LAS VEGAS, Nev.—NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt laid out broadcasters’ policy agenda for the 119th Congress during a town hall at the NAB Show on Tuesday, April 8, with modernizing broadcast ownership rules topping a list of six items that also included NextGen TV.

“Broadcasters play a vital role in their communities, from reporting on dangerous weather events to covering local sports and news, and it is truly an honor to advocate on behalf of local stations in Washington,” said NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “In the 119th Congress we are fighting for policies that allow local stations to continue this vital work, from calling on the FCC to modernize ownership regulations to keeping AM radio in cars to keep Americans safe.”

Speaking to a member audience at NAB Show, LeGeyt also announced the launch of a new NAB website that broadcasters can use to inform their advocacy efforts and guide conversations with policymakers.

The website outlines six key policy priorities:

• Modernizing Antiquated Broadcast Ownership Rules to Let Stations Compete
• Keeping AM Radio in Cars to Ensure Public Safety
• Supporting NEXTGEN TV to Protect our Critical Infrastructure
• Preventing Harmful Changes to Existing Advertising Tax Deductibility
• Opposing a New Performance Tax on Local Radio
• Protecting Broadcasters’ Investment in Local Content

Following a successful State Leadership Conference in March, where broadcasters from all 50 states met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act is supported by a filibuster-proof majority of the Senate and over 140 cosponsors in the House. In addition, NAB launched a campaign urging the FCC to modernize outdated broadcast ownership regulations.

Visit nab.org/policypriorities to learn more about the NAB's views on critical issues impacting local stations.

It’s amazing what can happen in just a few years. Not too long ago, ATSC 3.0 proponents and skeptics would go round and round arguing for and against NextGen TV.

But since LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony blazed the 3.0 consumer trail at CES 2020 with their introduction of the first NextGen TVs, the naysayers have had progressively weaker arguments as broadcasters and CE makers alike achieved a succession of milestones on the way to a successor TV standard. Without question, there have been some setbacks along the way, but the direction and momentum are clear.

Perhaps the last bastion for skeptics was datacasting. ATSC 1.0 supported datacasting, but it never lived up to its commercial potential. “Why should it be any different with 3.0?” they would ask.

But as the saying goes, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and with several important datacasting developments at the 2024 NAB Show, reported in last month’s column, it seems 3.0 proponents and skeptics alike are about to get a big spoonful and determine for themselves whether delivery of IP packets via broadcast for third-parties eager to find affordable alternatives to unicast wireless networks is a viable 3.0 business.

Presuming initial rollouts are successful, it’s likely more broadcasters will wish to jump on board, making some of their bandwidth available for datacasting to capture their own slices of the pie.

The problem at the moment is the lighthouse model used for the voluntary transition to NextGen TV leaves only a fraction of the bandwidth potentially available in markets in play for resale to data customers. 

In most markets, broadcasters share single sticks and 6MHz channel assignments to deliver over-the-air NextGen TV. They’ve reshuffled the deck on the remaining towers and assignments to maintain their DTV main channels and digital sub-channels.

The hope is that over time, consumers will replace their existing legacy DTV sets with NextGen TVs, making it possible to reshuffle available TV spectrum periodically, devoting more spectrum to 3.0 service and less to 1.0. Eventually, local broadcasters would end up sharing a tower and 6MHz channel assignment in their markets to maintain legacy DTV service—a nightlight—until consumers replaced the last dribs and drabs of ATSC 1.0 sets in their homes.

The problem is what to do about the Diginets. They require bandwidth. While it’s true broadcasters are only obligated to maintain their primary channel, it’s unimaginable that they would be willing to forego Diginet revenue by shutting them off simply on the hope of 3.0. Not only would station revenue suffer, but it’s highly likely many viewers would be miffed—some to the point of complaining to their representatives and the commission.

However, I can only wonder if 3.0 datacasting revenue potential will prove to be so great that someday broadcasters themselves elect to pay for ATSC 3.0-to-1.0 converters for dwindling DTV viewers. That way broadcasters can complete the transition, maintain their OTA main channels and Diginets for first-gen DTV viewers and maximize the earning potential of their channel assignments by allocating a substantial portion of available bandwidth to meet the datacasting demands of a new group of clients.

LAS VEGAS—America’s Emergency Network, LLC has launched an Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) network using ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV. With the introduction of AEN, authorized alert originators such as the National Weather Service, ShakeAlert and local emergency managers will be able to send actionable, geo-targeted rich-media messages even when power, cellular and internet fail. 

AEN Alert is a rich-media-capable emergency notification system that rapidly delivers secure, emergency messages to residents, schools, hospitals, and commercial and industrial facilities, providing timely warnings before disaster strikes. These alerts will deliver actionable information, such as evacuation routes, flood maps, and video snippets from authorized and trusted originators (such as sheriffs and emergency managers). AEN will help save lives and reduce injuries by giving people the information they need to take protective action. 

AEN marries ATSC 3.0 to the existing Alert FM, which uses the Radio Data System in 12 states. (RDS delivers call letters, song and title information to car radios.) Alert FM serves an extensive network of local alert originators, which is their current customer base, and distributes through FM radio stations. Alert FM is licensed by USGS to deliver to deliver ShakeAlert earthquake warnings on the West Coast in five seconds or less. The integrated FM/ATSC 3.0 system will provide multiple redundant backup transmitters connected by satellite to provide secure transmission of a single point-to-multipoint messaging, layered by geo-targeted groupings. 

“We are excited to leverage proven technology to deploy AEN Alert to deliver actionable emergency messages across the U.S.,” says John Lawson, co-founder and president of AEN, LLC. “As a long-time advocate of geo-targeted, rich-media emergency notifications for tornados, fires, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes, AEN Alert will be a tremendous benefit for increasing public safety in all our communities.” (Through his consulting firm, Lawson also serves as executive director of the AWARN Alliance, a coalition that promotes and advocates for the use of NextGen TV for AEI, the industry term for the range of ATSC 3.0-enabled emergency messaging from alerts to on-going information.) 

Protecting California citizens during emergency situations can be enhanced with rich-media alert solutions leveraging NextGen TV, says Joe Berry, president/CEO of the California Broadcasters Association. "The recent advanced alerting roundtable in Santa Barbara has provided a path for NextGen TV to enhance broadcasters’ vital role in communicating emergency alerts throughout California and across the U.S.," he said. 

“AEN has provided valuable insight into the emergency notification delivery industry,” adds Alex Day, business development director for Tolka TV, a producer of cable, satellite, terrestrial and IP media related applications, which recently announced a partnership with Atlanta DTV to develop ATSC 3.0 products. “We are pleased to be co-operating in creating the software and hardware technology required to deliver rich-media and actionable emergency alerts. 

"Tolka will be the signaling server and middleware partner, providing the link between the AEN Alert service and broadcasters to insert the signals. We also will be developing supporting apps," he continued. "Additionally, we will work together with AEN to deliver mobile, battery-operated devices that will operate even when power, cell, and internet fail.” 

At the NAB Show, Tolka will be demonstrating the AEN Alert hybrid RDS and ATSC 3.0 receiver dongle at the Altanta DTH booth (W7903) in the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall. 

In the coming months, AEN will launch several pilots across the U.S. and build out the AEN product line. Besides enabling AEI with NextGen TV and selling alert receiver devices, AEN is developing two other revenue streams: 

• AEN TV: C-SPAN- type linear, reality programming from emergency managers for distribution over NextGen TV and streaming – ad supported.
• AEN Archive: library of licensed emergency manager-generated content – fee-based.

At the NAB Show and in days after, AEN says it will be meeting with potential strategic partners in the broadcasting, infrastructure, and receiver industries. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The FCC has filed a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that would change multicasting rules in ways that it would be easier to launch NextGen TV services on a host station. 

“We propose changes to our Next Gen TV rules designed to preserve over-the-air (OTA) television viewers’ access to the widest possible range of programming while also supporting television broadcasters’ transition to the next generation of broadcast digital television (DTV) technology,” the FCC wrote. “In response to a Petition filed by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB),  we propose to allow Next Gen TV stations  to include within their license certain of their non-primary video programming streams (multicast streams)  that are aired in a different service on `host' stations  during a transitional period, using the same licensing framework, and to a large extent the same regulatory regime, established for the simulcast of primary video programming streams on `host’ station facilities.”

The change would notably simplify the current process whereby stations have to get approval from the FCC on a case by case basis if they want to adopt the widely used tactic of having a “host station” in a market carry the ATSC 3.0 signals while continuing to offer ATSC 1.0 signals on their own station. 

“Given that Next Gen TV stations must, without any additional allocation of spectrum, prioritize serving ATSC 1.0 viewers while voluntarily transitioning to ATSC 3.0, we seek to take actions that will minimize viewer disruption as much as possible,” the FCC said. “Specifically, this FNPRM seeks to facilitate and encourage partnerships that will minimize potential disruptions by permitting stations in a market to work together to preserve viewers’ access to ATSC 1.0-formatted programming during the transition.  We intend to facilitate broadcasters’ voluntary transition to 3.0, which can provide consumers with the benefit of new and innovative services, while protecting consumers who continue to rely on 1.0 equipment.”

The FCC also noted that the current “case-by-case process is resource-intensive for both the Commission and broadcasters, and under this approach it is difficult for both Commission staff and potential viewers to track where streams are being hosted.”

The NAB proposed changing the rules in November of 2020 and “the Media Bureau placed the Petition on Public Notice and received comments and reply comments from 12 parties, including 10 broadcast station groups and associations (including NAB) and two MVPD associations,” the FCC wrote. “All of the broadcast station groups and associations support the Petition’s proposals. The two MVPD associations that commented generally do not oppose a rulemaking, but express particular concerns about the effect on the local television marketplaces of permitting Next Gen TV stations to license multicast streams that are not being simulcast on host stations and, in particular, of permitting those stations to license such multicast streams on multiple hosts.”

The full FCC notice of proposed rulemaking is available here. 

SEOUL, South Korea—DigiCAP Co. announced new interoperability for DigiCaster DigiCAP’s virtualized ATSC 3.0 broadcast gateway. The improvements enable ATSC 3.0 signals to be integrated with AWS Elemental Media Services and AWS Elemental Live. 

The upgrades will help accelerate ATSC 3.0 station deployments and open up OTT program distribution opportunities, the company said. 

The new interoperability enables broadcasters to build a single cloud instance using the DigiCaster ATSC 3.0 broadcast gateway coupled with virtual encoder and transport services from AWS Elemental Media Services and AWS Elemental Live. 

This combination can be used to create a cloud based STL (studio to transmitter link) that could be deployed using a single instance on AWS Marketplace. This would make it possible to put an entire ATSC 3.0 station STL on the air using a single software download and typing in the IP address for the station’s transmitter exciter input, greatly simplifying and speeding up ATSC 3.0 station launches. 

In terms of OTT distribution, the ATSC 3.0 roadmap includes interactive and personalized distribution capabilities which are a natural fit for a streaming environment. The new interoperability that allows ATSC 3.0 signals to enter a virtualized cloud workspace, moves stations towards that capability and opens up opportunities for innovation in the OTT space. 

Joonyoung Park, vice president and fellow at DigiCAP noted that “we are very excited to provide broadcasters the opportunity to use a single cloud instance to accelerate the ATSC 3.0 adoption process and open the doors for ATSC 3.0 OTT innovation.”  

The DigiCaster post on AWS Marketplace is available here. 

SOUTHWICK, Mass.—Edge Networks, creator of the Evoca ATSC 3.0-based OTA pay-TV service, is on the air in Boise, Idaho, the first of its planned markets, with a pair of Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark 1.5kW E-Compact air-cooled UHF transmitters for its KCBB-LD and KSBE-LD low power stations, Comark has announced.

The pay-TV provider ordered the air-cooled EC702HP-BB ATSC 3.0-enabled transmitter systems in March 2019 following a successful demonstration of the technology and on-air trials. Comark Digital Services (CDS), which is focused on helping broadcasters upgrade their headend solutions for ATSC 1.0 and their migration to ATSC 3.0, assembled best-of-breed solutions and offered its system expertise to help Edge Networks with the deployment.

“Partnering with CDS to implement ATSC 3.0 in Boise allows us to deliver an uninterrupted signal with superior picture quality directly to our subscribers,” said Edge Networks President and CEO Todd Achilles. 

The ATSC 3.0 system includes:

• SmartGate ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Gateway in a 1+1 redundant configuration; 
• MediaCast ROUTE/MMTP server in a 1+1 redundant configuration; 
• EdgeProbe Advanced ATSC 3.0 DTV transmitter monitor equipped with quad inputs; 
• Referee3 portable field receiver and RF signal analyzer; 
• VideoFlow IP-STL solution for reliable content delivery over an IP network connecting Edge; Networks’ network operations center to the broadcast tower in Boise; and 
• DASDEC-IR Intelligent Remote EAS receiver for the Boise DMA. 

“Our CDS group was formed specifically to help customers with these types of complex projects.  CDS has the high-level view of ATSC 3.0 technologies and we lined up the right partners to help get our customers on-air, successfully,” says Joe Turbolski, Comark vice president of Sales and Marketing.

“Our team and our partners worked very closely with the staff at Edge Networks to provide exactly the right solution, and we are extremely pleased to be a major contributor to this NextGen TV deployment,” he said.

More information is available on the Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark website.

MILAN, Italy—As the world of sports broadcasting is evolving, international system integration consultancy Fincons Group has released a new whitepaper that details the new technology that is essential to keep up and how exactly it can be properly utilized.

“Next Gen Technologies Now at Bat: Machine Learning, AI and Next Gen TV Drive the Sports Entertainment Experience Revolution” provides an insight into how technology like machine learning and next-generation TV standards like ATSC 3.0 and HbbTV will usher in a new era of personalization and interactivity—put on the fast track due to the coronavirus pandemic that is leaving sports broadcasts without one of their staples, live fans.

These new technologies will enable sports content owners to leverage data in new ways, including for targeted, personalized advertising and monetization with access to near real-time data analysis and prediction capabilities that can be applied to both the sporting action and audience preference and behavior.

The white paper focuses on four key areas: data analytics, gamification, smart watching and targeted advertising and ecommerce.

“It is critical for this forward thinking industry to remain constantly poised toward the future by harnessing these new technologies and introducing an expanded Sport Supply Chain with production-ready software frameworks to accelerate transformation ahead of competitors,” Fincons said.

The “Next Gen Technologies Now at Bat: Machine Learning, AI and Next Gen TV Drive the Sports Entertainment Experience Revolution” is available for free download here. 

LAS VEGAS—With 2020 set to be a big year for ATSC 3.0, Sinclair Broadcast is using the CES platform to highlight the new standard, announcing that it will provide live demonstrations of Next Gen TV on the CES show floor.

These demos will use signals from KSNV TV, Las Vegas’ local NBC affiliate. The station has switched its back-up transmission to ATSC 3.0.

Attendees will be able to see multiple examples of what the Next Gen TV standard can do at different locations. At the ATSC booth (11329, Central Hall), the signals will be used for a demo of a consumer OTA and OTT converged application that Sinclair says makes switching between Next Gen TV and OTT channels “effortless.”

At both the Samsung (15006, Central Hall) and SK Telecom (13529, Central Hall) booths, KSNV signals will showcase automotive applications, multiple angle sports coverage, client-side ad insertion and news applications.

Then, the Saankhya Labs suite at the Wynn Hotel will use ATSC 3.0 signals to showcase the flexibility of its direct-to-mobile device technology, which will feature three different middleware stacks to drive a tablet, mobile phone, a Saankhya dongle and DigiCap Home Gateway device.

Next Gen TV is poised to be one of the hottest topics at CES 2020, with the first batch of consumer related products set to be shown, including ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs by LG.

CES 2020 takes place from Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas.

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

LAS VEGAS—LG Electronics today announced it will offer six premium OLED TV models supporting ATSC 3.0 in 2020, ranging in size from 55 to 88 inches.

The announcement, made the day before the official opening of CES 2020, answers the question in the minds of many industry observers about whether or not ATSC 3.0 consumer receivers would actually make it to market in the United States, and offers one more indication for broadcasters that a voluntary transition to Next Gen TV will actually be able to seen by viewers.

“Speaking of futureproofing, another key change in 2020 is the official U.S. launch of Next Gen TV,” said Tim Alessi, director of new products for LG Electronics. “Next Gen TV is the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, co-developed by LG, which is the world’s first internet protocol-based television standard.”

During the LG Electronics press presentation at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, the company laid out several key strategies it is pursuing, including leveraging AI to enhance the lives of customers, and partnerships.

The Next Gen TV rollout is timed with this year’s expectation that more than 60 local TV stations covering around 70% of the U.S. viewing public will launch ATSC 3.0 service in 2020.

Briefly explaining the standard, as a marriage of broadband and broadcast, Alessi laid out how ATSC 3.0 will enable broadcasters to deliver 4K UHD, multidimensional sound and interactive content “among many other potential benefits,” he said.

All of the new 3.0 models will carry the Consumer Technology Association’s new Next Gen TV logo, he added.

While the announcement is a major step on the road to 3.0 success, reaction to the news among the mostly consumer electronics press in attendance was rather low-key.

Their interest was focused on the company’s new G10 OLED Gallery Series 65-inch OLED. With a thickness of only 20mm, the new television mounts flush to the wall without the need for a separate connection for source signals.

The company is also extending its lineup of 8K televisions with six new models, leveraging AI to scale content, touting the use of its new televisions as displays for gaming and supporting the UHD Alliance’s Filmmaker Mode to ensure what a filmmaker intended the audience sees is actually displayed on its televisions.

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

LAS VEGAS—CES 2020 will serve as the introduction of the first U.S. consumer receivers featuring integrated Next Gen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, capabilities, ATSC has announced. This will be one of many ATSC 3.0-centric events planned for CES 2020.

The ATSC 3.0 receivers set to be revealed are said to feature consumer benefits of enhanced audio and video designed to offer an immersive experience for the early adopters of Next Gen TV.

The week of CES will have many different events that focus on ATSC 3.0, including one on the eve of the show when the IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics hosts a Next Gen TV session, “U.S. Launch of ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV,” led by ATSC President Madeleine Noland and featuring representatives from LG, Samsung and Sony. This session is scheduled for Jan. 6 from 2-3:30 p.m. at the Tuscany Hotel, Florentine Rooms C and D.

When CES officially gets underway on Jan. 7, ATSC will have a special exhibit where consumers can experience Next Gen TV and its benefits on the show floor, marking the first time ATSC has exhibited at CES. The booth will feature presentations from ATSC sponsors Pearl TV and the Phoenix Model Market, Sinclair Broadcast Group and ONE Media, Gaian Solutions and Sony.

“We’re looking forward to showing the latest working models, highlighting results from initial consumer research and explaining how broadcasting will implement ATSC 3.0 to offer new Next Gen TV services,” said Noland.

A pair of special presentations are also scheduled during CES. On Jan. 8, Noland will be joined by CTA President and CEO Gary Shapiro and NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith to commemorate the launch of Next Gen TV products at CES. Then on Jan. 9, reps from Pearl TV, Samsung, LG, NAB and ATSC will participate in “What Next Gen TV Means for Tech” to provide more in-depth information on the rollout of Next Gen TV throughout the U.S., which is expected to hit 60-plus markets by the end of 2020.

Though many of these programs have a U.S. focus, international attendees at CES can garner a great deal from them following the International Telecommunication Union’s recent adoption of ATSC 3.0 as a recommended digital broadcast standard.

CES 2020 takes place from Jan. 7-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. ATSC’s will be located at booth 11329 in the Central Hall of the convention center.

For more information, visit www.atsc.org.

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

The end of the decade is upon us and time to take a look at how the last 10 years impacted broadcasters. As usual, it’s a mixed bag of successes and a few failures, illustrating the rocky path for our industry as we transition from television as we knew it to a whole new paradigm.

In 2010, I acquired my first streaming box and talked about it in these pages. At the time, I referred to my second-generation Apple TV box as an “IPTV” box—a quaint reference a decade later. Back then, I would classify my opinion as “cautious optimism,” calling Apple TV’s biggest attraction its price, easy setup and user interface. I don’t think there’s any question about how the Apple TV box ushered in a revolution of OTT and streaming services that not only influenced how we watched but what we watched. The mobility of television—prompted by the influx of more powerful devices, faster connections and more efficient compression—was perhaps the biggest jump in television technology during the decade.

The desire for the “next big thing” however, led us down several precarious paths. After HDTV had taken hold in the last half of the previous decade, programmers and manufacturers needed a hook to increase interest and the bottom line. At that point, we hooked our star to 3D, which came and went in a flash. Even though the concept had been around for decades, we seemed to think that high-resolution displays and better production technology would spur new interest among consumers. But in the end, it was unrealistic expectations hampered by what has been 3D’s Achilles heel since its inception: the need to wear glasses, lack of content and the limited viewing angles.

3D managed to hang on at the movie theater for several more years but now is hardly anywhere to be seen (at least domestically). File 3DTV in the “what were we thinking” files and perhaps, next time, we won’t be so eager to glom onto “the next big thing” just because we were looking for it.

Another technology that never really got off the ground (literally) was mobile DTV (aka “ATSC 2.0). What started as an opportunity in the latter part of the last decade to take advantage of excess digital spectrum to broadcast signals to screens (even in a car going 75 MPH) flamed out quickly. The reasons for its demise, however provided a teachable moment for our industry: the lack of cooperation from a cellular industry that was itself just beginning to see profits from streaming video. Samsung, which has been involved in the development of ATSC standards, did offer up a few handsets with a mobile DTV chip and a few dongles were made available at retail, but the refusal of Apple and cellular providers to incorporate mobile DTV chipsets was the final nail in the coffin.

Although the development of the next version of ATSC 3.0 had already been planned during that time, the failure of mobile DTV was an important lesson to our industry as we reached outside of our business and beyond the traditional TV set to insert our presence into the increasingly mobile world. Although a lot of naysayers are skeptical because of its lack of backward compatibility, ATSC 3.0 (aka NEXTGEN TV) offers our industry the best hope of relevance in an IP-based world. Next year has been hailed as the “breakout year” for the fledgling standard and by next December, we may be able to better judge its success.

The threat of cellular to the broadcast industry made its biggest impact during the latter half of the decade when the FCC finally moved ahead with its promise of auctioning off broadcast spectrum—a battle broadcasters had been fighting since before the decade began, (“Broadcasters Ready to Fight,” was the headline on the Jan. 6, 2010 issue of TV Technology). This has forced our industry to adjust to fewer channels and spectrum availability, with the threat of additional auctions on the horizon. In adapting to this new world, however, we are using new standards and concepts such as single frequency networks to ensure signal reliability.

IP is what prompted the mobile screen revolution during the decade and it’s IP that may have the biggest impact on our production capacity in the coming decade. To say we as an industry are moving too slowly, though is to ignore the standards that are expected of us. Streamers use the term “broadcast quality” to characterize the Holy Grail of programming—low latency, high resolution and enhanced audio. Our industry established that standard many decades ago and although IP brings with it enormous flexibility, viewers look to us to provide the five 9s of reliability and quality. That won’t go away anytime soon, as evidenced by last month’s rocky rollout for Disney+.

To all our friends and colleagues, have a fantastic holiday season and we’ll see you in the next decade!

WASHINGTON—As we say goodbye to 2019, 2020 is poised to be a landmark year as ATSC 3.0, aka Next Gen TV, will begin to roll out to broadcasters, with the goal of being in the top 40 markets by the year’s end.

Ahead of this big industry event, TV Technology has released its “Guide to ATSC 3.0” eBook, which looks at new test and measurement tools, the latest updates and at how the NAB-CTA Test Station helped advance the understanding of how ATSC 3.0 works in the real world.

Read about all of that and more in the “Guide to ATSC 3.0” eBook, now available for free download.

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

Did you happen to see T-Mobile’s commercial for its 600 MHz wireless network a couple of months ago?

“T-Mobile knows nobody buys this,” the announcer intones as the video shows a smartphone. Then he says, “for that,” and the picture changes to a cell tower.

“You buy it for this,” he says, with the video showing a young woman dolled up with Animoji ears, nose and tongue; “this,” with a video of a guy and his barber enjoying a baseball game on a phone; “this,” a picture of an online purchase of a horse head mask and the recipient wearing it as he sits on his couch; “and this,” as the picture shows a smartphone displaying “Your Food Is Arriving,” cutting to a delivery car pulling up.

Imagine that. A company actually promoting its 600 MHz wireless network, or more accurately all of the great things that a 600 MHz 5G-ready network can make happen for people. In other words, not selling the “steak” but the “sizzle” of its new wireless network.

How did the previous occupants of that same spectrum promote the sizzle of its 600 MHz product? On the whole, pretty well. Who can’t recall promos for NFL and MLB games and championships, the Olympics, political debates and conventions, syndicated game shows, network dramas and comedies, local news teams and stories? The list goes on and on.

However, with the dawn of Next Gen TV, the game has changed. No longer will it be enough to promote upcoming programming; it will soon become as important, if not more so, to sell the benefits of the 3.0 wireless network—in other words “the sizzle.”

It’s easy to visualize a promo touting the wakeup feature of Next Gen TV alerting a sleeping family to life-threatening weather event. Or, a senior citizen customizing his TV’s audio so he can better hear dialog. Or, an immigrant family accessing dialog in its native tongue (not Spanish because that’s already commonly done on SAP channels today).

These only scratch the surface of 3.0 sizzles with so many other possibilities, including interactivity, personalized content and portable/mobile reception, left to explore.

Some might say it’s too soon to begin selling the sizzle of Next Gen TV. Perhaps, but being early isn’t stopping T-Mobile from promoting its 5G service. According to the company’s own website, it’s not waiting for 100% market coverage to begin selling 5G. For the rollout this month, the company is only covering 60 percent of the U.S. population with its 5G network. And even if it is early, it’s not too soon to get serious about planning how best to sell the 3.0 sizzle.

The television industry can’t leave promoting the sizzle to the Antenna Man on YouTube. (Nice job Antenna Man on your Nov. 12 video.) Nor, can the industry leave it to the Advanced Television Systems Committee with its ATSC 3.0 Next Generation Broadcasting animation. Two-minute stories on the noon news, won’t cut it, and neither will leaving selling the sizzle to set manufacturers.

If the public is to get excited about Next Gen TV, it will be up to TV broadcasters—on a group-wide or industry-wide basis and the professionals they hire to help—to sell its sizzle.   

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.—The impact of Disney+ goes beyond all the memes of Baby Yoda from “The Mandalorian.” The direct-to-consumer (DTC) OTT service, which will be joined by others like HBOMax and NBCUniversal’s Peacock in 2020, is forecasting a shift in the video market, according to a new report from ABI Research.

ABI dove into this and other topics in its “54 Technology Trends to watch in 2020” report. Some of the other trends dealt with virtual reality and augmented reality, 8K and 5G.

The last few years, virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV, DirecTV Now (now AT&T TV Now) and PlayStation Vue (soon to be defunct) were seemingly pointing to how content was distributed as being the key factor in a changing market. However, the popularity of Disney+ and its library of content is shifting that paradigm, and the launch of DTC services HBOMax and Peacock—with deep libraries of content of their own—will result in consumers debating how they will spend their content budget, per ABI.

This will make it difficult for new services that do not have preexisting content to make an impact in the market, predicts ABI. It says Apple TV+ is an example of that already with its lower price ($5 per month) and its bundling with new Apple hardware purchases to help spur subscriber growth.

ABI does see a potential avenue for traditional pay-TV operators. “[T]he shift to DTC does create an opportunity for these MVPDs to serve as an aggregation point for fragmented OTT services,” ABI writes.

2020 may be a good year for DTC, but ABI does not see a big growth in 8K TVs. While the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan will be broadcasting in 8K, that hi-res broadcast is expected to be limited to the host country. In reality, 8K content for TVs around the world is still extremely limited, so, “without the content to take advantage of the higher resolution, adoption, of course, will be limited,” ABI reasons. 

Price is expected to come down for 8K TVs, though it is still expected to be higher than the average consumer can afford, so ABI forecasts less than 1 million shipments of 8K TVs worldwide in 2020. However, 4K TVs are expected to see some growth.

Other findings from ABI’s report touched on VR and AR technology. While there is growing buzz for consumer VR experiences, it is not expected to see a big growth as there still needs to be some maturation in both the hardware and software for the technology. AR, on the other hand, is expected to have some significant growth, particularly on mobile platforms. 2020 will be more of a chance for VR to establish a clearer path moving forward, says ABI.

ABI also touched on the deployment of 5G. It said that it expects 5G Fixed Wireless Access services to see “accelerated growth,” while other 5G services will continue to be built out, though there will still be ample room for growth in the coming years.

One thing that ABI did not touch on that is set for a major deployment next year is Next Gen TV. The new television standard garnered no mention in the report, even though it is expected be available in the top 40 U.S. markets by the end of 2020.

More information can be found on ABI Research’s website, www.abiresearch.com.

ARLINGTON, Va.—2020 is the year that ATSC 3.0, aka Next Gen TV, will make its way to consumers. SMPTE plans to offer a preview of many of things that will come with ATSC 3.0’s rollout with its Next Gen TV Summit on Jan. 16.

SMPTE’s Washington, D.C., section will host the all-day conference with SBE and AES. The summit will cover how ATSC 3.0 will transform the consumer experience and create new opportunities, as well as how simultaneously emerging 5G broadcast technologies will impact the media industry.

Presentations will be given from Madeleine Noland, ATSC president; Thomas Janner of Rohde & Schwarz; Jeff Andrew from Osborn Engineering; Perry Priestley of Elenos Group; John McCoskey, SpectraRep; Triveni’s Mark Corl; Rick Ducey from BIA; and NAB’s Skip Pizzi, as well as others.

Registration is required for the event. SMPTE, SBE and AES members can register for $50; non-members can register for $100.

The event will take place from 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. at WETA TV, 2775 S. Quincy St., Arlington, Va.

For more information, or to register for the summit, visit SMPTE’s website.

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

I have a real problem with ATSC 3.0 and it’s not with the technology or its capabilities. In fact I am excited by what I see as an answer to many challenges we face today. My problem is the way it is being marketed to the people who stand to benefit from it the most.

Let me start by saying many individuals and a few in particular have devoted a lot of time and effort into developing and advancing ATSC 3.0. People like Mark Aitken from Sinclair might argue they have dedicated their life over the past few years to this new technology and I would agree. Many broadcasters are behind the technology with large groups partnering on the technology in cities like Dallas and Phoenix to prove the capabilities. The results of their tests have been for the most part very positive.

Advocates of 3.0 and early adopters of the technology are often quoted, “Why aren’t 3.0 receivers being built into wireless phones?” “This stuff works so why isn’t the technology in the new products?” The answer is simple: Where is the demand? Yes, there is demand from the 3.0 technology sector but is that enough? I think not.

So, what is missing? If the viewer/user is your answer, then we are on the same page. Those of us who lived through the digital/HD transition remember the excitement among our viewers when they heard about better picture quality, sound and even more channels. That was a very exciting time and a time that the viewer welcomed, advocated and, I would say in most cases, helped to push the technology into the products as demand was there for the vendors to see. It’s true that technology was mandated and 3.0 is not—but that should not matter when it comes to giving people a reason to want something better.

Today, sadly about half the population, even some who are technically savvy have no idea what 3.0 is all about and many have never heard of it. There have been some great sessions at NAB, closed doors meetings, invitation-only conferences and most recently at the annual APCO Conference, and this is all good stuff. Again, the problem: Look at the audiences for these demos and you will see it’s government officials, broadcasters, trade press and primarily technology people.

The time has come for the public to be educated. There is strength in numbers and I seriously believe the way to get buy-in, demand and support is to show 3.0 to the people who will benefit from it. While there are many capabilities to this new technology, I would start with the capabilities of the emergency notification technology that is so important and a great feature of 3.0. Right now in the state of California, their notification system has huge gaps and lacks the ability to notify many parts of the population— this was witnessed in the recent wildfires. Many other states have the same challenges and on the other coast, hurricanes.

I realize this is only one feature but it is something people in those states can understand, appreciate and welcome. In another part of the country you might start with a different feature depending on your audience. Start marketing the most useful parts of the system—the parts that people can relate to and understand as a benefit to them. The nice pictures, sound and many other features will sell themselves once people see it. This is the path to success for 3.0—getting it in front of the people. This must be done now to begin seeing a demand for manufacturers to add the new technology to their products.

It’s time for broadcasters, content providers, maybe agencies and vendors/manufacturers to join together and begin educating the public. If not, this fantastic technology will face a rollout that will be slow and painful. The public has an amazing way of responding. The people behind the technology have brought it so far; now is the time to hand it off to a marketing team who can take it across the goal line and score. There is no reason this technology should linger and not be on a fast track to success.

Ken Wilkey is a broadcast/media consultant based in Los Angeles.

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

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.

WASHINGTON—The battle over getting Next Gen TV onto pay-TV platforms is heating up.

ONE Media 3.0 LLC, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group focused on developing technology for the ATSC 3.0 television broadcast standard, fired back at Charter Communications over the cable operator’s criticism of the lack of standards for carrying ATSC 3.0 signals on cable TV.

Charter recently met with the FCC to voice its concerns about requiring cable TV operators to carry ATSC 3.0, citing the fact that it is not compatible with ATSC 1.0 and that broadcasters have not adopted standards needed for MVPDs to broadcast ATSC 3.0. ONE Media 3.0 said such concerns are “misplaced and premature.”

“At this time and for the foreseeable future, MVPDs will not require equipment to decode ATSC 3.0 signals because, with respect to the primary signal, a broadcast station that is transitioning to ATSC 3.0 must simulcast in ATSC 1.0 per the FCC’s rules,” said Jerald Fritz, executive vice president, strategic and legal affairs for ONE Media 3.0, in a letter to the commission. “As a result, MVPDs will continue to have an ATSC 1.0 source for the primary signal.”

Charter’s criticism over the lack of standards for ATSC 3.0 to be carried on cable TV platforms is also misplaced, Fritz said.

“Charter appears to confuse standards with flexible uses for non-television delivery of data,” Fritz wrote. “One of the extraordinary features of the ATSC 3.0 standard is its inherent flexibility enabling multiple service profiles. Broadcasters have been working closely with equipment vendors to establish basic television service profiles.

“This critical process, however, will have no impact on the availability of television services to MVPD subscribers,” Fritz added. “Moreover, there is no requirement for uniformity among broadcasters in order for MVPDs to make ATSC 3.0’s features and services available to their subscribers at such time as they agree with the broadcaster to carry the ATSC 3.0 signals.”

Fritz advocates a market-based solution to determine what ATSC 3.0 services MVPDs could offer.

“If a MVPD and broadcaster are motivated to add an ATSC 3.0 delivered feature or service to the MVPD’s platform, implementation will be achieved in a reasonable timeframe and based on mutual business objectives,” he said.

Fritz also criticized Charter’s contention that demand for ATSC 3.0 will be limited because some of its features are already available via IP, saying such reasoning was “backwards.”

“Enhancing the broadcast platform with features and capabilities that have already proven to be popular with consumers should increase, not decrease the demand for broadcast reception products and services,” Fritz said, adding that such deployment considerations have “zero impact” on MVPD access to broadcaster-provided programming.

“The implicit suggestion that the Commission should delay the rollout of Next Generation broadcast services because not all potential use cases have been identified and that some services may be available (albeit much less efficiently) by current MVPD internet providers reflects a particularly jaundiced view of the Commission’s regulatory role and should be summarily rejected.” Fritz said. 

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

WASHINGTON—The future of Next Gen TV could be imperiled by a lack of standards for MVPDs, lack of backward compatibility and the fact that the potential services offered by ATSC 3.0 are already available via IP—or a combination of all three.

These warnings were issued by several executives from Charter Communications, the nation’s third largest cable operator, which met with FCC officials late last month. The FCC has adopted rules that require those broadcasters moving to ATSC 3.0 to simulcast an ATSC 1.0 signal for at least the next five years.

Although broadcasters are just beginning to roll out ATSC 3.0 services, there has been no standard developed to make such signals compatible with current cable equipment, Charter told the FCC.

“The absence of such standards could delay the ATSC 3.0 transition by years for consumers who do not get their broadcast signals over the air,” Charter said in an ex parte letter to the FCC, adding that according to a recent NAB report, “ATSC 3.0 has over 40,000 possible configurations.”

Charter also complained that despite the benefits viewers could see from ATSC 3.0, “broadcasters have yet to define which among those possible uses of the new standard they are interested in pursuing,” adding that many of the benefits of ATSC 3.0 are already available via IP, “which could limit demand for ATSC 3.0 consumer equipment.”

Charter also told the FCC that the ATSC 1.0 signals in the Phoenix Model Market test site are different from the ATSC 1.0 signals delivered by fiber and provided charts for illustration. “Because these signals don’t match, there is currently no back-up for ATSC 1.0 that can be utilized by MVPDs,” the cable operator said.

The following is a response from Madeleine Noland, president of ATSC, posted Aug. 10:

“ATSC respects Charter’s role as a leading MPVD, and we look forward to working with them to address their concerns, many of which are unfounded. Our ATSC 3 MPVD work continues apace, especially within the ATSC S37 specialist group. S37 was formed in 2015 and Charter has been welcomed as a guest member for the past three years. 

We wish to reassure Charter and the Commission that the ATSC S37 specialist group is actively communicating with SCTE to forge a path forward for cable customers to enjoy key Next Gen TV features. We also wish to extend our thanks to broadcast leaders who are working closely with their MVPD partners as they prepare to launch ATSC 3 services.”

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

A slight majority of U.S. consumers say they “have never heard of” Next Gen TV (aka ATSC 3.0) according to a new survey from Hub Entertainment Research. This is comparable to the 58% who have never heard of 8K TV but much larger than the approximately 20% who had never heard of 4K TV.

This lack of knowledge of the next generation broadcast standard is just one of numerous conclusions about the current state of the TV set in American homes revealed by Hub’s “Evolution of the TV Set.” The results are from an online survey of 2,500+ U.S. consumers taken in May and June. The survey included both TV and non-TV homes.

Despite the proliferation of viewing video on mobile devices, the TV set still remains the dominant source of news and entertainment in the U.S. household Hub concluded. It found that the average home has 2.7 TV sets and that two-thirds of those homes have at least one smart TV set that is connected to broadband. The TV set in the living room or family room is still the most popular, with respondents saying that 81% of viewing happens on TV sets in those rooms. Half of those “most used” sets are connected to a pay-TV provider while 41% are connected to a streaming TV source.

Among vendors, Samsung is the dominant player with 48% of those planning on buying a Samsung-branded smart TV set in the 12 months (LG is a distant second with 12%).

Half of the sets in American households are 50 inches or bigger and fewer than three years old, Hub said. Almost half of all U.S. homes now have a streaming media player, according to the survey and 75% of homes stream TV shows or movies to a connected TV screen.

When it comes to new technologies, consumers are most interested in 4K and HDR sets with more than 75% of respondents expressing “a lot” or “some” interest in the high resolution imaging technologies. However, while 4K TV sets are now dominant on the retail floor, only 43% have used a 4K TV set to watch actually 4K content.

Television technology is becoming more complex to consumers as they navigate terms such as 8K, HDR and frames per second, according to David Tice, co-author of the study.

“As smart TVs, connected TVs, connected devices, and TV voice-control devices proliferate, many new services and features have suddenly become available to TV set users”, said David Tice, co-author of the study. “But TV manufacturers and services have a long record of inadequately educating consumers on their offerings. TV brands and content distributors need to work together to increase consumer awareness, as these great new features won’t help sell TV sets or services—or command a premium—if people don’t understand them.”

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

The ATSC 3.0 standard brings an exciting time for U.S. broadcasters as a flood of new tools hits the market equipping traditional broadcasters to explore what Hybrid TV has to offer. By drawing on Europe as an example, U.S. broadcasters have access to a series of real-life examples of the ways traditional broadcasters have expanded their reach into digital through Hybrid TV. Europe has in fact been a Hybrid TV pioneer and has witnessed the debunking of traditional “TV watching.”

With consumers spending on average four hours a day watching video content, it is clear that broadcasters still retain a lot of leverage. Even though competition is increasing between different platforms for digital content (social media, TV streaming, game consoles, etc.) it is safe to say that traditional TV is a reliable output for advertising as 10% of the U.S. population flick through varying channels when watching TV. Not to mention, older generations who are more likely to flick through channel to channel are more often than not going to be financially better placed to spend more, making it clear to broadcasters that in order to meet existing viewer demand choosing either OTT or traditional TV is futile.

In order to remain profitable (through a greater share of ad spending) and to ensure interest from consumers is kept at an all-time high, U.S. broadcasters need to make the most of what ATSC 3.0 has to offer. In this article, we look at the top trends for U.S. TV content delivery and their potential to drive advertising and viewer stickiness.

MAKE IT PERSONAL

In order to improve channel stickiness, knowing and understanding your consumer in order to provide targeted content will be key. Many OTT providers offer short snippets of content specifically tailored to individual consumers—for example a preview window showing the next episode of a TV series. These “snipes,” which can be programmed to appear at the bottom of the screen during a program, can now be altered to be far more powerful: with ATSC 3.0, broadcasters can insert pop out adverts that appear when a program has finished airing based on the viewer’s specific content preferences.

ADVERTISING’s NEXT FRONTIER

ATSC 3.0 paves the way for an exciting new development in advertising: addressable advertising. Businesses will be able to target content specifically to households and even individuals within a household, thus limiting wasted efforts on untargeted ads. Of the 120 million TV homes in the U.S., more than 65 million have the technology to receive these targeted ads, however this type of advertising is clearly very under-used. Looking at the U.K. as an example, Sky credited a 29% year-on-year rise in revenues for its targeted advertising platform AdSmart for driving overall U.K. and Ireland ad revenue growth of 6%.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Targeted location selection can improve effectiveness and ultimately reduce brands’ ad spending. A great example of a brand rolling this out is from car brand Suzuki, which implemented an addressable advert to raise awareness to viewers about nearby dealerships. Toyota has taken this a step further, where they ran an addressable TV ad campaign that connected TV ads to dealership visits, where they were able to assess whether the TV ads led to an increase in foot traffic into the dealerships.

Location data can also help discourage channel switching, which will assist in increasing your share of advertisers’ budget as well as increasing their loyalty to you. An example of this is providing real time regional news pop-ups between shows—delivering pertinent information to TV viewers.

INCENTIVES

Another way to increase interactions with viewers is to offer incentives or rewards. For example, a brand could offer viewers a voucher code that can be redeemed on their tablet or smartphone. Given that 95% of consumers watch TV with a mobile device in hand, interacting with adverts to redeem offers will not be a difficult task.

INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING

The concept of traditional advertising rests on the premise that the ad needs to stay in viewers’ minds as opposed to initiating immediate action. Hybrid TV allows additional content to be added to an advert, giving consumers access to the key information in real-time and increasing the likelihood of inspiring immediate action. If a car manufacturer is advertising its latest model with this wave of advertising, they would have the functionality to offer viewers the option of a test drive all through the click of a button on their TV.

Hybrid TV is altering the media landscape for broadcasters by increasing competition and changing the way viewers consume content. However, there is a wealth of opportunity for broadcasters adopting Next Gen TV as they are ideally placed to beat the competition from sole OTT players in the market. Not only will broadcasters be able to individually target their viewers to increase stickiness, but they will provide suitable platforms for advertisers to custom their ads to individuals increasing overall quantity of interactions. It is time that broadcasters in the U.S. look to Europe and plan a roadmap for ATSC 3.0 adoption to target consumers in an increasingly more personalized manner, all while guaranteeing steady revenues from advertisers and seeing off competitors to mark their place firmly in the market.

Jarvis leads international IT services firm Fincons’ U.S. business. Over the past 18 years he has launched multiple OTT and TV delivery products and services. He currently leads the efforts to design and deploy Next Gen User Experiences and recently released the TV interface best practices design and accompanying book.

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

Television viewing is now much more than something that needs just a TV antenna or cable line. Over the past two decades, viewers have enjoyed a plethora of new viewing options, from satellites to streaming and new services that take advantage of better connections that can deliver more choice and control.

The original ATSC Standard was set in 1995, before the availability of DVD players (not to mention Blu-Ray). The iPod wouldn’t even be a reality for another six years. And the DVB-T standard dates from about the same time period. DVB-T2 was a huge improvement, but that 10-year-old technology dates from the era of the iPhone3.

Meanwhile, Moore’s Law has been chugging away each year reducing chip cost by half (or doubling capacity), mobile broadband penetration has exploded and Internet Protocol (IP) has taken over as the de facto language of the communications world.

The broadcast industry’s response to this rapid pace of technological change is the new ATSC 3.0 standard, now literally the best in the world.

Early in its conception, ATSC members determined that in order to achieve true excellence the ATSC 3.0 system would have to be non-backward-compatible with the current ATSC 1.0 system, giving the freedom to design a system with all the newest technical developments.

At the physical layer level, the flexible nature of the “bootstrap” functionality offers unparalleled extensibility for the standard, a unique advantage of ATSC 3.0. As we have learned over and over again, technology just doesn’t stand still. The myriad combinations of modulation, coding and features of the ATSC 3.0 physical layer offer significant improvement over standards a decade old (or even older), and features such as Layered Division Multiplexing bring unheard of opportunities for mobility and hybrid services with tangible spectrum efficiency advantages. ATSC 3.0 is well aligned with other communications technologies that are already in use today, and this reduces the complexity of implementation.

Certainly, better audio and video, more accessibility features, advanced emergency messaging and a high capacity, robust, flexible physical layer are all key elements. In addition to those advancements, one of the key decisions for ATSC 3.0 was that ATSC members wanted the new system to align with internet-based technologies. We envisioned a future of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting as an integral part of a global ecosystem that has embraced IP transport, web browser technologies and app-based services.

ATSC 3.0 IP transport offers several advantages, but perhaps most interesting is that it integrates well with other IP networks, such as the internet and cellular networks. A number of use cases have been envisioned and implemented already.

Of course, content security is paramount for any IP network. ATSC members again turned to existing internet technologies for a solution. In this case Common Encryption (CENC) was chosen. CENC is used by many OTT streaming apps, and so many receive devices already understand CENC. The challenge was to devise a CENC system that works on unconnected devices as well as connected devices. ATSC members and implementers (including new ATSC member Google) have solved this use case and are now implementing it in the Phoenix Model Market and elsewhere.

ATSC members also selected internet technologies for the interactivity system, which is based on technologies that are supported by the major web browsers running on laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones and smart TVs. This convergence can simplify receiver development and also allow broadcasters to tap into the rich ecosystem of web developers, including the skilled men and women they already employ in the digital departments of local TV stations.

Today, we see the successful deployment of ATSC 3.0 in South Korea with millions of receivers sold. At this year’s NAB Show, broadcasters announced plans to deploy ATSC 3.0 in 61 U.S. TV markets over the next year—a move that will reach more than 70% of the U.S. population. Those introductions coincide with the expected introductions at retail of the first U.S. ATSC 3.0 TV receivers.

It’s an exciting time for Next Gen TV as broadcasters enter the global 21st century data-driven world.

Madeleine Noland is president of the Advanced Television Systems Committee.

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

RALEIGH, N.C.—WRAL, the Capitol Broadcasting-owned NBC affiliate in Raleigh, together with several major broadcast vendors have completed a successful end-to-end broadcaster-to-receiver test using ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alert information to enhance the ability of broadcasters to communicate with the public in the event of an emergency.

“We are dedicated to providing our viewers with the most innovative programming and capabilities available,” said Pete Sockett, director of Engineering & Operations at WRAL. “With our successful completion of this test, we are one step closer to providing a critical service to our viewers with life-saving potential.”

The test at WRAL was conducted in May. It showed AEA emergency information can be passed successfully through ATSC 1.0 OTA, cable and satellite paths as well as via OTT and ATSC 3.0 transmissions from a sole insertion point, Capitol Broadcasting said.

Several vendors participated in the test, including Digital Alert Systems with its DASDEC-II emergency messaging platform; Triveni Digital, which supplied its GuideBuilder XM and StreamScope XM MT; and Verance with its Aspect watermark embedder and receiver toolkit.

As part of 3.0, Advanced Emergency Alerting can be used to do more than warn of an imminent danger. It can be used to convey rich media, such as video, images, maps and real-time updates, as well as to wake up sleeping TVs to target information to households in the path of danger.

During the test, AEA information remained intact throughout various conversions and across multiple platforms so that households with a Next Gen TV or 3.0 adapter could receive AEA information. Delivering AEA via cable, satellite and OTT means the reach of AEA information is far greater than if it were solely used to enhance over-the-air TV service.

A second phase of the test is in the planning stages and may include working with a TV manufacturer to showcase the enhanced capabilities of AEA, according to the broadcaster.

For the test, the Digital Alert Systems DASCEC-II generated the emergency information messages and Triveni Digital’s GuideBuilder XM served as the 3.0 signaling generator and Next-Gen TV transport encoder, adding the AEA signal to the broadcast to inform the TV that emergency information was available for retrieval. The StreamScope XM MT provided a way to analyze the accuracy of the AEA protocol at every demarcation point in the broadcast chain, it said.

Verance’s Aspect watermark ensures AEA metadata and triggers can reach all smart TVs across all distribution paths, including 1.0 and 3.0 OTA, cable, satellite and OTT. Over the past year, Verance has partnered with Capitol Broadcasting to embed and detect the Aspect watermark.

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

LAS VEGAS—At the 2019 NAB Show, ENENSYS Technologies launched ENENSYS SmartGate software for managing ATSC 3.0 core networks in the cloud.

A fully virtualized software version of the ENENSYS ATSCheduler ATSC 3.0 broadcast gateway, ENENSYS SmartGate can be installed in the studio side of the broadcast playout center, or directly into a public, private or hybrid cloud, saving cost and space while benefiting from virtual environment scalability and speedy recovery, according to the company.

ENENSYS SmartGate encapsulates multiple IP Streams from live HEVC encoders and Non-Real Time servers (EPG, interactive applications) using the ROUTE or the MMTP protocols. It manages ALP (ATSC Layer Protocol) encapsulation, BBFrame real-time allocation, and outputs the resulting ATSC-compliant STL (Studio to Transmitter Link) stream protocol over IP.

ENENSYS SmartGate interfaces with an unlimited number of ATSC 3.0 signaling and delivery servers, including ENENSYS MediaCast, and automatically manages the ATSC 3.0 signaling from the different LLS (Low Layer Signaling), including the automatic generation and delivery of the SLT (Service List Table), and conserves on-air services descriptions. It supports all ATSC 3.0 modulation profiles and all modulation capabilities—from simple subframe and single PLP to multiple subframes and multiple PLPs—and LDM (Layer Division Multiplex) advanced management. Broadcasters can use a multitude of configurations to fit their different business models, by choosing from a large array of signal coverage configurations, robustness and targeting multiple receivers simultaneously within one RF channel.

ENENSYS SmartGate boasts ENENSYS’ patented seamless redundancy technology, providing the capability to switch from the main ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Gateway to a backup unit without any disturbance at the transmitter site and no de-synchronization, even in SFN mode.

This software-based delivery server manages any audio and video segments from encoders and third party files from NRT servers, generate the SLT and SLS signaling tables to enable a perfect decoding on the receiver part, and multiplex up all the services and signaling towards several IP multicast output, according to the company.

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

LAS VEGAS--A broad coalition of broadcast television station groups as well as public broadcasters announced at the NAB Show on Monday that ATSC 3.0 (aka Next Gen TV) will be rolled out in 40 U.S. markets by the end of 2020.

Subject to final engineering and required approvals, consents and FCC license modifications, the participating broadcasters have identified the first stations that will convert to ATSC 3.0 service in this rollout. Primary broadcast programming currently broadcast on the stations planning to upgrade will be hosted by other stations in their respective markets.

Station groups involved in the deployment include Fox Television Stations, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, Univision, Spectrum Co. (includes Sinclair) and members of the Pearl TV Group, a coalition of broadcasters and manufacturers testing ATSC 3.0 in the Phoenix Model Market.

Top 40 Markets where the first transitioning stations have been identified (ranked by population) include:

• Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
• Houston, TX
• San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Seattle-Tacoma, WA
• Detroit, MI
• Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, FL
• Portland, OR
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Raleigh-Durham, NC
• Baltimore, MD
• Nashville, TN
• Salt Lake City, UT
• San Antonio, TX
• Kansas City, KS-MO
• Columbus, OH
• West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL
• Las Vegas, NV
• Austin, TX

Work is now underway to identify Next-Gen TV stations in these Top 40 markets (ranked by population), with details to follow in the coming months:

• New York, NY
• Los Angeles, CA
• Chicago, IL
• Philadelphia, PA
• Washington, DC
• Boston, MA
• Atlanta, GA
• Tampa-St.Petersburg-Sarasota, FL
• Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN
• Miami - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Denver, CO
• Cleveland-Akron, OH
• Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA
• St. Louis, MO
• Charlotte, NC
• Indianapolis, IN
• San Diego, CA
• Hartford-New Haven, CT
• Cincinnati, OH
• Milwaukee, WI
• Greenville-Spartanburg, SC - Asheville, NC

Additional TV markets where stations have been identified for Next-Gen TV service (ranked by population) include:

• Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, VA
• Oklahoma City, OK
• Albuquerque - Santa Fe, NM
• Grand Rapids - Kalamazoo, MI
• Memphis, TN
• Buffalo, NY
• Providence - New Bedford, RI
• Little Rock - Pine Bluff, AR
• Mobile, AL - Pensacola, FL
• Albany-Schenectady - Troy, NY
• Flint-Saginaw - Bay City, MI
• Omaha, NE
• Charleston - Huntington, WV
• Springfield, MO
• Rochester, NY
• Syracuse, NY
• Chattanooga, TN
• Charleston, SC
• Burlington, VT - Plattsburgh, NY
• Davenport, IA - Moline, IL
• Santa Barbara - Santa Maria - San Luis Obispo, CA

“America’s broadcasters are on the cusp of a revolution in television,” said Gordon Smith, NAB president. “The many companies invested in TV broadcasting are committed to better television service for both our viewers and for our advertisers.

There was also good news for consumers as Michael Bergman, vice president of technology and standards for the Consumer Technology Association noted that ATSC 3.0-enabled sets and devices are expected to hit the market by 2020.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr advocated for broadcasters to use ATSC 3.0 to innovate and better compete with telecommunications companies.

“It’s important that the FCC authorized broadcasters to start experimenting with ATSC 3.0, giving you the freedom to innovate—a freedom that your competitors and many others in the tech sector already enjoyed,” he said. “And when I think about the ways that broadcasters can use that freedom to innovate, one use case stands out to me: ATSC 3.0 as a new and competitive broadband pipe.”

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

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND–A delegation from the U.S. has asked the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that it adopt the ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast standard for use by all countries in the world. The proposal is the first major step in the evaluation process for worldwide acceptance of the standard, the association said.

The U.S. delegation proposed ATSC 3.0—the world’s first Internet-Protocol-based television broadcast standard—to a Working Party of Study Group 6 of ITU’s Radio communications Sector, which develops and maintains worldwide recommendations, reports and handbooks on the broadcasting service. The U.S. effort was actively supported by the South Korean government delegation with significant assistance from the Korean Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute.

Developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the ATSC 3.0 standard has been adopted in both the United States and the Republic of Korea. The suite of voluntary technical standards and recommended practices represents very significant enhancements from the original ATSC 1.0 standard adopted in 1996. It will provide an alternative to other digital terrestrial television standards including the European DVB-T, Japanese/Brazilian ISDB-T, and Chinese DTMB platforms.

“We’re delighted to begin this process and look forward to an expedited consideration so that other nations can confidently implement this remarkable new standard,” said U.S. delegation spokesman Larry Olson, Assistant Chief of the Global Strategy and Negotiation Division in the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission.

In offering the new standard as part of an existing recommendation for second-generation digital platforms, the United States noted that the ATSC 3.0 standard is designed to deliver improvements in performance, functionality and efficiency so substantial to warrant implementation of a non-backwards-compatible system. The IP-based standard, with its higher throughput capacity, can deliver:

• Enhanced quality for audio and video services,
• Robust mobile reception on a wide range of devices,
• Improved spectrum efficiency,
• Advanced emergency information,
• Personalization features, and
• Interactive capabilities.

Jerald Fritz, Executive Vice President of ONE Media 3.0, presented the proposal on behalf of the U.S. delegation. “The Next Gen transmission standard will provide consumers with a host of new services and expand opportunities for broadcasters and service providers around the world,” he said, urging rapid adoption by the ITU. “By integrating broadcast and broadband services, ATSC 3.0 also can be part of the 5G transmission ecosystem for non-television data transmission services,” Fritz said.

In support of the new standard, the United States presented the ATSC’s Advanced Emergency Information Implementation Guide. This document describes methods and examples for implementing the standard’s critical emergency-related capabilities—life-saving services that are expected to be of particular interest both to countries upgrading their digital systems and those still migrating from analog to digital broadcasting.

The ATSC’s 2019 Board Chairman Lynn Claudy of the National Association of Broadcasters called international acceptance ATSC 3.0 “quite appropriate given the extensive work of engineers from around the world to craft this state-of-the-art standard with built-in capabilities to evolve as the markets warrant.”

Several additional ITU Reports and Recommendations were identified to be modified, reflecting the new ATSC 3.0 standard. Accelerated action on the U.S. proposal is expected at the next ITU working party meetings in July.

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

PHOENIX—The collaborative effort among broadcasters to test Next Gen TV transmission in Phoenix will soon be expanding its purview, announcing the creation of a second station with a signal that will utilize a Single Frequency Network. NAB will assist with the planning and design of the new station, which will specifically explore the benefits of SFN.

SFN transmissions are meant to allow broadcasters to improve signal power and reach while offering signals that can be viewed in a moving vehicle or made more robust for reception inside buildings. Multiple transmitters throughout the market are used for an SFN to improve signal levels, it is also expected to fill in areas in the Phoenix market that have been hard to reach with over-the-air signals. SFN is enabled with the ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard being tested in Phoenix.

As part of that test, the Phoenix Model Market has had a Next Gen TV station operating for the past year, owned by Univision and carrying six separate Next Gen TV broadcast streams over-the-air to Pearl TV member stations, NBC Universal, Fox TV stations and Univision to test many ATSC 3.0 features and capabilities.

With the addition of the SFN-enabled station, the Phoenix Model Market will have multiple testing facilities, opening the door for additional testing.

The SFN tower site is being provided by American Tower, with ATSC 3.0 broadcasts enacted by Comark and GatesAir SFN transmitters, according to Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. Pearl and other Phoenix Model Market broadcasters will build out the new SFN system.

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

CLEVELAND—The ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard earned a high grade after the successful transmission of a Nielsen audience measurement watermark from the NAB/Consumer Technology Association ATSC 3.0 test station in Cleveland. The NAB conducted the test last week as part of the collaboration between broadcasters and manufacturers to prepare for the Next Gen TV standard.

The Tribune Media-owned WJW station in Cleveland is the “living laboratory” to test ATSC 3.0 features, equipment and technologies. This most recent test saw the installation and transmission of the Nielsen watermarks, which are inaudible signals in a program’s audio to help identify the program for audience measurement purposes.

Catherine Herkovic, executive vice president and managing director for Local Television, believes that the successful transmission of the Nielsen watermarks will enable measurements of Next Gen TV’s impact with audiences.

NAB Executive Vice President and CTO Sam Matheny said the test marked another step forward toward the deployment and adoption of Next Gen TV and thanked Nielsen for its work on the project.

NAB plans to offer many demonstrations around the ATSC 3.0 standard during the 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

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

LAS VEGAS—ENENSYS, a French-based provider of broadcast networking and monitoring technology has announced its plans for showcasing its ATSC 3.0 technology and expansion into the North American market.

At the show, the company will launch a new suite of ATSC 3.0 products for virtual environments. These new products allow broadcasters to save space and costs by migrating all their ATSC 3.0 Network Operation Center functions to the public or private cloud, allowing for cloud advantages like scalability, high-availability, and instant recoverability. These new products will be previewed at PBS TechCon 2019, and demo-ed at the ENENSYS NAB Show booth #SU6102.

The company will also announce a partnership with ONE Media 3.0, LLC, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group to build and roll-out 10 of Sinclair’s first ATSC 3.0 Broadcast operations in the United States. The solution is based on ENENSYS’ new software-based product suite, designed to be easily deployed on a dedicated server or run in pure cloud environments.

ENENSYS is expanding its presence in North America by opening its first U.S. office, specifically targeting the ATSC 3.0 market. The company will host a ribbon cutting ceremony at its booth, #SU6102, 11 a.m. Wednesday April 10. Champagne and hors d’oeuvres will served.

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

LAS VEGAS—The development and deployment of Next Gen TV technology, powered by ATSC 3.0, is one of the key points of focus in the industry, and the NAB Show, one of the industry’s largest events, is making sure that it has the topic covered. NAB says there will be more than 100 sessions and more than 50 exhibitors that will feature the technology, showcasing how it plans to deliver better pictures and lifelike multichannel audio in IP-transmitted broadcasts.

A couple of presentations will highlight what ATSC 3.0 has to offer, including an ATSC, CTA and NAB sponsored “Ride the Road to ATSC 3.0” exhibit and Single Frequency Network demonstrations.

“Ride the Road” is a series of free presentations in the North Hall (booth N2512) that covers all facets of the ATSC 3.0 standard. There will be updates of the Dallas, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, Calif., East Lansing, Mich., Cleveland and Korea deployments. Specific session topics include consumer research, consumer device plans, conformance testing, audio enhancements, station build-out advice, watermarking, advanced emergency information, channel security, advanced advertising and interactivity. But the marquee display, per NAB, will be a new LED videowall optimized for broadcast applications, provided by LG Business Solutions.

Additional sponsors taking part in “Ride the Road” include Pearl TV, Sinclair Broadcast Group, LG Electronics, Dolby, Sony, Samsung and AWARN Alliance.

Also in the North Hall, as well as the Central Lobby, will be the demonstration of Single Frequency Network capabilities of the Next Gen TV standard. This area will demonstrate how reception can be improved in difficult locations and in moving vehicles by deploying multiple broadcast towers transmitting the broadcast signal on the same channel. Using four low power transmitters in the Las Vegas Convention Center, special SFN viewing kiosks will be located in the LVCC lobby, in the North Hall at the NAB Pilot area and at the “Ride the Road” exhibit.

Other papers and sessions on Next Gen TV will be presented throughout the show. A free Guide to 3.0 at the Show will be available for attendees to pick-up in the Central Lobby throughout the show.

The 2019 NAB Show runs from April 6-11 in Las Vegas.

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

LAS VEGAS—If ATSC 3.0 is to make a successful transition from the standardization process and trial stations into the mainstream, the broadcast engineers responsible for their stations’ technical infrastructure and over-the-air signal delivery will be the ones to whom the responsibility falls.

Recognizing the critical role of these broadcast engineers, the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and Gary Sgrignoli, a principal at broadcast technical consultancy Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wallace, are organizing the ATSC 3.0 Roadshow—the Next Gen TV successor to the 10-year-long effort Sgrignoli undertook with his DTV Roadshow to educate engineers about digital TV transmission.

“The goal is to help spread understanding of the Next Generation standard down from the people who were involved in designing it to the people who have to implement and maintain it,” says Bill Hayes, director of engineering and technology at Iowa Public Television and past president of the IEEE BTS.

Hayes, who was serving as organization president at the time, suggested Sgrignoli initiate a second round of roadshows with the backing of the society to educate broadcast engineers on the physical layer of Next Gen TV, he says.

Sgrignoli will take his one-day Next Gen class to Las Vegas April 6, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel—the official kickoff of his ATSC 3.0 Roadshow after a beta test of the class in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago.

“The goal is for people to get the fundamentals of 3.0 and understand it,” says Sgrignoli. “It is far more complicated [than ATSC 1.0] because it is more capable, flexible and extensible. With that comes a lot of decisions because you have so many different parameters to choose.”

With that knowledge of 3.0 basics, broadcast engineers will be equipped to continue reading and learning on their own after completing the seminar, he adds.

The day is divided into four units, including a system overview of 3.0; a look at the Next Gen digital transmission system, including details about the physical layer; optional 3.0 technologies and recommended practices, including Mod-Cod parameter selection; and a review of 3.0 lab tests and field tests, says Sgrignoli.

Beyond the NAB Show-timed class, the ATSC 3.0 Roadshow is scheduled for May 31—the day after the ATSC Annual Meeting—in Washington, D.C., at PBS headquarters and Aug. 20 in Alabama, although a city has not been announced as of this writing.

“We are pulling together the schedule for the rest of the year at the moment,” says Hayes. “We are trying to get 12 done, averaging one per month.”

While Sgrignoli has experience educating broadcast engineers about a new digital transmission standard that spans a decade, there is an important difference this time around, he says. “Back in the day, it was mandated that broadcasters convert to digital; this time it’s not. So, we are going to see what interest there is and what timeframe that takes,” says Sgrignoli.

Without a mandate and a deadline, it is possible there could be a rush to Next Gen TV that compresses the roadshow schedule when compared to Sgrignoli’s initial efforts, says Hayes. “Whereas Gary’s original program was sort of done on an as-needed basis, more by local SBE chapters and SMPTE chapters and other organizations, this one needs to get out in a hurry because 3.0 could happen a whole lot faster than DTV ever did, and it could happen in places where we least expect it,” says Hayes.

Another difference is the depth of the 3.0 standard. It’s entirely possible that a series of ATSC 3.0 Roadshows ultimately will be needed to examine the multiple, different aspects of the standard for station engineers, but that is a decision for the future, says Sgrignoli.

For the moment, however, the one-day seminar is focused on the physical layer so that broadcast engineers can address getting 3.0 on air at the most fundamental level, he says.

An ATSC 3.0 Roadshow syllabus is available online. To register for the Las Vegas coarse visit the IEEE BTS website. 

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

LAS VEGAS—Bleeding-edge tech and issues will be front-and-center at this year’s Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference (BEITC) at the 2019 NAB Show. This year’s conference runs April 6-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the North Hall meeting rooms.

“The focus of the 2019 BEITC is, as always, the latest and most authoritative technical presentations of broadcast and related media technologies, from experts in their respective fields,” said Skip Pizzi, vice president of technology education and outreach for NAB. “Presentations will cover radio and television broadcasting technology, both on-air and online, including core audio, video and RF engineering topics as well as IT-related supportive elements.”

Big Topics this year include ATSC 3.0, artificial intelligence, IP-based facilities and SMPTE ST 2110/AES67, according to Pizzi. “The industry seems to be moving to calling this ‘professional media networking,’ so we are following suit—5G, big data, OTT, cybersecurity and content protection,” he said. “I hope delegates will come away having deepened their understanding of technologies critical to their personal skill sets and their employers’ operations, and ideally also learned a few brand new things.”

Given the wealth of compelling presentations scheduled for BEITC 2019, it wasn’t easy for Pizzi to choose some to recommend to TV Technology readers. The five below are by no means the only must-attend sessions at this year’s BEITC, but they do belong on this list.

TRANSITION TO ATSC 3.0

To address broadcasters’ questions about the transition to ATSC 3.0, the NAB and partnering broadcasters have created the “ATSC 3.0 Station Transition Guidelines Manual.” The details of the new manual will be explored during “Transitioning Television Markets to Next Gen TV is a Team Sport,” April 7. 3:20-3:40 p.m.

“The manual provides relevant information to all those involved with broadcast stations, large and small, in how a coordinated market transition may be implemented from the current ATSC-1 broadcast standard to the Next Gen TV platform or ATSC 3.0,” said Jeff Andrew, director of broadcast communications for Osborn Engineering, who along with NAB Senior Vice President of Technology Lynn Claudy will speak at the conference. “This session is for all broadcast executives and engineers who want to learn more about how to make ATSC 3.0 part of their stations’ business.”

The new manual is being unveiled at a crucial time for U.S. TV broadcasters. Unlike the move from NTSC to ATSC-1, “the conversion to ATSC 3.0 is especially challenging since there will be no additional interim TV channel made available by the FCC during the transition,” said Andrew. “Most stations will have to coordinate within their particular markets with other stations in order to form channel-sharing agreements to be able to provide legacy ATSC 1 programming and the new Next Gen TV services. In most television markets, cooperation between stations, commercial and non-commercial, with be key in order to have a successful market transitions to ATSC 3.0.

“Hopefully most of their questions will be answered on how to get started, including formulating the budgets required to convert [repacking and non-repacking], and the new Next Gen equipment needed to be acquired for your plant in order to broadcast ATSC 3.0, plus ways to coordinate with station managers and engineers in your markets to work together on the transition to Next Gen TV in a timely manner.”

REPACK: THE 1 WTC EXPERIENCE

With broadcasters now in Phase 2 of the channel repack, BEITC attendees can learn how it was accomplished in the nation’s largest media market at “No More Broadcaster Silos: Lessons on the Repack from Phases 1 and 2,” Sunday April 7, 3:40-4:40 p.m. in N256.

“We start with a repack case study of the transmission center at 1 World Trade Center in New York, which services seven broadcasters in the most densely populated geography of any RF site in the U.S.,” said moderator and broadcast marketing consultant Josh Gordon. “The date of this session will be four days from the completion of the repack's Phase 2 which, unlike Phase 1, will include stations in heavily populated areas.”

Panelists include John Lyons, assistant vice president at the Durst Organization and Director of Broadcast Operations at 1 World Trade Center; Doug Lung, vice president of Broadcast Technology at NBC/Telemundo stations and long-time TV Technology columnist; Nick Wymant, CTO at RFS Systems; and Stephen Kolvek, CTO at MYAT, Inc.

One of the issues up for discussion will include repack-linked stations, according to Gordon. “Doug Lung and John Lyons first realized the extent of this issue when formulating test plans for the post-repack facility at 1 World Trade Center,” Gordon said. “As a broadcaster moves to its new repack frequency, it becomes ‘linked’ to the station that currently occupies that frequency. Before a station can move to its new channel, stations on that channel have to move to their new channel, which in many cases is occupied by another station that has to move to a new channel and so on. The presentation will trace how the linked chain of stations that must move before WCBS-TV in New York City can move extends as far as Ohio and Ontario.”

Wymant and Kolvek, whose companies were involved with the 1 World Trade Center build, will add perspective on the state of repack building services nationwide, Gordon added. “We anticipate discussing other issues that will come up during Phase 2.”

APPLICATION TELEVISION

With ATSC 3.0, broadcasters will be able to offer apps for their viewers to consume live and VOD content via over-the-top (OTT) streaming services. This change will plunge broadcasters into “The Brave New World of Application Television,” a BEITC 2019 session hosted by Jim DeChant, vice president of Technology for News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting, April 7, 2:30-2:50 p.m. in Rm. N256.

"My presentation will explore ATSC 3.0 mechanisms for signalling and replacing content, methods for defining clip order, interfacing with content decision engines and the use of media cache to facilitate dynamic content replacement in an application based display system,” DeChant said. “Advanced signalling techniques offer new ways to provide a ‘broadcast quality' streaming experience featuring UHD video, immersive audio and a customized user content via a process known as ‘Dynamic Content Replacement.’"

DeChant will assess the value of broadband routers, storage devices and ATSC 3.0-capable consumer receivers for handling Application Television. The need for common mezzanine formats, media identifiers, content security and new technologies like Common Media Application Format will also be discussed. "These systems will bring a new content ecosystem to our homes, cars and businesses improving the media experience through dynamic content replacement," he said.

DELIVERING UHD HDR CONTENT

With the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Winter Olympics delivered in UHD HDR, the demand for the ultra hi-res standard is on the upswing worldwide. Although the signals were transmitted over a variety of cable TV, DTH, IPTV, terrestrial and OTT platforms using HDR10/PQ10 and HLG10 standards, for many broadcasters and content providers, UHD HDR remains a “black box,”—they know what it is, but are not quite sure what how it works.

“Demystifying Live UHD HDR Service Delivery” will reveal what’s inside the black box. The session, held April 10, 10:40-11:00 a.m. in Rm. N260 is hosted by Thierry Fautier, Harmonic's vice president of video strategy and president of the Ultra HD Forum.

“I will examine all of the different deployment scenarios and analyze the rationale for picking a specific HDR solution," said Fautier. "Additionally, I'll discuss some of the UHD HDR delivery challenges and recent technology innovations that are enhancing UHD HDR experiences."

Fautier will also tackle the topic of backwards compatibility and provide insights on how operators are deploying live HDR. "Beyond shedding light on some of the inherent challenges of delivering UHD HDR, I'll look at how the current HDR experience can be improved using advanced techniques, such as dynamic mapping while still being backward compatible with an installed base of existing HDR receivers," he said.

USING BLOCKCHAIN IN MEDIA PRODUCTION

IP-connected data lives in an insecure cyberspace constantly beset by hackers and other security threats. Blockchain is an IT architecture that stands up against such threats by creating a “distributed ledger” across a distributed, peer-to-peer network that resists data modification by outsiders, while accepting ongoing updates and growth of the records.

Also referred to as a form of online “crypto-currency,” blockchain can also be deployed as a centralized, secure platform for managing all of the revenues, records and expenses associated with producing content. Groupe Média TFO Vice-President and COO Éric Minoli will explain how this can be accomplished in “Blockchain - An Opportunity to Refine Intellectual Property Management,"April 10, 11:40 a.m.-noon in Rm. N258.

“Alongside the creative challenge of producing and distributing great video content internationally, there is a huge administrative burden,” said Minoli. “At Groupe Média TFO, we have developed a prototype platform which uses blockchain to create a completely fresh approach to managing all these relationships and identifying practical savings in administration.” This blockchain-based platform is designed to work during the production process and afterwards “when continuing payments are still contractual obligations but the production company may no longer have the resources available to complete them,” he said. “Indeed, it may not exist at all.”

Groupe Média TFO’s blockchain prototype has been tested in Canada and in France, and is available for use by other media groups.

For more information on the Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference, visit theBEITChomepage.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—As part of a new partnership between UNC-TV Public Media North Carolina, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology and the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina for a public safety research center, new products and services will be developed from ATSC 3.0/Next Gen TV applications for first responders and public safety response.

UNC-TV had previously been recognized by NAB’s PILOT program for its proposal to use the ATSC 3.0 standard for the public safety community.

All of the organizations that make up this partnership believe that Next Gen TV will be able to assist public safety organizations throughout North Carolina. The Public Research Center’s mission will be to evaluate and analyze potential applications and work with organizations and individuals to realize them. The initial focus will be Next Gen TV technologies, but there will be the possibility of expanding to future communication and broadcast technologies.

“To put it simply, public safety organizations can save more lives if they can communicate faster, make their information more accurate and increase the reliability and reach of their networks, “said Red Grasso, director of the First Responder Emerging Technologies program with NC DIT. “... I am extremely excited and optimistic that Next Gen TV may help with all three of these areas.”

“With UNC-TV’s vast statewide broadcast network we can leverage this future technology well beyond television programming and include critical messaging that can save lives,” added Fred Engel, UNC-TV Public Media North Carolina’s chief technology officer.

In its first year, the research center will operate out of the WRC in Wake Forest, N.C. The initial batch of funding will target acquiring and operating equipment for supporting and expanding research on the application and utility of Next Gen TV technology to emergency responder communication devices. The research center is being designed as an environment for Next Gen TV exploration, training and testing that will provide access, resources and expertise to state and national organizations and agencies, including commercial and non-commercial broadcasters.

The center is expected to use radio frequency “quiet rooms” and laboratory quality test equipment to test and measure the transmission and reception capability of Next Gen TV for potential devices for first responders. Standards will be developed to use the technology following initial proof of concept validation.

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

PALM DESERT, Calif.—A standard feature of the annual Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Tech Retreat being held here is the Wednesday Broadcasters’ Panel. At this year’s conference, four representatives from the broadcasting industry—Del Parks, senior vice president/CTO for Sinclair Broadcast Group; Cox Media’s Dave Siegler, vice president of technical operations for Cox Media Group; Richard Friedel, executive vice president and general manager of engineering and operations for Fox Network; and Skip Pizzi, vice president of technology education and outreach for NAB—were quizzed about current broadcasting issues by MediaKind Senior Vice President of Technology Matthew Goldman, who placed the rollout of ATSC 3.0 service at the top of his list.

All panelists agreed that moving to this advanced television service would be neither simple nor easy, as a number of factors are in play that make it anything but easy. The foremost of these is lack of the expansion spectrum that broadcasters were provided with in the analog-to-digital transition in 2009. With the shortage of spectrum that now exists, a change by one station in an individual market involves all of the TV broadcast operations there.

“It’s not a single station matter; it’s a market exercise,” said Parks. “There are five, seven, or maybe 10 stations in a given market and there has to be a high degree of technical coordination within that market in order to clear spectrum for 3.0 services. [Once this is done] it’s essentially the installation of a different exciter and possibly some different transmitter plumbing.”

Asked about the NAB’s involvement in helping to initiate ATSC 3.0 broadcasting in the United States, Pizzi stated that his organization is now actively working on a program to assist broadcasters in combining their efforts to launch 3.0 on the air in their markets.

“This has to be a team effort, and that’s a little unusual,” said Pizzi, noting the competitive nature of the broadcasting business. He stated that NAB is developing a “best practices” guide to assist stations in transitioning to next-generation broadcasting, as well as offering guidance to state broadcasting organizations and providing information to local media organizations to help educate viewers as to the changes that will be occurring with television service in their markets.

TIMELINES FOR 3.0 LAUNCHES

Asked about Fox’s plans to transition to 3.0, Friedel stated that there was an initiative to launch service in a number of the larger markets served by Fox, with a goal of completion by Christmas 2020. Parks said that his group had committed to establishing next-gen service in 25 to 30 markets by the end of 2019.

However, when Goldman mentioned the absence of 3.0 capable receivers at January’s CES, all panelists agreed that this could also be a handicapping factor in rolling out the new service.

“I understand that there won’t be that many sets out there capable of 3.0 in the first year,” said Parks.

Pizzi agreed, likening the situation as it exists now to a classic case of “chicken and egg,” with set manufacturers reluctant to offer 3.0 sets for sale when few, if any broadcasters, are broadcasting in 3.0, and broadcasters being equally reluctant to commit to transmitting next-gen TV signals when there are no viewers.

“I think broadcasters, in general, realize that we‘ve got to be the chicken," Pizzi said. “We’ve got to be out there first and put the services up on the air proactively and hope the manufacturers will build the receivers.”

Goldman suggested that lack of a government mandate to move to 3.0 operation was also possible stumbling block. Pizzi agreed.

“In Korea where there is a mandate, they have a roadmap,” he said. “And even there they’re going to take until 2027 before they have everything turned on in 3.0 and then start turning off 1.0 services. So, we shouldn’t expect with a voluntary transition—particularly where we have to do it with market-by-market cooperation—for it not to take a good 10 years to happen.”

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

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. and BANGALORE, India—If ATSC 3.0 is to find success, not only must U.S. broadcasters begin transmitting Next-Gen TV, but viewers must be able to receive it.

Global information technology specialist Wipro Limited has a solution addressing the reception piece of the equation–not simply for manufacturers of smart TVs, but also for pay TV service providers, OEMs, original design manufacturers (ODMs), semiconductor companies and others.

Last week it announced a partnership with Seattle-based startup Airwaz.tv to offer an integration-ready solution for Android TV, Linux and other operating systems to support OTA broadcast and broadband reception of Next-Gen TV content by TVs and other IP-enabled devices.

“Airwavz.tv is delighted to have Wipro as a strategic partner,” said Bonnie Beeman, founder and CEO of Airwavz Inc. “We plan to continue working closely together on Next Gen TV solutions for the mobile market in North America. Customers can now take advantage of Airwavz’s lightweight portable RedZone TV Receiver, and Wipro’s professional grade ATSC 3.0 stack, to extend the reach of broadcast television beyond fixed TV.”

Airwavz.tv is targeting TV engineers, software developers, RF engineers and 3.0 deployment teams as the intended users of its RedZone receiver kit, which is priced at $895. That group of users is vitally important to the ultimate rollout of 3.0 in consumer devices.

[Read: Airwavz.Tv Launches Quarterback DTV Smartphone Receiver]

The RedZone receiver is a dongle that serves as an ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 digital TV front-end tuner-demodulator. It plugs into the USB interface of computers and other devices.

Wipro’s 3.0 solution provides full support for hybrid TV viewing and enables viewing of broadcast video content on a range of devices, such as set-top-boxes, smart TVs, media gateways, mobiles, tablets, dongles and in-car entertainment units.

The solution offers features that enable 3.0, including support for broadband services, security, watermarking, file download, 4K, immersive audio, 3D TV, VoD media players and TTML closed captions, as well as primary features like Live TV, electronic service guide, parental controls, emergency warning alert and multi-language support.

“Powered by a mature DTV design and a robust partner ecosystem, the solution is well-equipped to address the challenges faced by our customers and accelerate their time-to-market for product development and deployment,” said Anita Ganti, senior vice president and Global Head, Product Engineering, Industrial and Engineer Business, at Wipro Limited. “Our early adoption of the ATSC 3.0 standards has helped us offer best-in-class Digital TV Middleware Solutions and reinforce our position as a partner of choice in the media industry.”

To learn more about the RedZone Receiver Kit, visit the Airwavz.tv website.

To learn about the Wipro Limited visit the company’s website.

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

DALLAS—Construction and connectivity work on the ATSC 3.0 Single Frequency Network (SFN) being installed in the Dallas-Fort Worth Designated Market Area, American Tower announced in January.

The SFN, a collaboration of American Tower, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Univision Local Media, Nexstar and Spectrum Co., consists of four existing American Tower sites located around market in both metro and suburban sites to maximize signal strength across the DMA.

“The construction phase went quite smoothly,” said Ed Tiongson, Director, Product Innovation for American Tower. “With these ATSC 3.0 deployments, it’s critical to draw on expertise to synchronize SFN towers effectively, including integrating the network components, such as antennas, transmitters, and radios for optimum signal delivery.”

[Read: Dallas ATSC 3.0 SFN Buildout Nears Completion]

The towers, electrical power, fiber network and transmitter buildings at sites in Fort Worth, Denton and Garland, Texas, were upgraded for TV. A pre-fab building was also added in Garland, and a point-to-point microwave link between the Denton and Fort Worth sites was also installed, the company said.

The work included upgrades to networking, internet exchange, fiber and data center connectivity as well as three-phase power. Comark transmitters and exciters also were added at each site, the company said.

The main transmission tower site in Cedar Hill, Texas –currently the main 1.0 transmission site—received an upgrade of ATSC 3.0 transmission equipment, rounding out the four-site SFN, American Tower said.

With the 3.0 SFN infrastructure in place, validation testing of RF design and link budget will begin. Evaluating operational workflows is also on tap. “Once the RF measurements are validated, we will be able to scale for additional sites in the future as business needs dictate,” said Jim Leifer, Senior Manager, Broadcast Operations at American Tower.

March 1 is targeted as the date the SFN will light up, said Mark Aitken, Sinclair vice president of Advanced Technology and President of ONE Media LLC, in a recent Q&A with TVTechnology.

“The holdup on this one is the MVPD notification process, and the FCC is a stickler on making sure we run out the 120 days,” said Aitken.

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

Part 2

While the International CES 2019 was top of mind for Mark Aitken, president of ONE Media LLC and vice president of Advanced Technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group (as discussed in part 1 of this Q&A), far more is happening with regards to broadcast standards and ATSC 3.0.

In part two of this interview, Aitken reveals Sinclair’s plan to rollout ATSC 3.0 in 26 markets in 2019, where Sinclair’s Dallas SFN rollout stands, why 3.0 naysayers will soon see they are off target, the effect multistandard TV exciters and receivers may have on the future of standards and his thoughts on the announcement that ATSC President Mark Richer will soon retire.

(An edited transcript.)

TV TECHNOLOGY:ENENSYS/TeamCast and Comark recently announced they were showing a DTV exciter with support for both 3.0 and DVB-T2 waveforms at BES Expo 2019, India.

At CES, ONE Media rolled out its new multi-standard DTV tuner chipsets with support for at least a dozen standards, including 3.0.

It seems to me that multistandard TV exciters and receivers may usher in a new era in which TV standards become something different than they traditionally have been. In other words, it’s hard to see how TV standards in the future will serve as mechanisms to protect markets, regions, economic interests and even competing political systems. What do you think?

MARK AITKEN: I am sure that I have said Broadcast Market Exchange, BMX, to you on more than one occasion.

We started seven or eight years ago –before we even entered the ATSC process for this standard. We started putting out some white papers and articles about the notion of a Broadcast Market Exchange.

Part of that was looking at what was going on in the spectrum sharing worldview and a lot of that came out of the foundational work even before there was CBRS (citizens band radio service).

CBRS is different spectrum, but it’s all about spectrum sharing and providing spectrum access. So, the Broadcast Market Exchange we envisioned tied together broadcast stations on a virtual basis to create a national network.

That in fact to a large degree was the reason we worked with Nexstar to start Spectrum Co. And Spectrum Co is involved in a lot of conversations right now based on our own commitment to build out [ATSC 3.0] in 26 markets this year and finding other partners in those markets.

That’s all backdrop. The point is we had this thing called the Broadcast Market Exchange that envisioned this world of virtualization. The very same world that is at the heart of 5G –not a bunch of hardware, but in fact cloud-based, virtualized functions.

Well on the other side of the world in India, one of the things that attracted me to Saankhya is that they shared a very, very similar view and about four years ago wrote a series of white papers–and there will be another one coming out shortly—on something called a cognitive radio access network.

Cognitive is now being morphed into AI because everybody believes they know what AI means.

To your point, imagine a network where you have software-defined radios, software-defined receivers. You have a network that when you apply AI has a cognitive ability to determine based upon a set of requirements of how best to deliver a wireless set of packets.

If you can describe the attributes of various technologies, you suddenly have a network that can on its own define unique waveforms to deliver [data] in the most effective and efficient way.

The short word for this is AI-RAN [AI Radio Access Network] where you deploy a network with the ability to shape waveforms and radios that can conform to those waveforms. You can begin to envision a world in 10 years, perhaps less, where you don’t even have a standard per se of a fixed set of waveforms. But in fact you have a network that is capable of producing its own waveforms on a flexible, desirable basis.

I would add that I think that becomes almost essential in a future world where you are looking for security at all levels.

Imagine the ability on a data-frame-by-data-frame basis to convey that data with a slightly different waveform based on a 128-bit or 256-bit encoding scheme.

Suddenly not only are you encoding data, but you are effectively encoding waveforms and obviating the need for a fixed standard.

TVT:So this would be a whole new level of security.

MA: Exactly. You could define your own unique waveform. You are not going to hard code that into a chip because it’s your unique waveform. It’s your own modulation, your own coding scheme. The only thing that is common is this bootstrap.

TVT:Probably from its inception, there have been 3.0 naysayers. Some, given the dearth of 3.0 TVs at this year’s CES, say the Next-Gen TV standard is 'DOA.' Clearly, you don’t see it that way. How would you respond to the naysayers?

MA: I’ve not gone to two CES shows in a row where the theme and the thrust of the show on the outward side wasn’t about something new.

CES is always about something new, and this year, surprisingly or not, it wasn’t just one thing. On the surface, you certainly had 5G, 8K and autonomous vehicles. But all of those things, if you think about it, come back to a flexible means to convey any and all of that.

And so, while there was not a big stage for ATSC 3 television devices, ATSC 3 fits into all of those devices.

And I think if you talked to the manufacturers there are a couple of reasons they haven’t launched new ATSC 3 product lines. One of them is technical, and one of them is market.

On the technical side, it is the issue of content protection. You know the ability to ensure that content [remains safe], creating a high enough bar that you haven’t got easy theft, easy access and therefore easy distribution of an all-IP piece of content.

We are a long ways down that road, and I think in a couple of months there will be an announcement of industry alignment and cohesion around a content protection solution.

And I would venture and say it will be supported by the consumer electronics industry, broadcasters and the MVPDs. If you don’t have that, you’re not going to sell ATSC 3 sets into a marketplace.

Probably the more important piece–and I fully understand this from a product manufacturer’s perspective—where are the 3.0 signals? Where is the content?

We are answering that with an absolute public commitment to launch 26 markets by the end of this year.

When we start launching those markets and there is a clear set of objectives for where those markets are and how the content is going to be protected–when all those things come together—the problem is not a technical problem, it’s the realities of a new market, making sure the new market is alive.

TVT:Have you announced Sinclair’s 26 ATSC 3.0 rollout markets for this year?

MA: We have not publicly stated those yet. We have internally as of today, and we will externally two weeks hence.

We know the 26 markets in which we need nobody to participate to create channel shares and offload channels from one to another to clear a channel for 3.0.

But we have also engaged ourselves in discussions through Spectrum Co. We actually have more than 26 markets. I can tell you that we have commitments from a number of broadcasters to participate in a large number of markets. We have one broadcaster that will be working with us in five markets –somebody outside of Spectrum Co.

I think you will see a public announcement of those markets in a couple of weeks.

TVT:Where does the Sinclair SFN deployment in Dallas stand?

MA: It will light up March 1 at all sites. Actually, I just reminded myself I have to check with legal on this one. The holdup on this one is the MVPD notification process, and the FCC is a stickler on making sure we run out the 120 days. That is why it is March.

But I am saying that with a smile because I don’t know how this partial government shutdown impacts that. I am certainly hopeful that the government will be back to being as dysfunctional as it can be by then.

TVT:Sinclair has announced its STIRR OTT service. It seems like this might be a good learning experience and springboard for launching many aspects of an over-the-air IP-based broadcast service like ATSC 3.0. Is that the case?

MA: There is nothing that we are doing that is not focused on the 3.0 future. So, there is a whole lot of learning that comes out of these things.

So, yeah, STIRR is local-advertiser-supported. It has a lot of the moving pieces that end up being connected to 3.0.

When you think of 3.0, you think of broadcast and broadband. OTT sits right alongside of OTA, and while the ad tech might be slightly different between OTT and OTA because OTT is unicast, a one-to-one relationship with folks, there is a lot of technical convergence between the two.

TVT:Finally, the Advanced Television Systems Committee announced that its president, Mark Richer, would soon be retiring. I know you and Mark have a long history–I believe going back to the early DTV days at Comark. What are your thoughts?

MA: I could almost say I love Mark like a brother, and it’s not as though we haven’t had our differences. We have.

When we are together we have this little routine that we go through that we are the “Co-Marks.” Mark ran the Comark Digital Services Group. That is what he was hired in to do at Comark. It was me and the president at the time who brought him in.

We’ve remained very close. We’ve always had the utmost respect for each other, and very recently I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time together with him in India. We went to the Taj Mahal together.

The industry will miss him. The industry will come to understand that leading an organization that demands consensus is a very trying job. It takes a lot of skill and a lot of talent to try to maintain congeniality in the face of confrontation. It takes a lot of effort to intercede and provide a calming effect and bring aggrieved parties together.

A lot of this is finding the common ground as opposed to highlighting the differences. Mark has affected a lot of people in a very positive way, and he made it look really easy, but I can assure you it was a most difficult job that he was a champion of.

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

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A new survey from Pearl TV shows that consumers are most interested in the enhanced picture and audio quality that Next Gen TV (aka ATSC 3.0) will bring to broadcast television.

Pearl TV is a consortium of station groups and manufacturers testing ATSC 3.0 in Phoenix. The Phoenix Model Market is not only testing the technology but also working with industry research firm Magid to analyze consumer interest in the standard, which combines traditional over the air broadcasting with IP. The two have released numerous surveys over the past several years, all pointing to enthusiastic support when consumers learn about the capabilities of ATSC 3.0.

[Read: Magid Survey: Viewers 'Like' ATSC 3.0 Features]

This most recent research was the result of consumer lab testing Magid recently conducted in conjunction with the Phoenix Model Market project partners and the Pearl TV broadcast business group. In lab testing, viewers said that the ATSC 3.0 capabilities could make them start watching broadcast programming (even if they don’t currently do so). Some broadcast viewers also said an ATSC 3.0-enabled device could make them want to watch broadcast TV even more than they currently watch.

“Consumers find most value in the combination of features. The combination of Enhanced Video – 4K video with High Dynamic Range – and Immersive 3D Audio have the broadest appeal,” noted Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle.

“The consumer sentiment that we heard and felt most during the lab testing was excitement about ATSC 3.0 capabilities and a high overall level of interest in engaging with those capabilities and services through their local broadcasters,” said Bill Hague, Executive Vice President, Magid.

Overall, 91 percent of consumers say they are either “interested” or “very interested” in using a service like Next-Gen ATSC 3.0, with enhanced audio features, including immersive 3D and dialogue customization features having the broadest appeal.

80 percent of consumers say they are either “interested” or “very interested” in purchasing an ATSC 3.0 television or add-on device.

Pearl conducted 12 consumer labs and 6 focus groups in late October 2018. Each lab consisted of 7-9 men and women 18-54 who spend at least five hours a week watching television. A total of 95 participated in the labs and 38 in the focus groups. 

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

LAS VEGAS--SBE announced this week that it will offer an all-day tutorial on ATSC 3.0 (aka Next Gen TV) right after the 2019 PBS TechCon, April 6 at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel. The tutorial is open to all, and costs $95 for SBE and PBS members, $145 for non-members.

The tutorial will cover regulations that dictate the requirements of the transition and technical compliance. These include MVPD notifications, carriage and 1.0 host requirements and agreements. It will also cover RF testing and field measurements and the importance of the scheduler feature in the standard. Additional topics will cover adoption, timing, budgeting, project planning and (looking further out), the enhanced content and services that Next Gen TV will enable.

In announcing the tutorial, the organization cautioned broadcasters to have a realistic approach to deployment of ATSC 3.0.

“Everybody in your world will want to know what NextGen is all about,” it said. “Some will have overindulged in the hype. Most will have more misunderstandings than real knowledge (we don't throw out TVs this time). For others, there will be fear, uncertainty and dread. We'll conclude with what is real and what is not, matching adoption curves with equipment life cycles. We will separate what happens today and what happens further down the road. In particular, we'll look at what changes in broadcast station architecture and workflows, including digital ad insertion and ad tech, will help move the revenue needle.

“When the hype becomes real, it is always a big deal.”

Registration is available at bit.ly/SBEatPBS.

Also on Saturday at TechCon, the the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society will host an ATSC 3.0 Roadshow, including a training seminar taught by expert Gary Sgrignoli of Meintel, Sgrignoli, and Wallace, the noted digital TV transmission consulting firm. This course will cover the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer and prepare participants to take the SBE ATSC 3.0 certification exam.

Registration and seminar information can be found on bts.ieee.org.

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

HUNT VALLEY, MD.--Fresh off the rollout of a multistandard DTV receiver chipset with support for ATSC 3.0 at the International CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Mark Aitken, president of ONE Media LLC and VP of Advanced Technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group is greatly encouraged about the prospects for ATSC 3.0.

Taking center stage for ONE Media at the annual consumer electronics extravaganza was the rollout of a receiver chipset capable of receiving 12 different digital television standards, including 3.0.

But Aitken’s enthusiasm extends well beyond the favorable reception the receiver chipset received at the show. The exhibit also featured a new broadcast radio head designed to integrate the inherent efficiencies and effectiveness of one-to-many OTA broadcasting into 4G and 5G wireless data networks.

Aitken–a long-time proponent of offloading the one-to-many portion of wireless network operators’ traffic to broadcast—says the broadcast radio head was favorably received by representatives of wireless networks and their suppliers in Las Vegas.

In this, the first of a two-part interview, Aitken talks about the multistandard DTV receiver chipset, the new broadcast radio head, LTE Broadcast and 5G and how 5G standards development envision integration of multiple wireless networks. He also provides an update on his offer to give away 1 million of new receiver chips to any vendor that promises to build them into mobile and portable devices.

(An edited transcript.)

TVTechnology:How would you characterize the reaction coming out of CES 2019 to ONE Media’s rollout of two multistandard DTV receiver chips with support for ATSC 3.0?

Mark Aitken: I would say I was startled by the level of activity and positive feedback.

What I mean by that is we had various meetings set up with Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese, Indian and U.S. companies—makers of dongles, set-top boxes, TV sets and gateways.

The discussions were not just about the chip. The other thing that was in the room as a backdrop for the chip was Saankhya had almost a dozen different applications of software-defined receivers. They ran the gamut from USB dongles and tablets to satellite radios and modulators.

Alongside of that was a product we are in the process of developing as a direct result of our conversations on the convergence of broadcast and broadband. We showed a prototype broadcast radio head.

TVT:What’s that?

MA: A broadcast radio head is a small, outdoor-mount utility device, not at all unlike an LTE radio head, except supporting broadcast.

We were involved in designing that for a customer deployment. The idea is pretty simple–a box that can sit on a tower alongside LTE and 5G that is designed to tie into the data network, the intelligent network of a telecom operator. In the 4G world, it’s the “EPC” [Evolved Packet Core]. In 5G, it’s the new 5G Core architecture.

The point is we are headlong into defining the interconnect of Next-Gen Broadcast to the world of telcom as a supplemental download or auxiliary download or however you want to view it—but a broadcast spectrum-enabled device that allows the conveyance of telcom data across an ATSC 3 waveform.

By the way, I almost hate to say ATSC 3 because with the implementation that is being prototyped and coming into a proof of concept we are supporting parts of the ATSC 3 standard that are extensions that will be enabled and signaled via the bootstrap. So, we are already evolving the standard.

TVT:So, from a wireless operator’s point of view, does this broadcast radio head fulfill what you have talked about for a long time: a technology that enables an operator to offload its one-to-many data traffic to broadcast, thus preserving a significant portion of its wireless network?

MA: Absolutely. It is being designed as a replacement to the very poorly conceived, very poorly implemented multicast mode in the LTE environment.

It’s known to the consumer as LTE Broadcast. It’s eMBMS [Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service].

But eMBMS is a unicast-enabled multicast mode of operation, and it is unicast-enabled because it can’t stand on its own as a broadcast waveform. It lives in the unicast environment and demands the ability to do lost packet replacement knowing there is going to be lost packets replaced versus a designed broadcast standard that is meant to stand on its own.

We are doing all of the plumbing. We are involved in India, not just with the chip development, but we are also a member of the telecom standards organization in India, TSDSI [Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India].

They are working at defining the standard that would allow anybody to a take a non-3GPP [Third Generation Partnership Project] broadcast radio—and I call it a radio because that’s how the telcom guys like to think of it—and tie it into a 3GPP access network. We are defining all the attributes that allow this non-3GPP radio to be integrated into that network.

TVT:What about 5G? It seems like you will be going head to head against what operators plan for 5G broadcast.

MA: Well, these go hand-in-hand. What we are doing is providing an invaluable supplemental feed that is actually aligned with the 5G standard.

TVT:Let me clarify what I was asking. I guess it’s a matter of perspective because I know some broadcasters—and you specifically—have talked about 3.0 being an integral part of a future 5G network. But I don’t know if the wireless industry has shown it is receptive to that and will let broadcasters play in their sandbox.

MA: Look, part of this is a matter of who owns the spectrum. Part of this is a matter of who controls the network.

So, the 3GPP spectrum I am talking about is “TS22.261, Release 16.” http://www.3gpp.org/news-events/3gpp-news/1831-sa1_5g. There are all kinds of pieces to this puzzle, but it [broadcast spectrum] is one of the many.

TS22.261 is the 3GPP technical standard and system aspects that define service requirements for 5G systems. It’s known as Release 16, and it’s not finished yet. But from its inception, Release 16 has continued to address the requirements to work in conjunction with 3GPP and non-3GPP systems.

There is an absolute recognition that 3GPP doesn’t live in the world by itself. There are other standards, and the true nature of 5G has nothing to do with specific spectrum.

You say 5G, and there are some people who think it is 20 GHz, or it is millimeter wave or it’s 60 GHz. People jump to the spectrum side of it, and there is some spectrum that is being opened up for advanced radios.

But at its heart, 5G is about convergence. 5G is about multi-radios. 5G is about how do we assemble all of the available radio assets into a unified environment? How does a telco fully utilize WiFi, how does it fully utilize all the efforts that are going on in CBRS [Citizens Broadband Radio Service].

How do all of these things get pulled together in one place? That is what this 5G spec is all about. It’s about convergence. It’s about heterogeneous networks—that’s the fancy term. Hybrid networks is an easier one to think about. And we have talked for so long about this convergence of broadcast and broadband—I don’t know how many different ways I have tried to describe it, but it goes much deeper than simply it’s [3.0 is] IP-enabled.

But I can tell you that if it weren’t IP-enabled, there would be no discussion on the table.

Great, it’s IP-enabled. That means the same stuff that flows across the carrier’s [spectrum] can flow across our spectrum. Check that box off. Well, how do you control that? How do you put that as an active, living mechanism under the control of a network operator? We are doing that work.

And I say all of that because if you walked into the room [at CES] and you could have the big screen TVs and the very same 3.0 chip doing ATSC 3 on one screen and ATSC 1 on another screen. If you wanted, it could have been DVB-T, DVB-T2 or ISDB-T. It could have been some of the advanced DVB satellite [standards]. It could be any of those.

But the point is in the background of that was this whole vibrant discussion of what if broadcasters were doing something more than television. There’s a shock.

I always have to draw people’s attention to the fact that ATSC was building a television standard. We were engaged in ATSC because we wanted a broadcast standard.

What you have in ATSC 3 is a broadcast standard, a broadcast television standard, but by nature of elements that were foundational—and by the way ours, I mean down to the IPR [intellectual property rights]—we ensured that we were not precluded from doing the other things we knew were possible with a newly baked, green field broadcast standard. Now we are beginning to explore those areas.

TVT:What sort of things?

MA: A very simple example, if you want high-speed mobility, an 8K FFT [fast Fourier transform] is not good enough. 8K gets you up to 100-plus mph. But what if you want a broadcast standard that can operate at Autobahn speeds or will support bullet trains? What if you have a broadcast standard that is more than just automobiles?

Well, you need a 2K or 4K FFT—neither of which are in the ATSC 3 standard, but are fully possible if you want to create a modulator that will do a 4K FFT for example—and a receiver that will process a 4K FFT.

Guess what. We have a software-defined radio. So, we can literally create a waveform on the front end and demodulate that waveform on the backend because both ends of that are software-defined.

We are doing simple stuff first, but it will advance to different coding techniques, different modulation schemes. We are crawling. We are just starting down the road.

So, in the background in this room [at CES], there was this radio head on a big tripod and an antenna attached to it that was demonstrating to people that there are products being envisioned and prototyped and that are going to be deployed that fit directly into the mobile network operator environment.

I choose those words carefully because it wasn’t until we were having discussions with one of the major providers to the telco industry, as we are describing this, that they said you are describing an architectural element.

We said, you are absolutely right. This is building a mobile network operation a bit differently. It’s just the primary architectural element is broadcast, not unicast. It’s not to the exclusion of unicast.

TVT:A couple of years ago at the ATSC annual meeting, you made an offer to provide 1 million ATSC 3.0 mobile receiver chips for free to mobile or portable device makers. Did your CES chipset rollout get you any takers?

MA: We had a couple of conversations with dongle manufacturers who wanted to know how they would take advantage of our offer. So, we’ve now got two vendors with whom we’ve had that first level of discussion. We are getting down to how we make that happen.

I can’t give you all the details of that, but the criteria for that was simply that it’s a party that commits to putting a million of these chips into mobile and portable devices, and that is a fairly broad range of products. And they may not all be ATSC 3.

In Part II,  Mark will discuss his concept of a "broadcast market exchange," content security within ATSC 3.0 and Sinclair's plans for Next Gen TV deployment in 2019. 

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

SAN DIEGO and MILAN, ITALY—Verance Corp. has partnered with Fincons Group, an expert in deployment of Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) to advance the development of Next Gen TV in the United States and Europe, Verance said today.

Together the companies will combine Fincons’ expertise deploying HbbTV applications with Verance’s Aspect watermarking technology.

“We are pleased to partner with Fincons Group to provide programmers and manufacturers with additional tools and technologies that help them realize the benefits of Next Gen TV as quickly as possible” said Nil Shah, CEO of Verance.

Out of the gates, the companies will focus their efforts on accelerating ATSC 3.0/Next-Gen TV readiness in the United States and HbbTV in Europe. Projects include identifying and developing consumer offerings, business models and proof of concept and market trial management.

“The convergence of broadcast and broadband enables novel strategies and new revenue streams within the traditional TV space,” said Francesco Moretti, Deputy CEO at Fincons. “We look forward to partnering with Verance to apply our HbbTV experience to the ATSC environment in the U.S. and include the Aspect watermark into our portfolio for the European market.”

More information is available on the Verance and Fincons Group website.

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

LAS VEGAS--As Yogi Berra might have observed about this year’s CES, “It was déjà vu all over again,” (at least with regard to the next-gen TV sets being displayed by both large and small manufacturers.)

Last year, with the ink still drying on the 3.0 standard and the FCC’s green-lighting of its use by the nation’s TV stations a couple of months earlier, ATSC, NAB and CTA industry officials gathered to celebrate its arrival with a champagne toast on the opening day of the CES. However, there was not a single 3.0-capable set to be found among the super-bright, super-big, super-colorful, super-intelligent, (and, in some cases, super-expensive) television receivers that literally reached the ceiling of the Los Vegas Convention Center which hosted the 2018 show.

Fast forward a year—has there been any change in the 3.0 situation?

In a word, no! If anything, there was less ATSC 3.0 presence this time, as one TV manufacturer did put up a sign in its 2018 CES display space that touted the benefits of the new DTV transmission standard. Not even the sign was there this time.

CRITICAL MASS

While most of the TV set exhibitors quizzed about the lack of ATSC 3.0 product (which has been available since 2017 in South Korea) were silent about its absence at CES, John Taylor, senior vice president of public affairs for LG USA did offer an explanation.

“You’re a year or so early,” he said. “We’re trying to time the introduction of the product with the critical mass of Next-Gen TV broadcasting, and the whole industry seems to be moving toward a 2020 product launch.” Taylor did seem fairly certain that the 3.0 sets would be populating manufacturers’ exhibit spaces at the 2020 CES to “prime the pumps” of buyers who would be at that show to decide what to stock their stores with for the 2020 holiday buying season.

And while others in the industry have hinted that there may be a problem with delivery of some of the components needed for 3.0 sets, Taylor was quick to state otherwise.

“There’s no technology issue at all,” he said. “It’s a business marketplace consideration about the right time to introduce the product in the U.S. market. We could ship the product today. As you know, we’re shipping ATSC 3.0 TVs in Korea, but it has to make sense for the U.S. market and that’s heading towards 2020.”

Taylor noted that LG and its Zenith R&D subsidiary are providing receiver products and technical support for some of the U.S. ATSC 3.0 field trials.

THE VIEW FROM OVERSEAS

Peter Siebert, head of technology for the DVB (Digital Video Broadcast organization, a Swiss-based consortium that sets digital broadcast transmission standards for Europe, and is roughly the equivalent of the Advanced Television Systems Committee), was at the show and had a slightly more pessimistic view when asked about the appearance of ATSC 3.0 TVs at the 2020 edition of the “world’s biggest consumer electronics show.”

“I don’t think so,” said Siebert. “And the reason why I don’t think so is that there has to be a strong commitment from the broadcasting community to say ‘we will introduce the service,’ and personally from a European perspective, I don’t hear this message from the North American broadcasters.

“It’s a typical ‘chicken and egg’ problem and there must be somebody breaking it,” he continued. “The broadcasters must say ‘we offer a service.’ It doesn’t help that the industry develops products first. For example, when I look at the televisions, there are many 4K televisions on the market. However, this doesn’t mean that we have 4K broadcasts. I think the broadcaster has to make a firm commitment to introduce the service and then the receiver industry will follow.”

Siebert noted that when the United Kingdom decided to migrate from the original DVB-T (terrestrial broadcast) standard, which was struck in 1997, to an updated version, DVB-T2, which was completed in 2008, there was no “chicken and egg” situation because there was a clear commitment from the BBC for a rollout of the improved HD service via DVB-T2.

“It can go very fast if well planned,” he said, noting that the transition was accomplished in Ukraine in a single year and in two years in Germany. Siebert did admit that the move to DVB-T2 didn’t go quite so fast in every European nation, explaining that “typically, the more a country is relying on terrestrial television, the longer it takes, because you have a much bigger legacy of receivers that you have to update before you can start a new service.”

However, lack of suitable receivers didn’t seem to be an issue in the DVB-T2 transition.

“In Germany, when we went from DVB-T to DVB-T2, we had all stakeholders sitting together at a round table and making a plan on how to introduce T2,” said Siebert. “It was very clear. The broadcasters said on this date we will switch our transmissions to the new DVB-T2 specification. And it was also very clear that the consumer industry [would be] ready way before this, providing the necessary equipment. So, at the time the switchover happened, quite a high percentage of receiving equipment was ready. I think it is necessary that all stakeholders sit together, to agree on a plan and then stick to the plan.”

THE VIEW FROM SINCLAIR

Since ATSC 3.0’s inception, one of its biggest backers has been the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and for the past several years the broadcast station group has been at CES to promote the standard, even operating a transmitter on Black Mountain south of Las Vegas to provide TV set exhibitors with 3.0 signals to demonstrate reception of OTA UHD video at the show. Sinclair has also hosted demonstrations of 3.0 technologies a few blocks away from the convention halls in a suite at the Wynn Hotel.

Mark Aitken, Sinclair’s vice president of advanced technology, was on hand this year to offer his take on the absent ATSC 3.0 hardware.

“I think it’s very simple,” said Aitken. “There two issues. The difficult one is content protection, and this issue has not been answered. You’ve got a lot of dancing around on the part of the networks with respect to what their requirements are for content protection, and not a single solution that has been put on the table has been supported by all of the content providers—and I might add content distributors or MVPDs. So, you have a bit of a stalemate. For me, it’s a fairly easy one to resolve. I look at it and say as a starting point ‘if Widevine [DRM] is good enough for Netflix, why isn’t it good enough for broadcast?’

“The networks will always try to extract the broadcaster from out of the middle of the relationship with the consumer,” continued Aitken, noting that reluctance of networks and program providers to allow their content to be transmitted by affiliates deploying ATSC-M/H [aka Mobile DTV] was one of the reasons for that mobile initiative’s ultimate demise.

“I think there’s been a soft promise made on the part of broadcasters that we’re willing to come to a solution. There’s been an unwillingness on the part of the large content players to sit down and really try to solve that problem, at least with Sinclair. They have their own views and their views are not shared equally with all broadcasters. And so, for the very same reasons that we ended up with Dolby AC-4 as an abstraction of the Atmos production environment in Hollywood, the issue of content protection is being driven by those same Hollywood entities, which for a broadcaster is driven through the network.”

Aitken summed up the situation by stating: “It is a political problem, absolutely.”

Aitken said that Sinclair will light up 26 markets by the end of 2019.

“There’s a requirement by the FCC that there be some replication across ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0,” he said. “There may have to be an opportunity to force that issue at a regulatory level, which nobody really wants. But at the end of the day sometimes you solve problems by spilling a little blood first.”

THE CHIP

Despite his disappointment with this stalemate in the rollout of 3.0, Aitken was in a celebratory mood as he announced the release of an integrated circuit specially designed and fabricated for Sinclair. The chip’s unveiling marked the end of a nearly two-year journey that began with a pledge to supply free ATSC 3.0 demodulator chipsets to any company manufacturing smartphones or other handheld viewing devices that would commit to including them in their products.

Explaining the genesis of the project, Aitken—who is a firm believer that broadcast television’s future lies in mobile devices—said that after surveying existing 3.0 chip products, he quickly came to the conclusion that none were really satisfactory for mobile device applications.

“We knew what sort of power the available chips consumed,” said Aitken. “It’s easy enough to guess the power requirement specs, because it’s almost like a curling iron if you’ve ever put your finger on one. If we were ever going to have a mobile-enabled device—something that was suitable for embedding in phones, something that could couple-up to a cellphone without draining the life out of the phone—we would have to create it.”

Frustrated that none of the large consumer electronics firms showed much interest in mobile TV products, he decided to go it alone.

“We went literally to the top of the ladder, and at the end of the day, they saw the world the way that they choose to see the world,” he said. “They saw no place for mobile ATSC; certainly not at this time.”

Aitken recalled an Indian company with a reputation for low-power consumption specialty integrated circuit design—Saankhya Labs—from his involvement with ATSC M/H—and contacted them.

“I decided to pick up the phone and have a conversation with Praag Naik, who is the president,” said Aitken. “We had a conversation, and it became evident that we shared a much higher-level understanding of what was possible, so Sinclair invested.”

The result was the creation of a very low-power consumption chip that can easily be incorporated within a mobile viewing device without substantially decreasing its battery life or increasing its physical profile.

NOT JUST FOR ATSC 3.0

Aitken said that as Saankhya had an established reputation in software-defined radio (SDR) technology, it was decided early on to create a chip that was signal agnostic, with software dictating which of a dozen or so digital TV signals it will decode, including ATSC 1.0 and the European DVB-T2 standard.

“We’re not building an ATSC 3 chip,” he said. “We’re building a chip that can go in set-top boxes, in televisions, in tablets, for any global broadcast standard, including digital radio. You level your risk by having a multistandard chip.”

Aitken says that at present about 1,000 of the chipsets have been created, and the foundry is ready to roll out millions more. Asked about takers for the free devices, he acknowledged that this has been a bit of a hard sell, but sees some light on the horizon.

“We’ve offered a major carrier five million chips. We’ve also offered the engineering of that chip into the device and we’ve offered the availability of the IP data stream, but that has not been enough to entice them to do that yet, but we are knee-deep into discussions with a USB manufacturer.”

Aitken views this as a first step to getting the chips into mobile devices, explaining that they would be part of a USB-C “dongle” equipped with an embedded antenna and designed to plug into mobile devices. And by the chip’s not being specific to ATSC 3.0, the dongle could be used virtually anywhere that digital over-the-air broadcasting is taking place.

“It would host DVB-T2, ISDB-T, ATSC 1, and other standards just by changing the software,” said Aitken. “It could be used in any part of the world.” 

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

LAS VEGAS—South Korean telecom provider SK Telecom and Sinclair Broadcast Group have signed a joint venture agreement to develop and provide ATSC 3.0-based solutions to all U.S. broadcasters and explore other opportunities for the Next-Gen TV standard around the world, the companies jointly announced in Las Vegas on the eve of the 2019 International CES.

Together, the companies will fund and manage the new joint venture company sometime during the Q1, the companies said.

“Sinclair is excited to partner with SK Telecom, a wireless technology leader, to explore and commercialize solutions that optimize the economic value of our spectrum, our broadcast infrastructure, our programming ventures and our emerging OTT platforms,” said Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley. “Bringing these assets together in a converged broadcast/broadband platform environment will be a significant value multiplier.”

The joint venture will create new services leveraging aspects of the 3.0 standard, such as personalized advertising and in-vehicle terrestrial television broadcasting, the companies said.

SK Telecom is the largest mobile operator in Korea in terms of subscribers and revenue. South Korean broadcasters, including KBS, MBC and SBS launched ATSC 3.0 broadcasts in 2017 and expect to provide nationwide coverage by 2021. 

The announcement comes one year after SK Telecom and Sinclair signed a memorandum of understating (MOU) at last year’s consumer electronics extravaganza to work together to develop 3.0 technology.

“SK Telecom will work closely with Sinclair Broadcast Group to gain leadership in the next-generation broadcasting solutions market in the U.S.,” said Park Jung-ho, President and CEO of SK Telecom.

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

The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) remains one of the clearest and strongest use cases for Next Generation Television. It was a key factor in the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of voluntary transmission with ATSC 3.0 [nearly one year ago]. And it’s the platform for a renewed relationship between broadcasters and the public to improve disaster resilience.

The AWARN Alliance continues to grow and evolve. Members include commercial and public broadcasters who reach 90 percent of U.S. households, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Consumer Technology Association, LG Electronics, and tech companies in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. But many other industry players remain on the sidelines.

The Alliance works closely with our partners who are building the technical architecture for advanced alerting, including ATSC’s AEA I-Team, NAB PILOT, Pearl TV, One Media and the CTA. In this division of labor, the Alliance is answering the “what,” while our technical partners are answering the “how.” Together, we are creating the world’s most advanced alerting system.

Toward that end, AWARN is developing a user experience (UX) style guide based on social science and usability research. So far, we have conducted focus groups with alerting authorities for 26 million people in Southern California and Arizona. For our next focus group at the New York City Emergency Operations Center, TV news professionals from the network stations and WNET, one of our public media members, are invited. We hope to test usability with end-users in 2019.

The AWARN Steering Committee has been formed to help guide the Alliance, which is managed by my firm, Convergence Services, Inc. The committee quickly has become the forum for holistically examining the major issues around the launch of advanced alerting. Convening cross-industry working groups to address these issues, along with UX development, has emerged as a focus of the Alliance for next year. Major questions include:

• Where does official alerting end and station news and weather begin?
• If the most urgent alerts should be automatically passed through stations, as some broadcasters have suggested, what sort of voluntary agreements are needed between stations and alerting authorities?
• Smart industries avoid regulation by providing voluntary services; how can voluntary AWARN preclude any future perceived need to regulate ATSC 3.0 alerting?
• As pressure builds on streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to provide local emergency messages, can ATSC 3.0 home gateways and smart TV’s provide a hybrid alerting solution?
• What are appropriate guidelines among broadcasters, receiver makers, and emergency managers for “waking-up” devices from standby mode?

The AWARN Alliance is bringing together broadcast executives, news and digital directors, emergency managers, device makers, and tech vendors for resolving these issues. We appeal to all organizations seeking success in the Next Gen TV ecosystem to become part of the solution. After all, if we can use ATSC 3.0 to send a geo-targeted, multimedia alert to any enabled consumer device under the worst possible conditions, we can use it to send anything.

As one of our members has said, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on it.”

For more information, visit our website. 

John M. Lawson is executive director of the AWARN Alliance and president of Convergence Services, Inc.

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

For decades, broadcasters have been forced to rely on third parties such as Nielsen Media Research for data on their audiences. Today, data is power. It shapes targeted advertising strategies and programming decisions, and broadcasters find themselves at a significant disadvantage compared to OTT services who can collect and analyze very detailed audience data sets. While standards such as ATSC 3.0 and HbbTV can level the data playing field for broadcasters, before proceeding they should look closely at experiences with user data in the recent past.

ATSC 3.0 and HbbTV are designed to bring new viewer experiences in environments where the broadcast receiver also has an internet connection. ATSC 3.0 is a digital broadcast standard that is being rolled out in North America, South Korea, and other countries. It uses IP as the transport protocol for delivery of video and other content. HbbTV is a standard that brings together digital broadcast-delivered content and IP-delivered content into a single experience. It has been in use in Europe and other locations since 2011.Using either of these standards, broadcasters can create apps for these receivers and collect data directly from their viewers via the internet. Since these are IP-based apps, broadcasters may have access to most of the viewer data an app can collect from the platform it is running on, including:

• Device location
• Device environment information (OS, browser type, etc.)
• App usage patterns
• Contextual data from other apps on the user’s device

For broadcast video, the app would collect time stamp information about when the broadcast replay was started and stopped. The broadcaster can compare the time stamp data to the broadcast time data to determine which content and commercials (if any) were watched.

Broadcasters can also work with a number of third-party services to gather profiles of user activity across multiple devices and “off-line” user data that could include such information as home and car ownership, income, purchase patterns, etc. Typically, broadcasters will also have access to data exposed by the user and the user’s device such as names, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, IP addresses and device IDs.

Access to all of this data can enable broadcasters to both provide their viewers with a more attractive experience and increase revenue. But first, they should carefully weigh those benefits against the potentially negative legal and financial consequences that could arise from its misuse.

Quite often this sort of data is referred to as “toxic.” Much of it is subject to laws and regulations that govern how companies collect, use and store consumers’ personally identifiable information (PII). The most notable is the EU’s GDPR, but there are others. For example, California and Vermont this year passed legislation that aggressively addresses data privacy that, like the GDPR, has broad-reaching ramifications around companies’ collection and usage of personal data. At the federal level, the Trump administration is reportedly crafting a set of data privacy protections to guide state and federal lawmakers as they consider similar legislation.

This data is also often targeted by cyber attackers, and a successful breach that exposes PII will also most certainly result in government action, litigation and long-term brand damage. Companies can also be damaged when consumer data they collect is misused either by themselves or third parties they do business with. Facebook’s issues with Cambridge Analytica is just the latest example.

Broadcasters have a long history of providing passive and comforting entertainment experiences. Aggressive collection and use of viewer data for targeting can feel “creepy” to viewers. Still, the ability to collect, analyze and use this data is becoming critical to improving audience engagement, creating new revenue streams and improving programming decisions. Therefore, as broadcasters go down the path of data-driven business models, they should ask themselves two key questions:

1. What are the minimally viable data-driven experiences that can easily enhance the viewing experience as well as provide business value?
2. What is the minimum amount of data we need to collect and hold to provide these experiences?

Additionally, they should take steps to ensure that any data collection and its purpose are crystal clear to viewers. Broadcasters must receive permission from their viewers to collect their data, and the good news is that consumers typically allow data collection if they perceive benefits for themselves. Any systems broadcasters that handle this data should be vetted to ensure they appropriately handle it securely and with respect for viewer privacy.

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

Advanced emergency warning is on the way thanks to a 3.0 commitment from major broadcasters

Call it coincidence. Call it synchronicity. Call it whatever you want, but today three items crossed my desk that left me shaking my head.

First, Reuters’ Brian Snyder reported in “Lack of power, phones hampering rescue efforts after Hurricane Michael,” that hundreds of volunteers from Texas had headed to Florida to help locate more than 1,100 people—mostly in Panama City— who have gone missing following Hurricane Michael.

One of the leaders of the effort, however, told Reuters that spotty cell phone coverage in the aftermath of the hurricane has impeded the effort. Further, about 155,000 homes and businesses were without power, and 70 percent of customers in four rural counties in the Florida Panhandle remained without electricity as of Oct. 17. The day before, the government reported about 61 percent of cell sites in Bay County, Fla., were down, the story said.

Second, on the same day, TV Technology published my online op-ed “Hurricane Florence in A 5G World.”

In a nutshell, I made that case that in a 5G world a devastating hurricane or other disaster, restoration of wireless networks would be even harder than it is today.

I also argued that the advanced emergency warnings made possible by ATSC 3.0 and AWARN should be made available to wireless customers on their phones–whether that comes about through a deal struck by the broadcast and wireless industries or a federal mandate.

The third thing to happen on the same day was an announcement out of the NAB Show New York by major broadcast networks and station groups throwing their support behind the Next-Gen TV standard and committing to the introduction of ATSC 3.0–a significant step in a broadcast future where such decisions are voluntary.

Fox Television Stations, NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations, Univision, Pearl TV, a consortium of eight major station groups, and SpectrumCo, which includes mega-station groups Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group, among others announced a collaborative effort and support for the launch of 3.0.

A joint announcement released by these broadcasters predicted 3.0 to be broadly launched by individual stations in 2020 as Next-Gen-enabled TVs hit retail stores.

In my mind, the thread that ties these separate items together is a simple idea: enhanced emergency alerting is on the way to the American public–regardless of the resiliency or lack thereof of cell sites and wireless networks.

In the not too distant future, a group like the one from Texas looking for unaccounted-for hurricane victims will be able to work with local broadcasters leveraging their AWARN rich-media capability to push photos, descriptions of the missing and other relevant information to the public.

Wireless companies could do their part by setting up Cells on Wheels (COWS), Cells on Light Trucks (COLTS) and generators on trucks (Goats) to reestablish coverage, while friends and neighbors of the unaccounted-for could direct those who have survived to relief centers where they could find cell phones to contact loved ones.

Who knows whether or not this exact scenario is the one that makes the most sense? But what is apparent is that AWARN can play a vital role and that major broadcasters are now committed to its rollout via 3.0.

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

PHOENIX—The Phoenix Model Market Station, a collaboration of the Pearl Group’s members, several local stations in Phoenix, and broadcast networks, is making great progress in the development and testing of ATSC 3.0 with the help and participation of many in the industry.

The focus of the Model Station is on testing new business models and developing end-to-end systems as well as workflows required for broadcasters to take full advantage of the new ATSC 3.0’s added capabilities. The Model Station also provides an “open test bed” where ecosystem providers can work together in a practical setting to ensure their systems interoperate, which is a key aspect of preparing for commercialization of ATSC 3.0 in the USA.

MORE THAN JUST AN ANALYZER

Given the Project’s goals and the work process that involves so many participants as well as early ATSC 3.0 equipment, it was critical that we have robust test tools that support the ATSC 3.0 standard. To do this, we purchased the portable version of Triveni Digital’s StreamScope XM MT ATSC 3.0 stream analyzer. More than a comprehensive ATSC 3.0 analyzer, the system supports analysis and validation across the wide range of ATSC 3.0 standards, from the RF layers to the upper-level data structures, in a visual and intuitive way.

The XM MT supports ROUTE/MMTP decoding, advanced RF measurement, multiple PLPs, video rendering, intuitive data structure analysis and visualization features. The product can support multiple simultaneous inputs, and is designed to support the analysis needed at key system demarcation points in the transmission infrastructure. Those include ROUTE/MMTP, STLTP, and RF. While the ATSC 3.0 standard evolves and matures, Triveni Digital will provide future feature updates, including a rules-based monitoring capability.

We have used the StreamScope XM MT throughout the project, and it’s been instrumental in resolving key issues. After the initial broadcast chain was set up, it helped us debug downstream STLTP issues, for example. Since XM MT functions as an ATSC 3.0 receiver, when initial receivers were not available, the product helped us verify the service. At our recent plugfest and ATSC 3.0 technology conference, the XM MT helped validate pairwise integrations and track down any potential issues. A key aspect of the product is its support for work group analysis, with the full user interface available for multiple simultaneous remote users.

LAPTOP VERSION COMING SOON

At this stage of industry development, a robust, reliable and extensible analyzer is critical. There will be a continuing need for this technology throughout the life span of ATSC 3.0. While we purchased this product in a portable form, it is also available in rack mount packaging, and we understand Triveni Digital plans to make laptop versions available in the future. StreamScope XM MT is a featured analyzer that fulfills an essential role in getting and keeping ATSC 3.0 infrastructures running. Triveni Digital has indicated that a less-featured product, built on their comprehensive analysis engine, is also being developed.

We have found that Stream- Scope XM MT’s intuitive user interface, and comprehensive feature set enables users to quickly detect, isolate, and resolve issues. While inevitably different from the user interface in Triveni Digital’s StreamScope MT MPEG stream analyzer for ATSC 1.0, we have been happy to see that Triveni Digital has designed a user interface that makes a complex standard approachable. We also believe it would also be an excellent learning vehicle for engineers who need to get a hands-on and deep understanding of the ATSC 3.0 system and technology.

Dave Folsom is a consultant to the Pearl TV Group and the former CTO for Raycom Media. He can be reached atdave.folsom@pearltv.com.

For more information, visitwww.trivenidigital.comor call 609-936-3411.

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

With any anniversary, it's tempting to gaze reflectively in the rear-view mirror and remember how far we've come. But on this first anniversary of the adoption of the ATSC 3.0 standard as voluntary upgrade to America's digital TV transmission system, the Advanced Television System Committee has its eyes fixed on the road ahead.

A flurry of recent announcements underscores that the FCC had it right when they permitted broadcasters to innovate and develop a companion service that could bring together broadcast TV with broadband content.

More than six years in the making, Next Gen TV powered by ATSC 3.0 is the result of a collaborative effort of hundreds of talented individuals and innovative companies from around the world.

Deployments of ATSC 3.0 are underway.

South Korea initiated the ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV service with a focus on the benefits of Ultra HDTV in time for the Winter Olympics. The TV networks in Seoul have been broadcasting for over a year and a half, with stunning results.

Here in the United States, broadcasters in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Illinois, Oregon, and Maryland are now "on the air" with ATSC 3.0. The first public TV broadcaster—WKAR-TV at Michigan State University in East Lansing—is transmitting ATSC 3.0, and a small market station in Santa Barbara, Calif. is also investing to show how Next Gen TV can provide more targeted emergency alerts.

In Brazil, ATSC 3.0 experimental broadcasts of World Cup Soccer showed unique Broadcast-Broadband interactive applications like choosing camera angles, while watching the matches in stunning 4K UHD resolution.

And in India, development of a chip optimized for ATSC 3.0 mobile devices is under development as discussions continue about the convergence of broadcast & broadband technologies.

The Road Ahead is one marked by mileposts. As the saying goes, this is a journey, not a destination. In fact, I don’t think there really is a "end of the road." That's why I think we'll be seeing ATSC 3.1, 3.2 and so on—and eventually ATSC 4.0 on a future roadmap.

That also points to a reality for broadcasting. Innovation needs to be a constant development. Because deployment of the standard by broadcasters—and by consumer electronics companies—is voluntary, that doesn't mean we can let up on the gas pedal. Advancements in technology won't just stop because broadcasters are going too slow. No, just the opposite—innovation will blow by us in the fast lane.

Complementing our ongoing standards work and evangelism are ATSC Implementation Teams for Conformance, Advanced Emergency Alerting, and Interactivity & Personalization. A new ATSC Planning Team is looking at future advanced codecs and other future video technologies like 8K, and we’re launching another Planning Team on automotive applications.

Development of technical standards is a team sport. And we are fortunate at the ATSC to have so many experts in the broadcasting and related industries working together to pave the way on the Road Ahead. 

Mark Richer is the president of the Advanced Television Systems Committee.

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

WASHINGTON—A year after the FCC gave U.S. broadcasters the green light to deploy ATSC 3.0, stations are ramping up their efforts to make the Next Gen TV standard a reality by 2020. Last month’s announcement of support from prominent station groups illustrated how far efforts have come in the past 12 months.

At NAB Show New York, executives from Fox Television Stations; NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations Group; Univision; TEGNA, Inc. (for Pearl TV), and Nexstar Media Group (for SpectrumCo) announced a collaborative effort to support the introduction and roll out of ATSC 3.0. There has been a growing consensus that 2020 will represent the wide rollout of the new TV standard, with the expectation of ATSC 3.0-enabled products to hit the market in time for the holiday season (see sidebar).

Station group executives touted the endorsement as an illustration--absent a government mandate--of how the broadcast industry can come together on deploying the standard in light of competition from telcos.

“One big challenge was whether the big owners of valuable spectrum could work together, commit resources, and stick to the game plan. Done, done and done," said Jack Abernethy, CEO at Fox Television Stations.

Valari Staab, president, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations said broadcasters have to make the commitment. “ATSC 3.0 is something that as an industry we have to do,” she said. “The new standard will transform the way we deliver content to our audiences—including viewers who are consuming information in multiple languages and screens. ATSC 3.0 will also help us to better connect advertisers with the audiences they want to reach on any platform.

PEARL PROGRESSES

With last fall’s launch of the Phoenix Model Market project, designed to conduct tests to demonstrate the viability of the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem, Pearl TV, the consortium of stations involved in the lab, announced last month the addition of seven broadcasters across 10 stations in the Phoenix area, bringing the total of participating stations to 12. In addition to technical tests, Pearl TV is collecting data on how consumers interact with ATSC 3.0, as well as their preferences. Last month, it released the results of a new survey that indicated that 42 percent of those interested in ATSC 3.0 say they anticipate buying a new TV to enable and enjoy Next-Gen TV services.

Among those services are the demand for enhanced media and entertainment in the expected rollout of autonomous vehicles in the years ahead. In anticipation of that opportunity, Pearl TV also announced last month an alliance with Avis to begin testing various use cases for TV-delivered signals to passenger cars early next year.

“There are great use cases for automotive, and they are an interesting company,” said Anne Schelle, Pearl TV managing director. “They are one of the largest fleet owners of cars and certainly positioning themselves for the future of connected cars and the shared car environment.”

A TRANSFORMATION FOR THE INDUSTRY

As the next-generation broadcast TV standard, ATSC 3.0 will support several advancements including mobile viewing, 4K Ultra High Definition, high dynamic range, high frame rate, and wide color gamut picture quality, as well as immersive audio and perhaps most importantly for broadcasters’ bottom line—targeted advertising. It was designed to greatly enhance over-the-air services for viewers while bringing together broadcast and broadband functionality to give audiences more content and choice.

"ATSC 3.0 will be able bring together OTT and live linear programming together in a way not possible before," said Schelle. "This is an interesting time as there are many elements that are new to broadcasters and we have to figure out how to commercialize these in an economic and efficient way. Fortunately South Korea, which has already deployed ATSC 3.0, has been a great case study but there are many elements that will be quite different for the U.S. market."

As a new broadcast standard, ATSC 3.0 will require new hardware at both the broadcaster and consumer levels. This is why the first step will be deployment in test markets where early adopters can experience the new format, and it is easy to see why this is already being compared to the transition from analog to digital TV–but experts point out that this time it is quite different.

Some would even suggest that this isn't another "transition" at all but that in fact, the move to ATSC 3.0 could be far more transformational for broadcasters.

"We need to try to stay away from even calling it a transition," said Mark A. Aitken, vice president of advanced technology at the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has been conducting extensive tests on the use of single frequency networks for ATSC 3.0 in Dallas. "Everything that is wrapped around this next generation standard is far more transformational. It is data agonistic IP utility and broadcasters have every opportunity to become a different kind of wireless provider rather than continuing to remain just broadcasters."

With the recent announcements from the various media groups it is also clear that this transformation process to ATSC 3.0 has already begun, but it is still very much in its earliest stages.

"We've already seen a pretty dramatic change with the momentum since it was given the go ahead by the FCC a year ago," said Marc Hand, CEO and co-founder of Public Media, a non-profit advocacy group for public broadcasting. Public Media helped Michigan State University station WKAR launch ATSC 3.0 testing in August—the first public TV station in the U.S. to do so. "We have already gone from an abstract to an early transition within a few markets. We still have much more active testing to do to get us there."

BABY STEPS

Given that this is so early in the process, there are those who would argue against the idea that this is so transformational after all, but also add that it isn't even at the transition stage.

"That is putting the cart before the horse," said Evan Fieldman, head of digital strategy at Weigel Broadcasting Co., which launched its own ATSC 3.0 facility on UHF Channel 23 in Chicago in September. "I would caution as we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We are not moving to a transformation period, but really entering the evaluation period at this point as we're testing in a major urban market. Before we can consider the business models, we need to evaluate the benefits of 3.0."

Fieldman added that Weigel's affiliates will be watching this early test period very closely.

"If the evaluation period is a success than we can move to the transition stage, but there are many factors that are still beyond our control," Fieldman noted. "The other factor is that the transition to digital was mandatory, yet this is not, and that wasn't a walk in the park for anyone. Right now there is a lot that needs to be addressed and we need to see what is behind door number three before we enter."

At this stage there are still other significant hurdles that will need to be cleared as well, including whether ATSC 3.0 is determined to be the only game in town for bringing OTA and OTT together.

"One obstacle is really the adoption and support it is able to get, as there are other companies that are creating apps and other online solutions that are standalone and could compete with ATSC 3.0," said Renard T. Jenkins, vice president of PBS operations, engineering and distribution. "There will be those questions such as 'why make this move to ATSC 3.0 if I can do this in an app?' This is something we're going to have to figure out and even hedge our bets."

Such thinking could result in a hybrid of traditional broadcast technologies being used side-by-side with new delivery options.

"One thing to understand is that in a software environment you can change the code, but the service itself can't be disrupted during an update," added Jenkins. "So at least in the beginning we expect broadcasters will operate as a software developer while still using the traditional hardware."

For those reasons perhaps now is really an evaluation period in a great transformation of the future of TV.

"We have a long way to go," said Schelle. "We're seeing 2018 and 2019 as the development years, with 2020 and beyond being the launch years."

IP: THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Broadcasters are already going through a transformation with the convergence of OTA and OTT, as well as the role of video over IP, and ATSC 3.0 could play a significant part of it–but that won't come without its own challenges.

"This is about all the things that are sent over the internet, but also everything that comes with it," said Schelle. "That means all the good things such as delivery to a multitude of devices, but also the concerns such as hacking and other security issues. We have to protect the system, but we have to worry about the TV sets and other devices and even how the publishers will be safe from piracy as we make this change."

It is just one aspect of broadcasters transforming into tech companies and operating as such.

"Absolutely that line is simply blurred," said Kyle Walker, vice president of technology at Weigel Broadcasting. "We have been having this conversation for the past 15 years and today's broadcast engineer has to have a strong IT mindset to address the business models of today. Broadcasters and the IT group operate now under the same mindset."

ATSC 3.0 will play a crucial role in this transformation at all levels for broadcasters.

"This IP-based platform will change how departments work in stations, and that promises to be more of a fundamental change that wasn't nearly as impactful in the digital transition," said Public Media's Hand. "This could include how stations utilize data analysis, which was in its own silo. Now we're going to see this playing a greater role. It is just one of the whole range of services that can be more effective, but there are all sorts of things that could play out on the consumer side and the business-to-business side."

Perhaps this will transform the traditional broadcast into something entirely new as well, such as a wireless operator or utility. What is clear is that ATSC 3.0 is just part of a future that could be very different for the broadcast world.

"ATSC 3.0 opens the door to distribute content on many platforms and not just video and audio," said Aitken. "This can include data content and you can rattle off a list of what could now be sent out from PDFs to high resolution maps and so much more."

However, Aitken warned that not everyone in the broadcast industry is completely sold on the benefits of ATSC 3.0 at this point. "You won't find this universally embraced by those comrades I dubbed 'televisioners,' who are too focused on a single product and are not looking for the transformational future,” he said. “But the consolidation within the broadcast universe is gaining speed and we have to accept the future beyond TV as an over-the-air medium. Broadcasting is now sitting in the middle of the broadband universe."

Sidebar

Consumer Electronics and ATSC 3.0: Is the Support There?

Any transition or transformation in the world of broadcast will face a "chicken and egg" scenario—stations may not be eager to support ATSC 3.0 until viewers are capable of actually receiving the content with new consumer electronics products; while potential viewers won't purchase the next generation of devices until content is available.

Three of the world’s largest manufacturers of TV sets--LG and Samsung of S. Korea and Sony of Japan--have long been involved in the development of the Next Gen TV standard and all three companies chimed in with station groups in the announcement of their support for ATSC 3.0 last month. Sony announced that it will supply TVs, demodulators and application development tools while also collaborating with broadcasters and other industry players in testing both technical solutions and service models. LG, in particular, is actively marketing the standard in its home country.

"We're not starting from a clean slate this time," said John Taylor, spokesperson for LG Electronics USA Inc. "Dual tuners are already being sold in South Korea."

Yet, 2019 shouldn't be considered the launch year, as broadcasters and CE makers will have to build the ecosystem, and until there is a critical mass of stations supporting ATSC 3.0 there will only be a limited number of products on the market.

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

Samsung, LG and Sony – the biggest TV manufacturers – have recently joined Fox, NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations Group and a growing list of leading broadcasters in voicing their commitment to ATSC 3.0, which powers Next Gen TV.

With ATSC 3.0’s large-scale introduction now looking assured for 2020, broadcasters will be able to introduce a variety of cool, new internet-enabled business and consumer features with the standard’s advanced transmission technologies.

These features will let broadcasters offer more channels along with better picture and sound quality, while improving broadcast reception for both TV and mobile viewers. In short, broadcasters will have the opportunity to redefine themselves by offering lots of new viewing experiences including those comparable to OTT subscription and ad-supported internet providers.

And why not? People love OTT services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu for their phenomenal original content and, at an even more basic level, how they make TV fun with appealing user interfaces and tailored content recommendations. For broadcasters and content providers looking to compete in this dynamic new world, creating seamless viewer experiences between broadcast channels and their growing subscription OTT services could help close the gap.

Yet these promising new premium content profit centers will be doomed, even before they begin, if broadcasters miss the opportunity to incorporate necessary technological safeguards and defend themselves against competing pirate services bent on destroying what could become a boon for the industry.

The Next Gen TV standard has the usual assortment of Digital Rights Management (DRM) tools, but neither DRM nor the standard, itself, include anti-piracy measures. Ultimately, the revenue from this new market will depend on broadcasters’ willingness to target pirate streaming services by protecting their high-value content and services against theft. Without the additional layer of anti-piracy protection, these new broadcast services will suffer the same fate as the music industry.

The movie studios sought to prevent what happened to their music brethren by encrypting DVDs with DRM at the outset of that industry, letting DVD player manufacturers know they would be excluded from this profitable new market if they failed to agree to their content protection rules.

What they did not see coming, however, was the loss of billions of dollars with the emergence of DRM-only DVD as a format for piracy growth. Pirates embraced the convenient discs over the original VHS format, because they could be perfectly replicated and easily transported all over the world.

Not for long, though. Realizing the financial hit they were taking, and that DRM alone was not enough to protect their DVD business, content providers required manufacturers to install playback control watermarking for their Next Gen Blu-ray format, effectively shutting down the pirated optical disc market. (Full Disclosure: I represent Verance, the company behind the Cinavia anti-piracy technology utilized by major movie studios, as well as Aspect, a foundational element of the Next Gen TV standard.)

Today’s broadcasters and content providers should follow the same lead as movie studios when it comes to content protection in the era of Next Gen TV, but first they will have to overcome manufacturers’ resistance to Next Gen TV anti-piracy measures.

I believe this can be done. The consumer electronics industry operates on the theory of “perceived obsolescence,’” which means that to stay in business it must convince consumers of the constant need to upgrade. So even though your iPhone or Galaxy may work perfectly well, the perception is you need to get the next shiny new phone.

As multiple recent consumer surveys have made clear, when it comes to selling the next generation of TVs starting in 2020, Next Gen TV is the motivator. Potential customers say they are drawn to a variety of its new personalized audio and video features including access to multiple languages, hometown announcers for national broadcast games and selecting multiple camera angles, as well as interactive capabilities such as catch-up TV and start over.

Without the support of broadcasters or streaming services, the adoption of Next Gen TVs will be challenging at best and TV sales will lag. New business models that make broadcast competitive with SVOD and OTT will be at risk. Now is the time for the content side of the business to encourage TV manufacturers to promote legitimate broadcast services.

Bill Gates knows this. In his now-famous 1996 essay, Content is King, the Microsoft founder looked at long-term winners in the television revolution and predicted the next big upheaval would come with internet-delivered content. More broadly, Gates knew that new distribution channels and supporting hardware cannot exist without compelling content.

For Next Gen TV and its new revenue-generating broadcast OTT services to thrive, broadcasters and studios must start thinking like Gates and realize Kodi and other black boxes for what they are – direct competitors offering reliable, high-quality offerings at prices far lower than legitimate OTT services. A report released by Sandvine indicated 6.5% of U.S. households are stealing live TV service at a cost to service providers of $4 billion in annual revenue.

Next Gen TV empowers content providers and broadcasters like never before, handing them the cards to stay competitive. In order for that to happen, however, they must remember what the studios learned in their earlier successful quest to end DVD/Blu-ray disc piracy: content is king, and these assets must be protected with more than DRM.

Mitch Singer, formerly Chief Digital Strategy Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is an industry media and technology consultant.

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