NextGen TV Goes Live at WKAR in East Lansing

WKAR-TV's Media Innovation Lab (Image credit: WKAR-TV)

EAST LANSING, Mich.—Another market has begun transmitting ATSC 3.0, with WKAR-TV at Michigan State University, the latest to push out the NextGen TV standard. Dave Arland of Arland Communications and ATSC's media contact confirmed the news to TV Technology.

With this, East Lansing becomes the 11th market to begin transmitting ATSC 3.0 signals. Others include Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Portland, Ore., and Nashville, Tenn. The full list is shown on ATSC’s ATSC 3.0 deployment map.

WKAR was first granted an experimental license to broadcast ATSC 3.0 by the FCC in 2018. In September 2019, it opened the Media Innovation Lab, which was tasked with experimenting with different applications of the ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard.

“Across our nation, public broadcasting stations like WKAR provide essential public services and information to our audiences,” said Susi Elkins, general manager of WKAR. “We believe ATSC 3.0 can increase our ability to serve communities in new and exciting ways and we look forward to leveraging this opportunity to forge a path ahead.”

Updated with quote from WKAR