SEOUL, South Korea—Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA) and Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) have announced a two-year collaboration to examine and implement various NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, applications and use cases.

The move aims to facilitate full adoption of NextGen TV at public stations in the United States. The collaboration will leverage RAPA’s leadership as a primary architect of the NextGen TV transition in South Korea, they said.

RAPA and PMVG recently executed a Memorandum of Understanding. The two are working together to establish a 3.0 demonstration at a PMVG-owned low-power television station. The station, W35DZ-D in Algood, Tenn., was donated to PMVG in 2022 by Lowcountry 34 Media, an LPTV owner based out of Beaufort, S.C.

Constructed in collaboration with PMVG member station WCTE of Cookeville, Tenn., W35DZ-D will serve as a platform to showcase the capabilities and benefits of ATSC 3.0 technology. These use cases and applications will be designed to be replicated and expanded to stations throughout the public media system, PMVG said.

RAPA has designated DigiCAP, an ATSC 3.0 solution provider based in Seoul, to provide the necessary technology solutions for the demonstration station. DigiCAP will collaborate with PMVG to set up the Cookeville station and work with PMVG and RAPA to develop the applications and use cases that will run on top of the demonstration station.

PMVG and RAPA will also collaborate on securing deployment capital, equipment and new partnerships. The Cookeville demonstration station is slated to launch in August 2023.

“We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with RAPA, DigiCAP, and WCTE Cookeville,” said PMVG CEO Marc Hand. “This collaboration will showcase the full capabilities and benefits of NextGen TV and help pave the way for new, vital business applications to sustain public media and to enable an exciting range of new services to local communities.”

More information is available on the PMVG website.  

SEOUL—South Korea’s Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA) has planted an ATSC 3.0 flag on Jeju Island as it will open an ATSC 3.0 testing facility that will be open to international broadcasters, telecoms, broadcast equipment vendors and more in 2020.

Thus far, RAPA has taken steps to set up the testbed on the island, earning approval for an experimental license from the Korean Communications Commission to permit ongoing testing; acquired NextGen TV transmitters and other RF equipment for trials; rolled out some single frequency network sites; and secured a variety of 3.0 consumer receivers.

“We want to offer facilities to enable evaluation of future-oriented service models that can be tested and verified,” said Jay Kangok Jeon, RAPA communications manager.

Back in November 2019, Jeon described this testbed as an “ATSC 3.0 Theme Park” and revealed that mobile telecommunications service providers, three TV broadcasters, consumer electronics companies and South Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute have already utilized it.

As the testing facility looks to expand, including the addition of two more SFN transmitter sites, RAPA is now inviting interested parties from around the world to use its facilities.

“If you are broadcaster—from a U.S. stations group, for example—you are welcome,” Jeon said. “If you are a consumer electronics company, even one that’s not a Korean company, that’s fine. If you are a technology supplier not originally from Korea, the facility is open to you … If you are involved in non-commercial R&D and want to test and verify technology, we want you to use this facility.”

According to RAPA, it’s goal is to offer a world class, open testbed that proves out NextGen TV service models, test interoperability of 3.0 equipment, allows for 3.0 researchers to verify their work and helps the overall 3.0 ecosystem with current and future standards.

RAPA is not charging for the use of the facility on Jeju Island, but all interested parties must pay for their own flights as well as arrange for any broadcast equipment required other than the existing 3.0 transmission equipment.

More information is available at RAPA’s website.

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