stations can become the source for local emergency information, complete with multilingual and accessible alerts. Rather than put a crawl in the lower third, run warning tones or refer viewers to another source, broadcasters could show weather radars, hurricane wind fields, evacuation routes, shelter locations and other information via rich media. With these capabilities, broadcasters are far better prepared to step up and serve the public during emergencies.

HYBRID DELIVERY

Because ATSC 3.0 supports hybrid broadcast/broadband delivery, broadcasters can develop and implement new models of content delivery. They have the option of delivering content in real time either via linear broadcast or streaming. They can deliver content in non-real time so that it is cached locally and available anytime for viewing. With the ability to use the internet as a back channel to the device, they can establish a complete loop with the consumer. In terms of data delivery, particularly to mobile devices, broadcasters maintain the advantages of highly efficient delivery of bits and the ability to send one signal to millions of consumers. Going forward, the possibilities with respect to data delivery services are tremendous.

Not one of the aforementioned functions or content delivery models is pinned to the ATSC 3.0 standard. The standard was carefully defined as a platform capable of enabling such functions and models, but it is up to broadcasters to decide how best to leverage this powerful platform to improve the television viewing experience, extend their reach, and address their own technical and business requirements.

Why do broadcasters need to make this change? Why do they need ATSC 3.0? And why now? Because the industry already has changed, and it will continue to move ahead—with or without broadcasters. Through changes in technology, business models and consumer behavior, the entertainment landscape has been permanently altered. ATSC 3.0 offers broadcasters a thoughtful path forward, keeping the future open and bright. It gives them a way to unite their conventional broadcast workflow with digital content creation and to be more efficient and effective in monetizing this content across multiple platforms. ATSC 3.0 affords broadcasters the opportunity to remain relevant and become meaningful players in the future of media and entertainment.

As vice president of technical operations for Cox Media Group in Atlanta, Dave Siegler manages Cox's technical operation groups across 14 broadcast TV stations, a cable TV station, 57 radio stations and eight daily newspapers. He's also vice chair of the ATSC board of directors, chair of the ATSC 3.0, personalization interactivity and interactivity implementation team, chair of NAB's television technology committee, and a member of IEEE BTS as well as many other industry bodies.

For more on ATSC 3.0, see TV Technology’sATSC 3.0 silo.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Dave Siegler, senior vice president of operations for Cox Media Group:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
D.S. A mere 18.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
D.S. No doubt—ATSC 3.0, HDR/4K and VR/AR.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
D.S. Extensive booth presence and topics in the various conferences.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
D.S. ATSC 3.0—yes; some form of HDR and VR/AR—a couple years out until workflows are better defined.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
D.S. 3D.