This year’s show, which runs Jan. 9-12, should be bigger than the 2023 edition. That show drew 117,000 attendees and 3,200 exhibitors and represented a significant bounce-back from the 45,000 attendees and 2,300 exhibitors that came in 2022, the first show after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which owns and produces CES and is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2024, is projecting attendance to be 130,000 with more than 3,500 exhibitors.

“We are seeing huge momentum for CES 2024,” says Kinsey Fabrizio, CTA senior vice president of CES and membership.

A Bigger Footprint

As of early December, CTA had already booked 2.4 million net square feet of exhibit space, Fabrizio says, which is over a 10% jump from CES 2023. The CES 2024 exhibition and conference will be spread across the North, Central and West Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center as well as several Las Vegas hotels, including 1,000 startup companies exhibiting in “Eureka Park” at the Venetian. Over half of Fortune 500 companies will be in attendance, including Amazon, Google, Intel, Qualcomm, LG, Samsung and Sony.

AI’s Big Year

AI is the “hottest topic in the tech industry right now,” says John Kelley, VP and show director, CES. AI will be “pervasive” across the show floor and conference sessions, Kelley says, including a keynote from Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger discussing the critical role that chips and software play in making AI more accessible.

“What’s changed in the last year is generative AI has taken the world by storm, and every company is thinking about how to use it,” says CTA President-CEO Gary Shapiro. “And I know many, many, many companies are going to be talking about AI and introducing and showing products that take advantage of that.”

Another growth area for CES is automotive and mobility, Kelley says, with more than 300 companies exhibiting in an at-capacity West Hall including Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Kia. The “C Space” Entertainment and Content conference at the Aria, which features brands like Amazon Ads, Netflix, NBC Universal, Roku and Snap, has also expanded with additional space in the Cosmopolitan hotel this year including new exhibitors Disney, NVIDIA, Paramount and Reddit.

Noteworthy “C Space” panels for broadcasters include “2024: The AI Inflection Point — Entertainment, Internet & Media” featuring Steve Canepa, GM, Global Industries, IBM and Richard Kerris, VP/GM, media and entertainment, NVIDIA; “Future of TV & Streaming: Cable, Internet TV & FAST Strategies,” with executives from Tubi, Disney, PBS and Nielsen; “Monetizing the TV/Streaming, Programming Platforms: The Strategies” with executives from Uber, Amazon Ads, Vizio, Disney and Estrella Media; and “Transforming An All-American Brand: Technology Inside The Weather Channel,” with Tom O’Brien, EVP, Allen Media Group; Nora Zimmett, president, news and original series, Allen Media Group; and Alexandra Wilson, meteorologist, The Weather Company.

‘A Good Way To Kick Off The Year’

With many top network and station group executives at CES, many media technology vendors will also be there, if not to exhibit but to simply meet with their customers and partners. One of them is IP transport provider Zixi, which has been experiencing big growth in its live event business due to the explosion in streaming sports coverage. Zixi won’t have a booth or suite at CES but is still sending a team of six, including members of its executive team as well as technical support personnel. That is double the number of people it sent in 2023.

“The number of companies that is going is starting to grow again,” says John Wastcoat, Zixi SVP business development and marketing. “We’re not going to be able to handle it with just a handful of people this year, so that’s why we’re doubling our team that’s going to go out and meet with everybody. And it’s an easy hop from L.A., so people can make a day trip if they need to … they’ll be in and have three or four meetings and be out, without a significant investment.”

Zixi has two motivations to attend CES that are interconnected.

“One is that our customers and our partners are looking for different ways to monetize their content,” Wastcoat says. “That could be sending it directly to a new smart TV, we do that with Bloomberg around the world. We have conversations with the automobile manufacturers about sending content directly to their screens as well. So, we’ve got that angle.

“And then our customers and partners are still looking at what’s going to be new and interesting for them over the next few years,” he adds. “So, we’re there to talk with them about what we need to do together in 2024, whether that aligns with anything that’s found at CES or not. But it’s a good way to kick off the year.”

While over time the overall focus at CES has shifted away from television sets and Blu-ray players to a range of different consumer technology products, Zixi is still very interested in how its IP transport technology integrates with TV sets to deliver programming to the living room.

“We are seeing a tremendous increase in our business because of the reallocation of sports rights to digital-first platforms that didn’t have infrastructure for it before,” Wastcoat says. “We’re forecasting a million live sports events in 2024 that will use Zixi, and two years ago we probably would have said we’re not very interested in occasional use business like that, we’re looking for the 24/7 constant traffic. But it has become such a volume pay that it has got our attention. So, companies like Amazon Prime [Video] are coming to us and asking us for new features and functionality, like scheduling tools to be able to manage these thousands of events that they’re doing.”

Another broadcast vendor making the trip is robotic camera specialist Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC), which will be exhibiting in the booth of its parent company Nikon. MRMC will once again collaborate with virtual production specialist Vu Studios to deliver the “Unreal Ride.” For CES 2024 the Unreal Ride environment will take place in a virtual jungle, where participants will get to experience the thrill of riding through it in a futuristic Jeep and once again be able to take away a video of themselves travelling through the virtual world.

MRMC’s technology can also be seen elsewhere on the show floor as several companies rent MRMC’s robotic arms just to draw attention to their booths.

“One of them has a light wand on it, and it attracts people because they see it doing funny patterns,” says Paddy Taylor, MRMC head of broadcast.

While MRMC does makes some products that it is actively marketing at CES, such as automatic tracking software and low-cost sliders for PTZ cameras, Taylor doesn’t expect to get many new customers for the company’s high-end specialized robotics at CES.

“It’s more of a positioning exercise,” Taylor says.

One of the messages that MRMC is looking to get across is that Nikon is serious about video, as more broadcasters and other professional videographers start to use DSLR-style cameras for content capture.

“With the Z 9 Nikon probably has the best DSLR-style mirrorless camera for video, and Nikon’s starting to make a really big thing about that,” Taylor says. “And we’re doing some things to move that camera and make it do interesting things.”

The other message that Taylor wants to emphasize is that MRMC expects full-frame cameras like the Sony HDC-F5500, which use the same type of large sensors as digital cinema cameras, will start to be used en masse in broadcast production in 2024 to provide a different look for live sports and news. And MRMC sees an opportunity there for its robotic systems.

“We have a few customers using Sony Venice [digital cinema cameras] with our robotics, but in live current affairs and sports studios,” Taylor says. “And I think with the Olympics and a few other events next year you’ve got more full-frame system cameras coming onto the market. You’re going to see a marry-up, where people are trying to mix different types of full-frame cameras in different workflows for sporting events, festivals, concerts — anything with a creative edge people are trying to strive for.”

New Services For NextGen TV

Broadcasters will also use CES 2024 to promote the continued rollout of the ATSC 3.0, or NextGen TV, digital television standard through demonstrations put on by ATSC and the Pearl TV coalition of station groups.

“There’s going to be a focus on the consumer, both on the services side and device side,” says ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “You’re going to see a proliferation of devices, more set-top boxes, more television models and a few extras.”

NextGen launched in 12 more markets in 2023, including top 10 markets Philadelphia and New York, and CTA says that 10 million NextGen TV sets have been sold in the U.S. to date. With planned launches in Chicago, San Diego and Tucson coming next month, 3.0 signals should be lit up in 75 markets covering 75% of U.S. TV households by the end of January, Noland says. She notes that 3.0 is also making significant progress internationally, with Brazil having chosen 3.0 technology for most of its new mandated digital TV standard and a final decision on the physical, or RF transmission, layer due next year.

Big Four networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are all sponsors of the ATSC booth in Central Hall, which will have 13 different TV models, four different set-tops and one prototype mobile phone. The booth will also feature various demonstrations of high dynamic range (HDR) and enhanced audio content, including an “immersive entertainment room” sponsored by Dolby and major-league sports programming. There will also be a mosaic of various interactive applications enabled by 3.0’s broadband backchannel including “Start Over” capability developed by E.W. Scripps; an interactive music service from Sinclair; and sports statistics, gaming and news applications.

“What you’ll see at CES are almost fully-baked services that will hit the consumer this year, the gaming applications, the sports interactivity, the Start Over application,” says Mark Aitken, president, ONE Media and SVP of advanced technology for Sinclair. “There are a number of broadcasters, beyond us, who are now beyond the planning phase of adding HDR to their programming. Some of these become more and more relevant in respect to sports coming back to local broadcasting.”

Another new capability that ATSC and Pearl TV will be demonstrating is “broadcast IP,” which is a way to deliver a local station’s enhanced 3.0 programming to a 3.0 TV set as a “virtual channel” over broadband. This is a capability that is particularly important given the current spectrum landscape for 3.0, where often there is not enough capacity for every station that wants to offer 3.0 to be supported in a market.

Pearl TV first tested broadcast IP in Phoenix several years ago, says Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle, working with set makers LG, Sony and Samsung, and successfully deployed it last spring for South Florida PBS’s stations in Miami.

The way that broadcast IP works is that a host 3.0 station transmits tiny bits of metadata within its over-the-air stream that can be picked up by a NextGen TV set and point to an internet server carrying the “virtual channel” of another station in the market that isn’t actually broadcasting in 3.0 due to capacity constraints. The virtual channel is displayed like a 3.0 channel in the over-the-air electronic program guide (EPG) on the NextGen TV set. When a viewer clicks on it that station’s 3.0 programming is then streamed to the set via the broadband connection.

However, the broadcast IP “virtual channel” shouldn’t be thought of as simply another FAST or streaming channel because it’s only available through the OTA guide, Schelle says. And it does require an agreement between two stations to enable transmission of the “tiny bits” of data necessary for the guide info.

“Our first goal was to bring up the PBS stations in South Florida to ensure that TVs can see it,” Schelle says. “It’s geofenced, you’re transmitting the URL in your stream, and it goes out and grabs the content from a server and puts it up in the OTA EPG. But you can only get it if you have antenna, you can’t get it otherwise.”

In Las Vegas, Sinclair is working with Gray Television and Fox to enable the broadcast IP transmission of KVVU, Gray’s Fox affiliate in the market, which couldn’t find traditional RF capacity for 3.0 programming.

“They want to offer their Fox station in 3.0 so they can enhance it with the same capabilities as if they were on-air in 3.0, to do 1080p and HDR, or even do 4K,” Schelle says. “They can also do [interactive] applications, the RUN3TV app works in the IP channel as well. They can basically do everything they can do in 3.0.”

The post For Broadcasters And Their Vendors, AI And IP Delivery Are Top Of Mind At CES appeared first on TV News Check.

The DASH-IF Conformance Tool is available as either an online service or open-source software. The Conformance Tool was launched by DASH-IF over a decade ago and has been continuously updated and extended to test against relevant specifications from other bodies. A joint project undertaken over the past two years has improved the tool, making it more reliable and accessible. Along with DASH content conformance, the new tool has options to check for CMAF and WAVE requirements, and for HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) requirements as well.

The project partners encourage the use of the tool by the industry and look forward to receiving feedback that can lead to further enhancements and improvements.

“ATSC was proud to be working in conjunction with these other organizations, as we see this as an important resource and look forward to continuing our collaboration for the betterment of the industry,” said Madeleine Noland, ATSC President.

The DASH-IF Conformance Tool will be presented and discussed during the online OSMART Workshop #2 on Dec. 6-7.

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Mark Aitken, senior vice president of advanced media at Sinclair Broadcast Group, has been re-elected for a second three-year term. Also elected to the ATSC Board are Dr. Paul Hearty, chief standards strategist at Samsung Research America, and Kerry Oslund, vice president, strategy and business development at E.W. Scripps.

In addition, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers appointed Guy Bouchard as an ATSC board member representing IEEE. Bouchard, who is chair of the Montreal Chapter of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, succeeds Dr. Yian Wu of Canada’s Communications Research Centre, on ATSC’s Board.

ATSC thanks board members who are completing their terms at the end of 2023: Mark Corl of Triveni Digital and Jon Fairhurst of Samsung.

“ATSC is working to anticipate the needs of our members and the industry, supported by our board’s strategic direction. Our board of seasoned executives from the broadcast, cable and consumer technology industries provide a wealth of experience to help ATSC steer through ongoing change and growth,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland, who also recognized Corl and Fairhurst for their contributions to ATSC.

She also acknowledged current board members whose terms continue in 2024:

• Lynn Claudy, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
• Zandra Clarke, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
• Jim DeChant, Production Distribution & Revenue Group
• Fred Engel, PBS North Carolina
• Adam Goldberg, Sony Electronics
• Brett Jenkins, Nexstar Media Group
• Brian Markwalter, Consumer Technology Association
• Richard Friedel, Broadcast Advocate (2023 chairman)
• Andy Scott, NCTA – The Internet and Television Association
• Anne Schelle, Pearl TV
• John Taylor, LG Electronics USA

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Many TVNewsCheck readers may have seen a recent brief FCC filing from LG Electronics about a patent dispute with a company that is claiming its technology is being infringed. As a result, LG has told the FCC that it intends to suspend inclusion of ATSC 3.0 electronics in its 2024 U.S. market TV product line.

While ATSC cannot comment on the specifics of the LG case, we trust that all parties involved are actively pursuing solutions to bring the benefits of next-generation broadcasting on future LG television models to U.S. audiences. The impact of this patent situation is likely very limited, according to one prominent electronics industry market analyst.

Every technology transition has its challenges. That’s normal. It’s a testament to the value of the technology that our collective efforts have brought ATSC 3.0 so far in such a relatively short period of time. Licensing discussions and arrangements are part of the process. ATSC is optimistic that the latest licensing issue will be resolved.

The work of the Advanced Television Systems Committee is a collaborative effort, with hundreds of volunteers representing many varied interests working to develop standards for broadcasting. In the process of setting standards, participants in our process are required to adhere to all ATSC policies — including its patent policy. Typically, technology owners work together to develop licensing programs that offer access to inventions that benefit the public and they also encourage the broad deployment of equipment that operates within the standardized system.

Meanwhile, broadcasters in the New York City market are pushing ahead with plans to launch two ATSC 3.0 host stations in the nation’s largest media market. Public broadcaster WNET and Nexstar’s WPIX are about to flip the switch. This is excellent news, and a great way to kick off the upcoming NAB Show New York. The launch of service in New York will push NextGen TV service to over 70% of U.S. audiences — a remarkable milestone for a voluntary transition. Other ATSC 3.0 U.S. market transitions are on the drawing board, even as additional transmitters are planned for some markets that already have a single host station.

The first of the set-top receivers to carry the NextGen TV mark, and feature verified security, recently shipped to pre-order customers. (I got mine!)  More are on the way. The consumer technology industry itself is on course to have shipped a cumulative 10 million ATSC 3.0 receivers in the U.S. by the end of this year. Again, that’s remarkable for a voluntary launch — far faster than any other technology deployment I can recall.

Many companies have already linked arms to develop the ATSC 3.0 standard; establish content security, launch next-generation broadcasting reaching most of the U.S. and South Korea plus major cities in Jamaica; bring to retail millions of receivers; and now introduce affordable devices for those who choose to upgrade.

The world’s most flexible Internet Protocol-based broadcast standard is on-air in South Korea, Jamaica and the U.S., with several other countries now planning to implement elements of the standard we’ve developed together.

So, I think that perspective is important.

Thousands of people around the globe are working to deliver a more immersive, impressive, and spectrum-efficient wireless broadcasting service for the benefit of innovators, technology companies, broadcasters, and consumers alike.

Madeleine Noland is president of the Advanced Television Systems Committee.

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ATSC President Madeleine Noland

Last week in Washington, D.C., the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) celebrated its 40th anniversary at its annual NextGen Broadcast Conference, with veteran attendees reflecting back to the “Grand Alliance” of broadcasters and consumer electronics companies that formed the original ATSC 1.0 digital television standard and paved the way for HDTV broadcast programming.

But this year’s discussion on the new ATSC 3.0, or NextGen TV, standard only touched briefly on the improvements in linear programming that 3.0 enables, such as high dynamic range (HDR), 4K, enhanced audio and interactive applications. Instead, much of the conference focused on alternative uses of the broadcast spectrum such as datacasting and position, navigation and timing (PNT) applications, possibly in combination with wireless carriers’ existing 5G services. Most of these proposed data applications would be offered as business-to-business (B2B) services.

New Datacasting Venture Formed

Some concrete datacasting news came on the first day of the conference, with big LPTV player ARK Multicasting and tech firm Gaian Solutions announcing a joint venture to create a “Broadcast Internet Network” covering 30% of the U.S. The datacasting network will deliver a variety of applications through ARK’s 300 stations including IoT management, “smart city” services and digital signage, the companies said.

“We are shopping for partners in other markets, as the potential for growth and reach is tremendous, and the opportunity for all television broadcasters who partner is unmatched by existing models” said Joshua Weiss, CEO of ARK.

Nexstar-Scripps Datacasting

Executives from three of the country’s biggest station groups, Nexstar Media, Sinclair and E.W. Scripps, also appeared together to describe their datacasting efforts to date. BitPath, a joint venture between Nexstar and Sinclair, has already been working on PNT applications for the past two years including enhanced GPS services to provide better accuracy for utility and industrial applications. It first demonstrated its “NavPath” enhanced GPS product at NAB 2022 and expects to have it commercially deployed by the end of the year.

Del Parks

“Doing data is really important for Sinclair, and it’s been a goal of ours for 10 years,” said Sinclair President of Technology Del Parks.

But Nexstar has also been working with Scripps on datacasting over the past year, after the groups first collaborated in 2021 to test 3.0 multi-frequency networks (MFNs) using low-power stations in Michigan. Nexstar and Scripps have actually developed a “core network” of four stations — two Nexstar and two Scripps — that are live today with datacasting services on a test basis, and which they described in detail in D.C.

“We thought there was an interesting match between our two companies in terms of scale and reach,” said Nexstar CTO Brett Jenkins, who noted that the two groups combined reach roughly 92% of the U.S.

Brett Jenkins

Finding new revenues through business like datacasting with 3.0 is essential for large broadcasters “playing the long game” like Nexstar, Jenkins said. He compared the datacasting opportunity to the new revenue stream stations created years ago by charging pay TV operators retransmission fees — a development without which he said broadcasting would have been unlikely to survive.

“I don’t think any of us would have jobs, or at least not jobs in broadcasting, because broadcasting wouldn’t exist,” Jenkins said. “That’s a good example of diversification of revenue streams. And I think that’s what excites the three of our companies. We know that it’s in a way existential for us.

“You know, HDR pictures, as beautiful as they are, are not going to keep people at our stations employed,” he added. “We have to find ways to continue to grow and build these businesses.”

Kerry Oslund

Kerry Oslund, VP strategy and business development for E.W. Scripps, said broadcasters have an opportunity to become a “holistic wireless operator.” He suggested that the revenues from datacasting could help subsidize broadcaster’s public service mission of informing their communities with local news and other quality programming. (Oslund also noted that 5% of datacasting revenues would go to the U.S. Treasury, as per FCC rules.)

“It’s a virtuous cycle,” Oslund said. “The idea that we can offer commodity data services to finance the premium services that are important to us. Most important in my view, in my ‘why,’ is so we can continue to do quality local news and community service. Datacasting, commodity services, are so boring that it’s absolutely exciting to think that we are going to have another revenue stream that is going to help fund all of the important stuff that we do.”

Core Exercises

Oslund has worked with Jenkins to develop the Nexstar/Scripps core network with a mix of technology partners including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ateme, Harmonic, DigiCAP, Triveni Digital, Heartland Video Systems and Sony. Sony has provided the effort with prototype mobile receivers based on its Xperia Android smartphone and 3.0 receiver chip.

Four high-power, high-tower 3.0 stations currently make up the core network: Nexstar’s KWGN Denver and WTTK Indianapolis, and Scripps’ WMYD Detroit and KMCI Kansas City. The four stations cover about 5% of the U.S., Oslund said. He displayed a map showing projected coverage of the stations for receivers like the Sony Xperia phones, which use a USB dongle to receive the 3.0 signals, and other portable devices with low-gain antennas at a low height (such as receivers in automobiles).

The established Longley-Rice model for signal propagation, based on reception with antennas at a height of 10 meters, doesn’t pass muster for datacasting, Jenkins said. Instead, Nexstar and Scripps are adopting a “telco mentality” when predicting coverage for prospective data customers.

“One of the cool things we’re starting to do now, because we have receive devices that are positionally aware and can give us feedback through a backchannel, is we can start proving the coverage maps, the way we calculated them, are actually being received by the receivers in these markets,” Jenkins said.

The Nexstar/Scripps core network map

Each 3.0 station has about 26 megabits per second (Mbps) of total capacity. Given the reality of the 3.0 rollout, where stations currently have to share channels while showing “substantially similar” programming to their 1.0 broadcasts, that leaves at most three to four Mbps per market for datacasting services, Oslund said.

Those services could be non-real-time (NRT) file transfers or a data carousel, where the same file is being sent over and over again; KMCI is currently running a data carousel of a PDF file of the novel War and Peace and an MP4 of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off. Oslund said that customers would be able to pay for capacity on either a gigabytes-sent or time basis.

He went on to demonstrate the core network by accessing the “Portal” control screen. A “system health page” showed the existing services running on the four 3.0 stations, including linear programming and data services. WMYD Detroit is currently broadcasting five HD feeds and two datacasting services, while the other three stations in the core network are transmitting four HDs and one datacasting service each.

Oslund then reserved 2.5 Mbps across WMYD and KMCI for a new datacasting service. He uploaded a variety of files (ZIP, PDF, KMZ and MP4) from his laptop computer, which went up to the cloud, and then down to the broadcast airchain for local transmission. A green light on the Portal screen indicated that the files had been “published,” i.e., successfully transmitted.

“No more PowerPoints,” Oslund said. “We can do this live.”

However, the second part of the demo failed, in that Oslund didn’t get confirmation that the files had actually been received by the Sony phones in the field (a failure that he blamed on his own operator error). That “return path report,” which he said Scripps has usually received without trouble in its testing, includes details like the file name, size of the file, device ID and GPS coordinates of the receiver. Once it confirms receipt of the files, Scripps could then bill a theoretical datacasting customer.

The current core network simply represents a “start,” and Oslund’s goal is to light up many more markets with Nexstar.

“Imagine 50 markets when we’re going in and doing a presentation,” he said.

While NextGen TV sets are continuing to roll out at steady pace and new accessory receiver devices are coming to market, both Oslund and Jenkins said there is still much work to be done on the receiver side for enterprise datacasting applications.

“It does not seem to be an ecosystem that is springing up out of the ground fully formed,” Jenkins said. “It certainly hasn’t happened in the last couple of years. That’s going to take a lot more muscle and leaning in from those of our companies who are bullish about this and want to see these capabilities develop.”

Working With 5G, GPS

When asked what vertical markets look to have potential for broadcasters’ 3.0 data services, Oslund said one of the “early opportunities” was working with private 5G networks to extend their effective coverage range from the “bubble” of 5G to the much bigger “dome” of 3.0 broadcast, which could be useful for connected devices or utility trucks.

“The idea is there are so many companies and enterprises that are moving to private 5G using either CBRS or Wi-Fi technologies,” Oslund said. “They generally have a range of no more than two miles, but they’re not subject to anything from the public internet. So, we’re talking about an extension of broadcast services in combination with private 5G.”

NAB President Curtis LeGeyt (Glen Dickson photo)

Jenkins noted that the PNT market was attractive, given both the increasing number of devices and applications that rely on location data and the fact that could be serviced today even with the relatively small amount of bandwidth that 3.0 stations have available. (Another panel discussion at the NextGen conference on “Broadcast Position Systems” detailed how 3.0 could serve as an alternative source of location data in the case of GPS outages.)

For its part, Sinclair has been talking for several years about 3.0 working alongside 5G, instead of competing with it. The company has partnered with Indian firm Saankya Labs to develop a 3.0 receiver chip set, which could be enabled in combination 5G/3.0 devices. It has also worked with Korean telco SK Telecom, through the joint venture CAST.ERA, to explore how 3.0 can work together with 5G wireless signals.

One application that Sinclair and SK Telecom have successfully tested in both Korea and the U.S. is using 3.0 signals in combination with 5G to deliver geo-targeted content to moving automobiles. By using the reception of a 3.0 correction signal to enhance the positional GPS data received by a smartphone, Sinclair has demonstrated that it can improve the location accuracy of GPS from 3 meters down to 3 centimeters.

Sinclair view telcos as customers for its 3.0 data services, Parks said, and that is why the company is working hard internationally to get 3.0 accepted as part of the worldwide 3GPP wireless standard.

“The goal would be to combine those 5G networks with the broadcast networks,” Parks said. “It’s not an either/or, it’s an ‘and’ function.”

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The Richer Medal

Named for the legendary former ATSC president who led the organization for two decades spanning both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0, the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal recognizes an individual or team that demonstrates exemplary leadership in advancing the mission of ATSC and epitomizes the vision, tenacity and leadership qualities that were the hallmark of his leadership.

Established in 2007, Saankhya Labs is India’s first fabless semiconductor solutions company whose products and solutions include award-winning, fully programmable Software Defined Radio chipsets powering their Direct To Mobile (D2M) Broadcast and Converged 5G Broadband Broadcast connectivity solutions among and other 5G products and services.

ATSC President Madeleine Noland said: “Saankhya Labs is on the vanguard of the experimental activity in Bengaluru and Delhi with ATSC 3.0 for Direct-to-Mobile broadcast services. They not only shine as technical implementers and relationship managers, but also as exemplary team members working collaboratively with the entire ATSC community, demonstrating the benefit of Direct-to-Mobile services to the Indian people and how ATSC 3.0 is leading a technical solution for video, radio and data services for fixed and mobile devices.”

Parag Naik, Saankhya Labs CEO, said: “Saankhya Labs is honored to be recognized by ATSC with the 2023 Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal. Video traffic occupies more than 70% of mobile network traffic. Much of this data is being simultaneously consumed across multiple mobile devices. With 1.2 billion cell phones in India, Direct To Mobile (D2M) Broadcast makes efficient use of the traditional broadcasting spectrum. We are pleased to be developing revolutionary technology to fulfill this need and opportunity.”

The Lechner Award

The Lechner honor is bestowed once a year to an individual representative of the ATSC membership whose technical and leadership contributions to ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary.

The 2023 Lecher Award recognizes decades of service by Glenn Reitmeier to ATSC and his pioneering industry contributions. In addition to serving multiple terms as ATSC Board Chairman, he has led the Planning Team on Future Broadcast Ecosystem Technologies (PT-4) from its formation until the present. PT-4 has worked to define key aspects of new-generation broadcasting. Punctuated by key technology leadership roles at Sarnoff Lab and NBC Universal, Reitmeier’s career spans the analog NTSC era through the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance, ATSC 1.0 and development and deployment of ATSC 3.0.

“Glenn Reitmeier has exemplified the characteristics of the late Bernie Lechner, dedicated his technical prowess and his leadership skills to numerous ATSC projects and initiatives over the years. Glenn’s body of work spans so much of ATSC’s history, and we are pleased to confer this award to him on ATSC’s 40th Anniversary,” Noland said.

The Lechner Award recognizes the first recipient, Bernard Lechner, for his outstanding service to the ATSC. Lechner was the retired Staff Vice President, Advanced Video Systems of RCA Laboratories. His 30-year career at RCA covered all aspects of television and display research.

“This is a special honor for me since I had the privilege of having Bernie Lechner as my boss and mentor for many years at RCA / Sarnoff Laboratories. Bernie taught me so many things about the importance of standards to the industry ecosystem and to business, as well as the values of collaboration and compromise. So many insights learned from my mentors were crucially important as we went through the competitive and later collaborative phases of the Grand Alliance and setting the ATSC 1.0 standard. Those same values or principles are at work today within ATSC and its current standards setting process,” Reitmeier said.

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NAB’s preliminary numbers indicated that 65,013 attendees made the trip, roughly a 24% increase over the 52,468 in 2022. 1,208 companies exhibited, a 28% jump over the 940 last year. NAB organizers had projected that international attendance would be much stronger this year, given the lifting of vaccine requirements and travel restrictions, and that proved true. There were 17,446 international attendees and 166 countries represented, compared to 11,542 and 155 last year.

While overall attendance still paled in comparison to the 91,921 attendees in 2019, vendors reported strong traffic in their booths. Jeff Moore, EVP and CMO for Ross Video, said the company’s large North Hall booth filled up 30 minutes after the floor opened on Sunday morning and stayed busy all day. But Ross Video will be moving its booth next year, as NAB reconfigures the overall exhibition in 2024 and 2025 to again include the South Hall while the North Hall is closed for renovations.

Ross is returning to South, where it had exhibited for many years through NAB 2019, and that is fine by Moore. “We know it,” he said.

Changes In West Hall

Other vendors expressed some concern with the new layout, particularly given the considerable distance between South and the LVCC’s new West Hall. That space made its NAB debut in 2022 and was reconfigured by show organizers this year to serve as a “broadcast hub.” Radio and transmission vendors were consolidated there, and most conference sessions and panel presentation relevant to station and network executives were either held in “content theaters” on the floor or in the meeting rooms upstairs.

West Hall was also home to a large booth secured by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) in which multiple companies demonstrated various applications for the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, including SDR to HDR conversion in local broadcasts and the delivery of interactive broadcast apps to NextGen TV sets.

One of the 3.0 applications being demonstrated in the ATSC booth was “Data Distribution as a Service” to 3.0 devices including mobile phones, which Sinclair has been developing in partnership with Indian chip manufacturer Saankhya Labs.

The changes had a positive effect, as the far end of this cavernous new exhibition hall was certainly busier than last year, and West seemed to have more traffic overall than the Central or North Halls. But much of the buzz at West could also be attributed to the big cloud companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft that exhibited there, as broadcasters continue to shift from specialized on-premise hardware to flexible software applications running on generic computing power, whether in the public cloud or their own data centers.

One of the companies enjoying the cloud effect in West was IP monitoring supplier TAG Video Systems. TAG chief strategy and cloud officer Peter Wharton said the booth was “very busy,” and that his schedule was jam-packed with appointments each day of the show.

“There’s nothing I’ve heard or saw this week that made me think a recession is around the corner,” Wharton said.

Also located in West was Imagine Communications, in a smaller booth than it occupied in Central Hall last year. Imagine president Steve Reynolds said he was “glad we made the jump,” as it put Imagine near the cloud companies with which it has been working.

Strategic Partnerships

One of those rapidly growing cloud companies is Amagi, with whom Imagine announced a strategic partnership at the show. Imagine will now resell Amagi’s Cloudport playout software, integrating it with the Aviator “orchestration console” it launched last year, while Amagi will integrate Imagine’s SureFire video ad server, which provides “broadcast-grade” ad decisioning, into its Thunderstorm digital ad insertion product.

For an NAB light on news in terms of major customer deals or mergers and acquisitions between vendors, Imagine’s deal with Amagi was significant in that it showed the shifting fortunes of traditional broadcast vendors like Imagine, which had previously been competing in cloud playout with Aviator, versus cloud-native companies like Amagi, which has been dominating the booming FAST channel market with its cloud playout software. Amagi is also moving into linear cloud playout, announcing a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group to move playout of all of Sinclair’s local stations to the AWS cloud by 2025.

When Imagine executives first met with Amagi a few months ago, Reynolds went into the conversation with the view that the two companies were direct competitors. But he said the “more time we spent with them, the more we came to realize that we are more complementary than competitive.”

The new Imagine/Amagi solution allows a customer who wants to run a hybrid cloud/ground model to use on-premise Imagine Versio hardware servers in combination with native cloud playout via Amagi, such as for FAST or disaster-recovery channels. Aviator Orchestrator will provide control over the hybrid cloud and ground topology, and SureFire will provide broadcast ad decision-making functions for spots that will then be delivered by Amagi’s Thunderstorm platform.

“From here on out we’ll just sell Cloudport engines,” Reynolds said. “There’s too much reinvention of the wheel that goes on in this industry. What we’ve decided to do is to stop building things that other people have already built. If there is something we need, we would rather partner with somebody, because that allows us to accelerate time to market, and for the customer to accelerate their time to revenue. People don’t have time to wait around for us to invent things that have already been invented.”

At NAB, Amagi unveiled another deal with a legacy broadcast supplier in the form of a strategic partnership with Encompass Digital Media, which station groups and cable networks have long used as an outsourcing solution for hubbed master-control playout and other managed services. Under the deal Encompass has selected Amagi as a technical partner for cloud-based FAST and playout solutions, essentially outsourcing some of the outsourcing business it had previously done on-premise.

Marco Di Giacomo, chief marketing officer for Amagi, explained that the Encompass deal with Amagi addressed the gradual evolution in the industry from broadcasters first consolidating and managing their data centers, to outsourcing the management of the data center to a third party, to eventually running those data center functions in the public cloud.

“The idea is that customers have the need to feel that one, they have full control over when and how and what to shift to cloud, and two, the opportunity to mix workloads across on-premise and the cloud,” Di Giacomo said. “And so, with the partnership with Encompass, essentially what we give them access to is the managed service provider business that Encompass has so that they can provide professional services for the migration.”

It also gets Amagi out of providing managed services itself, which it has been providing to some early customers based on their requests but doesn’t see as being core to its long-term business. Going forward, Amagi will point customers looking for managed services to Encompass.

“The realization was that there were multiple customers that were expecting to be able to go all the way to cloud, and therefore Encompass recognized that there were customers they had an opportunity to monetize by partnering with us,” Di Giacomo said. “And vice versa, we always had customers who were using our managed services, which weren’t necessarily core to our solution.

“It was something we were doing because customers were asking for it, but again, we’re a cloud company not a data center management company, and we don’t want to be one,” he continued. “So, it was kind of a, ‘You give me yours, I give you mine’ situation.”

Cloud Developments

Another traditional vendor with cloud news at NAB was Grass Valley, which has invested over $200 million so far in its Advanced Media Processing Platform (AMPP) cloud software, CEO Louis Hernandez Jr. told the audience at the Devoncroft conference on Saturday. AMPP is providing the technical backbone for CBS Sports’ new soccer network, Golazo Network, handling all playout, recording, routing and switching functions from the AWS cloud.

Grass Valley has drawn criticism from some broadcast customers and other industry players over the past year for focusing on AMPP at the expense of its traditional hardware products like cameras and switchers, which are widely used in live production. Hernandez said while that the industry’s future certainly lies in the cloud, Grass Valley is not giving up on its hardware business, and he pointed to new hardware products launched at NAB including the LDX C135 compact IP-native camera. But he did say that the company may outsource the manufacturing of some of its hardware products in the future.

“We have upgrades across the portfolio,” Hernandez said. “We have no intention of getting out of any hardware category, in fact you’ll see an expansion. But it doesn’t mean that we’ll be doing all of the manufacturing ourselves. There will branded Grass Valley products, and we will continue to support them as long as our clients want us to.”

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But over the same time period streaming video has exploded for broadcasters in the form of free advertiser-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, first with national offerings from major networks and more recently with regional and local services being launched by station groups. And the early consumer experience of NextGen TV has been hampered by government regulations that make it hard to differentiate the new services from the legacy ATSC 1.0 programming already delivered over-the-air, according to broadcasters speaking yesterday at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025 conference in New York.

Broadcasters’ biggest bone of contention is the FCC requirement for stations launching 3.0 to not only simulcast their primary programming stream in 1.0 but for the programming to be “substantially similar” through July 2023, even though they haven’t received any new spectrum for 3.0. So to launch 3.0 in a market, broadcasters are reaching channel-sharing agreements that cram multiple 3.0 program streams onto one (or two) “lighthouse” stations. The deals also find new homes for the lighthouse station’s displaced 1.0 programming, including multiple diginets, on “host” stations in the market.

“Even in markets that are lit up, about 75% of the bandwidth is actually on 1.0, because there are only one or two lighthouses in the market that actually get to do 3.0,” noted ATSC President Madeleine Noland, who spoke on the panel “NextGen TV, Streaming and the Future of Local Media” moderated by this reporter.

Capacity is tight for both the 3.0 and 1.0 broadcasts, and broadcasters are aggressively using video compression to make it all work. That means that they can’t increase the data rate of the 3.0 streams to offer dramatically improved pictures, such as 4K HDR, or even make the signal significantly easier to receive through more robust modulation schemes. The end result is the same programming in 1080p HDR that may not look very different from the 720p or 1080i content customers are already getting in 1.0, said Kerry Oslund, VP of strategy and business development for E.W. Scripps.

Oslund asked the audience how many people had NextGen TV sets currently receiving 3.0 signals, and a smattering of hands went up [New York is one of several big markets where 3.0 is not yet on-air].

“That’s one of the things we’re really concerned about,” Oslund said. “Right now, you know if you turn on your 3.0 TV set you get generally the same thing as if you were watching 1.0. And that’s not how you differentiate the experience. That bothers us and it makes us nervous. Because when a 3.0 customer goes to watch 3.0 television, we want them to see a differentiated experience beyond just better pictures and better sound, which it will have. But in a lot of ways that’s like a steering wheel and brakes on a car — you expect that.”

Oslund said that Scripps and other broadcasters would like to offer different programming in 3.0, perhaps with interactive enhancements, to make buying a new set a more compelling proposition.

Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV consortium of which Scripps is a member, also would like to see the “substantially similar” rule lift.

“I do understand the reasoning behind that, but we do feel like we need to be able to showcase content to get consumers excited to come over to NextGen,” Schelle said.

Another way the FCC could help the 3.0 rollout, she said, is to expedite a proceeding on the rules for how multicast [diginet] channels could be carried in 1.0 and 3.0, a rulemaking process that started back in November 2020. That would make it easier for broadcasters to juggle the multitude of program streams in large markets, a task at which she said they’ve done an “amazing” job so far.

“We’ve preserved every diginet and every main channel out there, and we’ve worked closely with the cable companies,” said Schelle. “In fact, they participate in every transition we do. That’s all to ensure that the consumer already watching ATSC 1.0 is not impacted at all — that’s our bread and butter.

“But by the same token, we need help,” she continued. “We need help in terms of some of these tougher markets, to have more flexibility in how we move around the diginets and the mains. That’s number one. That proceeding has been sitting there for a long time and it would be great if they could move that along.”

Oslund also addressed concerns about privacy and data collection via 3.0 sets that were raised in a speech earlier this week by FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Speaking at Penn Law on Tuesday, Starks touted 3.0’s various benefits but also said “we must set proper guardrails” when it came to data collection for targeted advertising, particularly geographic location information.

Oslund countered that geographic location data could provide great benefit to the public during emergencies, such as when Hurricane Ian lashed Fort Myers, Fla., earlier this month.

“We want to have enough data so that NextGen TV and enhanced emergency alerting services can help a consumer with a customized evacuation route from their home, their street, their neighborhood, to where they need to go to be safe,” Oslund said. “Some people talk about that same data and they think about it from an advertising perspective only. I can promise you this company is built on 140 years of trust and we’re not going to throw it away by abusing that trust by somehow reaching too far into the data quagmire. But we do want to have enough so we can enhance our emergency alerting and our community service aspects of what we do.”

Francesco Moretti, deputy CEO and CEO of international offices for Fincons Group, has already been working for the past 10 years with European broadcasters to pursue advanced advertising on connected TVs using the HbbTV broadcast standard. He said that privacy concerns there are addressed by consumers opting in to receive additional premium features from their providers in exchange for sharing data. He expects a similar model in the U.S.

Fincons helped Italian broadcaster Mediaset launch its first interactive advertising back in 2017, with a publishing overlay of targeted advertising for connected TVs. A year later Mediaset started dynamic ad replacement. For more than four years they’ve been able to get feedback from audiences on their preferences, behavior and expectations, Moretti said, which has helped them “transform and evolve the business model of advertising” combined with attribution.

Mediaset recently linked connected TVs with smartphones to create an attribution system that tracks the effectiveness of dynamic advertising insertion. During one week of an automotive campaign the linked TV/mobile system showed an increase of 18% in visits to dealers and an average visit of over an hour, a clear indication that consumers were spurred by the TV spots to go shopping.

“It’s a sort of win-win for both the broadcaster and the audience,” Moretti said. “Mediaset can create profiles of behavior and experience and track and understand exposure of the audience to a different campaign. And with the geolocation of the mobile it is able to understand during the week of the campaign how much the traffic to the store is increasing.”

Schelle said that such a dynamic advertising and attribution system could be supported in the U.S. today with NextGen TV, as the digital revenue models that broadcasters are currently using on their OTT or FAST channels are easily transferable. The “RUN3TV” WebTV application platform that Pearl TV has developed to run on NextGen TV sets uses the same server-side ad insertion (SSAI) model with client-side reporting prevalent in many existing IP content distribution scenarios. It will allow dynamic ads to be placed against interactive content such as VOD clips or localized newscasts that consumers can quickly access through the sets’ broadband connection.

“It’s really just bringing those models over in this Web environment,” Schelle said. “Everything you can do there, you can do on the live linear broadcast in the application environment.”

Pearl TV also announced at NAB New York that it has created a “FastTrack” program to speed the development and retail availability of low-cost upgrade accessory receivers for 3.0, such as HDMI peripherals for legacy TV sets and USB dongles for smartphones. Those devices would be in addition to the roughly 55 million NextGen-capable sets that CTA projects could be in U.S. households by 2024.

“You take the projection of over-the-air households at 18%, and you have a 10 million [set] base audience that you can reach, which gets very meaningful for advertisers,” Schelle said. “Right now, what’s important is to enable the Web features.”

For more TV2025 coverage, click here.

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Panelists Kerry Oslund, VP, strategy and business development, The E.W. Scripps Co.; Madeleine Noland, president, ATSC; Anne Schelle, managing director, Pearl Group; and Franceso Moretti, deputy CEO and CEO of international offices, Fincons Group will join moderator Glen Dickson, TVNewsCheck contributing editor, for the discussion at 3 p.m. on Oct. 19.

The executives will address how TV station groups will balance the content, marketing, revenue and technology needs associated with nurturing both distribution platforms, along with how technology is making it easier for local broadcasters to distribute content over many platforms while developing a mobile distribution feed that serves consumers in cars, on the beach and at the stadium. They’ll also consider when will data broadcasting will begin feeding significant revenue to support all this expansion.

“NextGen TV is entering an interesting period as it’s trying to move into the big markets, which are critical for scale,” said TVNewsCheck Publisher and Co-Founder Kathy Haley. “This panel will look at how the industry is managing that expansion into large markets at the same time as it’s racing to compete effectively in streaming, and we’ll examine both the the technical and business challenges on that path.”

Additional TV2025 panels will cover Cybersecurity: Strategies for Mitigating Risk in a High Visibility Industry; Creating More Content for a Multimedia Audience; How Data Will Redefine the TV/Audience Relationship; Technology, Data and the Future of Local TV Advertising; and Technology, the Cloud and the Station Group of the Future.

TVNewsCheck Editor Michael Depp will also moderate an annual conversation with station group leaders on the state of the industry, and E.W. Scripps’ President and CEO Adam Symson will accept TVNewsCheck’s Station Group of the Year Award on behalf of his company.

Register for TV2025 here.

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ATSC is collaborating with the Jamaica DSO Regulatory and Technical Committee, Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica and the Spectrum Management Authority to produce the event.

“ATSC is excited that Jamaica has selected ATSC 3.0 for its transition to a digital television transmission system and joins the growing number of countries deploying ATSC 3.0 technologies across the globe,” said Madeleine Noland, ATSC president. “I am thrilled to be joining regulatory officials, broadcasters, and our members in bringing this educational event to Jamaica.”

The first day and a half of the event will be an in-depth technical workshop intended for station engineers who are getting ready to launch ATSC 3.0. The remaining two-and-a-half days will provide attendees with an overview of ATSC 3.0 technology and the opportunities it can facilitate for the benefit of the Jamaican people. The seminar is for a broad audience of regulators, engineers, station managers, and government authorities.

“Jamaica now joins South Korea and the USA in pioneering the deployment of ATSC 3.0 (Next Generation TV), the world’s latest and most advanced television transmission standard,” said Cordel Green, executive director of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica and chairman of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) Regulatory and Technical Committee.

Green added: “There is much work yet to be done and this Bootcamp and Seminar will help television broadcasters and other stakeholders with planning to make a success of this project. The Broadcasting Commission has also strengthened Jamaica’s implementation capacity by bringing on board two seasoned professionals. Mr. Trevor Libert, Project Manager, is a certified professional with over 30 years of experience developing and managing large-scale integrated projects for ministries, departments, and agencies as well as financial institutions. He is joined by Mr. Aldo Cugnini, ATSC 3.0 Technical Advisor, an internationally-established Advanced Television Systems Committee expert.”

“It has been a long time coming, but change is on the horizon. We are future-proofing for generations and opening pathways for innovation towards becoming the example of that digital society in the region,” said Dr. Maria Myers Hamilton, managing director of the Spectrum Management Authority and member of the DSO Regulatory and Technical Committee, Jamaica.

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The Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) held its annual “NextGen Broadcast Conference” last Wednesday and Thursday in Detroit, where the “Next-Gen TV Auto Symposium,” organized by broadcast consortium Pearl TV and hosted by Scripps-owned WXYZ, was held back in May 2019. At that event broadcasters unveiled plans to launch a test bed for automotive applications using the 3.0 spectrum, which they touted as a cheaper and more reliable way to deliver data such as software updates to automobiles. And they invited car makers and automotive parts suppliers to participate in hands-on development.

Since launching in December 2020, the “Motown 3.0 Open Test Track” has been busy providing high-powered 3.0 broadcasts from Scripps’ Detroit independent WMYD, which in partnership with Graham Media, CBS and Fox has set aside 10% of its overall capacity for the automotive industry’s use. The “Test Track” initiative in Detroit has been bolstered by other 3.0 automotive field trials in Phoenix; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Portland, Ore., as well as a 3.0 testbed on Jeju Island in South Korea, with strong reception results widely reported.

To that point, ATSC President Madeleine Noland announced Thursday in Detroit that Korean automotive parts supplier Hyundai MOBIS has already developed an ATSC 3.0 receiver for vehicles, completed testing and plans to deliver the solution to automakers.

“In fact, they anticipate the first commercially available automobile equipped with 3.0 to be available in the U.S. market next year, 2023,” Noland said.

New Field Test Results

No other big automotive product announcements were made at the NextGen conference, but there were new, detailed 3.0 field test results shared from both Detroit and Portland as well as presentations on other datacasting applications like distance learning and emergency alerting.

Coast-to-coast test configuration

The most notable new data came from a “Coast-to-Coast” road test spanning the width of Michigan and using signals from WMYD as well as low-power stations WKAR Lansing (Michigan State University) and WXSP and WOLP Grand Rapids (Nexstar).

The Coast-to-Coast test involved the delivery of both data files and streaming 720p video and audio to Sony 3.0 receivers in vehicles traveling at highway speeds. That included “handoffs” between different transmitters operating in a multiple frequency network (MFN), where different channels are used to transmit the same content across a wide geographic area.

Merrill Weiss, the consulting engineer on the test, said that 3.0 reception worked as expected, including a few areas of signal dropout along the route that were predicted by two established propagation models and could be solved for data delivery by appropriate buffering.

He said the test team, which included executives and engineers from Scripps, Sony and Heartland Media, was able to prove the reliable reception of data as well as HD programming on the road. That included the error-free delivery of a 7.6 GB file to a moving vehicle at highway speeds without the use of a return channel or a data carousel, as well as uninterrupted reception of 720p HD programming.

“We delivered HD video with seamless switching between multiple transmitters as we were driving between different sites down I-96,” Weiss said.

The test explored the use of new forward-error-correction (FEC) techniques, including the KenCast Fazzt FEC from Alchemedia SG, and new algorithms for reception from multiple antennas (diversity antenna reception). It also used a technique for non-realtime file delivery called bandwidth multiplication, which involves sending independent feeds that were coded differently from the source server to each transmitter individually. The FEC can then put together the individual feeds to construct the complete file.

“They were centrally processed and allowed to contribute data to the overall file reception from two different transmitters at the same time,” Weiss said. “So, it effectively took our 1 Mbps bandwidth and doubled it to 2 Mbps and allowed us to capture the files that were being received and downloaded at twice the speed we could have otherwise.”

Auton, a manufacturer of telematics control units (TCUs) for automobiles, successfully tested 3.0 reception in automobiles in Portland in 2021 with low-power KORS. Though the signal from the 15-kilowatt transmitter was receivable at a range of up to 40 miles, the company identified several areas that could benefit from 100–200-watt gap fillers.

Auton’s 3.0 test route

Auton came to Detroit for further trials of its prototype 3.0 TCU this past March, using “two-level” forward-error correction: application-layer FEC that works over a longer time frame to address packet loss; and physical layer FEC that works over a shorter time frame to address bit errors. Robert Foster, president and CEO of Auton, said he was very impressed with the performance of WMYD’s 930-kW 3.0 transmitter, including solid reception across downtown Detroit and even inside tunnels.

“It was awesome to see it work,” Foster said. “The signal is so complete and uniform it’s impossible to hide from it. But we did our best.”

Auton did identify a problem area west of Ann Arbor, about 35 miles from the transmitter. But those problems, which included picture artifacts and browser refreshes, were mostly solved by tweaking the FEC. Foster has broad experience with cellular and satellite paths to the car and said that 3.0 is very accessible and cost-effective by comparison. He invited interested parties to come work with Auton for further testing on the “Oregon Test Network,” a network of six low-power 3.0 stations with which he has partnered. The stations have no existing commercial traffic to compete with and partners will have complete control of the waveform for testing.

“We need to move ahead,” Foster said. “The core technologies are there. It’s time to build it.”

A Cloud-First Proposition

The time appears to be ripe for broadcasters to pursue the automotive market according to a wide-ranging presentation by Roger Lanctot, director of the global automotive practice for Strategy Analytics. Lanctot noted that it is difficult to buy a car today that doesn’t have some sort of built-in wireless connectivity. But only electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla has created viable recurring revenues from that connectivity with its $10-per-month software updates constantly delivering incremental improvements to owners.

“The industry is still coming to terms with what is that value proposition for the consumer, and what is the consumer willing to pay for it?” Lanctot said. “Tesla is the only company that has figured this out.”

That could change with increased 5G deployment, which is “coming very fast on the network side,” Lanctot said. He forecast that shipments of 5G TCUs for cars will have a compound annual growth rate of 94% between 2021 and 2027, with volumes increasing from 322,000 in 2021 to 17.1 million by 2027.

L-r: John Lawson of AWARN, Mark Corl of Triveni, Luke Fay of Sony, Dr. Jong Kim of LG Electronics, Anne Schelle of Pearl TV

Connected-car initiatives were slowed in recent years in both the U.S. and Europe over spectrum allocations, including the FCC’s decision to free up a large chunk of DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) spectrum originally reserved for automotive use. But safety concerns are driving new government-mandated features that are dependent on connectivity, such as “intelligent speed assistants” that warn drivers when they are going over the speed limit. So are new navigation and driver-assist tools like Cadillac’s “Super Cruise” hands-free driving system.

Lanctot said that “everything is driving towards a cloud-first proposition when it comes to driving a car, and all of the applications, whether they’re infotainment-, communication- or safety-related.”

That said, all of these new safety features bear significant cost implications for automobile manufacturers. And while they have partnered to bring connectivity to cars, car makers and wireless carriers have never seen eye-to-eye and still have what Lanctot describes as a “fraught” relationship. He said 3.0 could be seen as an attractive solution.

“If you’re an automotive engineer, connectivity is a necessary evil, wireless carriers are a necessary evil, and I am really interested in alternatives to cellular connectivity to my cars,” he said. “So, I’m not surprised to hear that we have a car with ATSC 3.0 arriving as soon as we just heard.”

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Congratulating the honorees during this year’s NextGen Broadcast Conference last week, ATSC President Madeleine Noland said: “Dr. Lim manages the work of Specialist Group TG3/S33 in a quick professional manner, allowing the industry to move forward apace. With more than two dozen patents to his name, his valuable knowledge has been instrumental in helping ATSC develop cutting-edge signaling solutions and more.”

Noland also recognized Sony Electronics for their leadership in the deployment of ATSC 3.0, as it incorporates the ATSC 3.0 electronics into all its consumer TV models on the market in the United States. “Sony’s exceptional work on ATSC 3.0 development and implementation stand out in our industry and supports the successful rollout of NEXTGEN TV across the country,” she said.

Richer Industry Leadership Medal

Named for the legendary former ATSC president who led the organization for two decades spanning both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0, the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal recognizes an individual or team that demonstrates exemplary leadership in advancing the mission of ATSC and epitomizes the vision, tenacity and leadership qualities that were the hallmark of his leadership.

From left: ATSC Board President Richard Friedel, ATSC President Madeleine Noland, ATSC President Emeritus Mark Richer and Mike Nejat, Luke Fay and Adam Goldberg from Sony Electronics.

Noland said: “Recognizing that Sony is one of three television manufacturers that have made substantial contributions, Sony is the first to integrate ATSC 3.0 into every new Sony television model for the U.S. market. This development was instrumental in driving 2021 U.S. television industry sales to exceed initial sales estimates by nearly 300%.

“Sony’s commitment to include 3.0 across the full product line sends an incredibly positive message to the broadcast industry and is helping to drive station launches. And Sony is not resting on this achievement. It is continually developing its television platform along with new capabilities for mobile reception and the automotive industry. ATSC further recognizes and deeply appreciates Sony’s Luke Fay’s exemplary and continuing leadership as Technology Group 3 Chair,” she added.

Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award

ATSC’s 2022 Lechner Award recipient Youngkwon Lim has led the ATSC TG3/S33 Specialist Group on Management and Protocols since it was organized in 2013.  TG3/S33 is the group responsible for the most technical documents of any specialist group in TG3 – 8 Standards and 3 Recommended Practices, including A/331 “Signaling, Delivery Synchronization, and Error Protection,” which is one of the most complex documents in the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards.

From left: ATSC President Madeleine Noland, President Emeritus Mark Richer and Dr. Youngkwon Lim of Samsung Electronics.

“ATSC 3.0 is a platform that can evolve over time, and S33 continues to play a pivotal role in ATSC, as the group tackles the myriad updates that improve A/331 and the other documents under its care. We are grateful for Young’s leadership in this critical piece of the ATSC 3.0 standard,” Noland added.

In addition to his service to ATSC, Lim has served as a convener of the MPEG Systems Working Group and is well known for his expertise in next-generation broadcasting and multimedia systems (protocol, delivery, streaming).

Lim has also been a key contributor to MPEG Media Transport (MMT) for delivery of multimedia over IP networks and digital broadcasting, and he has chaired multiple ad-hoc groups in MPEG, including Systems Technologies for Volumetric Media, Omnidirectional MediA Format (OMAF), Video Decoding Interface and more.

Noland said: “Dr. Lim’s experience in other Standards Development Organizations allows him to quickly align ATSC documents with external documents for a cohesive set of standards.  His valuable knowledge has helped ATSC move forward with signaling solutions, and I appreciate his expert guidance of TG3/S33.”

The Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award is bestowed once a year to an individual representative of the membership whose technical and leadership contributions to ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary. The title of the award recognizes the first recipient, the late Bernard Lechner, for his outstanding service to the ATSC.

Lechner was the retired staff vice president, advanced video systems of RCA Laboratories. His 30-year career at RCA covered all aspects of television and display research, including early work on home video tape recorders in the late 1950s, extensive development of flat-panel matrix displays in the 1960s including pioneering efforts on active-matrix liquid crystal displays, advanced two-way cable TV systems and pay TV systems in the early 1970s, electronic tuning systems and CCD comb-filters for TV receivers in the mid-1970s, automated broadcast cameras and CCD broadcast cameras in the late 1970s and early 1980s, to HDTV in the mid-1980s.

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Curtis LeGeyt

While it’s the same town and the same time of year, NAB 2022 will feel very different than previous NABs that routinely drew over 90,000 attendees and 1,600-plus exhibitors. For one, it will be significantly smaller, which is no surprise given the continued impacts of COVID (attendees still have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result to get their badge). As of Wednesday, NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said both exhibitors and registrations have “really ramped up” in the last few weeks, and he was now expecting between 950 and 1,000 exhibitors and was “optimistic” for an attendance of around 60,000.

That attendance would represent a 35% drop from the last NAB, which is consistent with predictions from vendors with which TVNewsCheck spoke. But it would represent far healthier attendance than the 2022 CES show, which suffered a 70% drop in attendance from the January 2020 CES, down from 170,000 to 45,000.

“We couldn’t be happier about where things are landing right now,” LeGeyt says. “What we’ve been most focused on is ensuring that anyone that comes out there is going to have an experience that’s different than the NAB show they remembered from 2019 or before. We’ve reimagined the format of this. And that it will be something where they say, ‘I remember why it’s so important to be in-person at a trade show.’”

New Show Geography

The overall exhibit space at the Las Vegas Convention Center will be smaller, with a total footprint of around 500,000 square feet compared to just under one million in 2019. And it will have a new geography, as NAB is no longer using the cavernous South Upper and Lower Halls, which were located a considerable walking distance from the Central and North Halls. Instead, the show is moving into the gleaming new West Hall built across Paradise Road from North, where a parking lot was previously. The three halls are now served by the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, a system of underground tunnels created by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Tesla offers free rides between halls in its electric vehicles.

The smaller footprint isn’t just due to COVID. Several large vendors said after the 2019 show that they were reducing the size of their booths, or had already done so, as many of the products they sell have shifted from physical hardware to software-based solutions. And since many of those software-centric products can be demonstrated remotely — a capability vendors leaned on heavily throughout the pandemic — vendors were also looking to get more involved in conference sessions to get a better ROI on their NAB spend.

In conjunction with the new floorplan, NAB has reorganized the 2022 exhibition and companion conference into four “content pillars”: Create, Connect, Capitalize and Intelligent Content. The “Create” pillar will be located across Central and part of North Hall, Capitalize across part of North and Connect and Intelligent Content will be in the West Hall. Many anchor exhibitors have moved to new locations, including several post-production companies that had previously been in South relocating to North.

Schedule Changes

Another departure for NAB this year is the schedule. For the first time the show floor will be open on Sunday, following a decision in early 2019 to rejigger the exhibition to run from Saturday through Wednesday instead of Monday through Thursday with the hope of boosting attendance. The idea was that one didn’t have to “eat up an entire workweek” to attend NAB, LeGeyt says.

When the change was first announced, the reaction among exhibitors was mixed, with many vendors suggesting that Wednesday would simply become the “new Thursday,” historically a sleepy day on the NAB Show floor. Of course, after two years of no large trade shows and an industry that has been transformed by remote work due to the pandemic, it will be difficult to assess whether the schedule change was originally a good idea or not.

For his part, LeGeyt says he hadn’t heard much negative feedback about the schedule switch. Grass Valley CMO Neal Maycock agrees.

Neal Maycock

“I think people have forgotten what days it used to be on,” Maycock says. “No one seems worried about that anymore. It’s funny to think that was a big controversial thing a couple years ago. Now, it’s like, ‘Well, the show’s happening. Who cares what days it is?’”

Smaller, But More Serious Crowds

Maycock says he was struggling to get a sense of what attendance might actually be, but that if it reached even 50% of 2019 that would be a “very good result.” He says key customers are continuing to book meetings, even though non-COVID events like the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger are keeping some personnel away. Compared to the fall 2021 show that was canceled, Maycock also sees that more senior executives, rather than junior staff, are booking meetings with Grass Valley, which is emphasizing its cloud-based based production platform and various third-party product integrations in its booth.

“We’ve already got enough appointments to make it worth going,” he says.

Bitcentral CEO Steve Petilli says he was a bit concerned about attendance on Sunday, which is shaping up as a travel day for some customers. But Petilli has been able to secure appointments throughout the show with all of Bitcentral’s key customers, and he says that a smaller, less congested NAB might not be a bad thing.

Steve Petilli

“That’s one of the things that we’re hoping, is that it’s not as frenetic,” Petilli says. “I think it’s much more useful as a show if we don’t have crowds of people in the booth who are elbowing each other, and not enough meeting rooms to really sit down and have time with the customers. I think the people who really need to talk to us and are serious are going to be showing up, and we’re going to get a lot less looky-loos.”

About a month ago, Sony was predicting much lighter attendance for NAB ’22 than past shows but has seen booth appointments pick up in the last couple weeks, says John Studdert, VP of media solutions for Sony Electronics. Studdert says that most station groups were “going in full force” while attendance from networks was more mixed, which could be attributed to reorganizations like the one occurring at Warner Bros. Discovery as well as a shift in focus to new streaming efforts.

“There’s a lot of transformation taking place,” he says.

John Studdert

Studdert is seeing lighter attendance from customers in Europe and Asia due to the ongoing impacts of COVID. But he expects that U.S. attendance will be about 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

Sony will be in its familiar Central Hall location with a footprint comparable in size to previous years. Key themes will be the shift to IP-based SMPTE-2110 compliant operations; REMI production for live events; virtual production; and various cloud-based solutions.

“I think the industry is continuing to wait for the [cloud] toolsets to mature, especially on the live side,” Studdert says. “At the same time IP is continuing to mature as well. So, I think those two could either work in concert, or to some degree compete with each other.”

Satoshi Kanemura

Another Japanese vendor that will be highlighting IP solutions is FOR-A, which has actually increased the size of its booth to demonstrate an end-to-end software-defined production chain. Satoshi Kanemura, president and COO of FOR-A America, says that in-person shows are particularly important for small-to-mid-size vendors like FOR-A. He sees a similar value placed on attendance from customers, with some network customers skipping the show but a lot of “mid-tier and low-tier” broadcasters still making the trip.

Overseas Impact

Like Sony, most vendors expect attendance from European and Asia-Pacific customers to be down.

IP transmission vendor Net Insight, which is based in Sweden, is sending about the same number of people to NAB 2022 as 2019. But that’s because it has grown its U.S. operation. Fewer executives are coming from Europe, and the company is also seeing fewer European customers making the trip as well. Per Johansson, head of sales, Americas for Net Insight, says that a few customers from large media companies just canceled meetings in the past week due to new corporate-wide COVID restrictions.

Per Johansson

Net Insight had already downsized its booth somewhat from 2019 in its planning for last year’s canceled show. The company has also decided to virtualize several demonstrations in its booth this year that it initially planned to do with equipment in the booth, by remotely controlling systems back in Sweden. By doing so it is also showing that it can keep up with the needs of customers who are increasingly reliant on “at-home” or REMI-style productions.

“It’s going to be less and less equipment out at the edges in the future, and it shows we’re trending in that way,” Johansson says.

Van Duke

Master control and playout vendor Playbox NEO has seen strong response from customers and is forecasting NAB 2022 as a “purchasing show,” says Van Duke, U.S. director of operations for Playbox NEO. But he isn’t seeing many international customers make the trip and thinks it will be a U.S.-dominated show. Like other vendors, he says that Wednesday looks to be very quiet, and wonders why NAB hadn’t cut back on the total show hours.

“I think Wednesday is going to be dead,” Duke says.

Taking Stock Of Next-Gen TV

Sinclair Broadcast Group is bringing “several dozen” and maybe as many as 50 to 60 employees to Las Vegas, says SVP of Advanced Technology Mark Aitken. The continued rollout of the ATSC 3.0 transmission system is a big focus at NAB for Sinclair, which has been transmitting 3.0 signals from its NBC affiliate KSNV Las Vegas for the past two years. During the show, it will be demonstrating 3.0 datacasting applications, including “GPS enhancement” for drone delivery of packages outside the convention hall, as well as 4K HDR programming.

Aitken says NAB 2022 is key for broadcasters rolling out the new standard.

Mark Aitken

Ralph Bachofen

“During COVID, a lot of our folks haven’t seen [the technology],” Aitken says. “It’s been difficult putting your hands on gear and obviously having those face-to-face conversations. We’re making the best of the show.”

One of 30-plus vendors demonstrating 3.0 technology at NAB is Triveni Digital, which makes datacasting solutions and test and measurement systems for ATSC 3.0 transmission. Triveni has already booked a number of meetings at its new location in the West Hall and is expecting “really good traffic,” says Triveni VP of Sales and Marketing Ralph Bachofen.

“It sounds like all the big guys are coming,” Bachofen says, though he noted that overall attendance from PBS member stations may be down now that PBS no longer holds a technical conference before the show.

Madeleine Noland

The ATSC booth is anchoring the “Future of Delivery” area in the West Hall, which ATSC President Madeleine Noland describes as “drop-dead gorgeous.” Noland is “very excited” about prospective attendance for NAB, which includes significant delegations from Korea, Brazil and Jamaica.

“To be honest, it feels like pre-COVID when it comes to how preparations are going,” Noland says. “The amount of excitement that’s building, the number of people who would like to meet, the amount of activity in our booth as well as up and down the show floor.”

With 3.0 signals now covering 50% of the country and topping 80% predicted by year-end, Noland thinks the rollout is going very well, particularly considering the logistical challenges that COVID-19 posed throughout 2020. Between set-makers Sony, LG, Samsung and Hisense there are now over 120 NextGen TV models available.

At CES, attendees wanted to see 3.0 set-top boxes and other peripherals, Noland says, and she is happy that a number of them will be demonstrated at NAB. The other theme that arose was side-by-side comparison of ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 broadcasts, and that is something that will also be shown in the ATSC booth.

Anne Schelle

Besides datacasting and UHD, interactivity is another key benefit of the 3.0 standard. The Run3 broadcast app developed by E.W. Scripps will also be on display in the ATSC booth, says Anne Schelle, managing director of broadcast consortium Pearl TV, as well as in private demos at the Wynn hotel.

“We’re focused on the consumer story, video, audio and interactive,” Schelle says. “You will see some real examples of the broadcast application and some recent developments in ad technology with lead generation and monetization. We’ll be showcasing that.”

The post Vendors Eager For ‘Reimagined’ NAB Show appeared first on TV News Check.

The ATSC 3.0 elements selected by the SBTVD Forum, and others still under consideration, are all proven technologies in the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards — the world’s first IP-based system that marries broadband and broadcast – already being implemented in South Korea and the United States and coming soon to Jamaica.

“ATSC commends SBTVD Forum for its very well-organized process of developing Brazil’s TV 3.0 system,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “Over the past decade ATSC members developed the ATSC 3.0 system, and I am extremely proud that after rigorous testing and evaluation in Brazil, many elements of ATSC’s state-of-the-art terrestrial broadcast system have been selected. ATSC is ready to support SBTVD Forum as it applies these technologies to Brazil’s unique needs.”

Noland also congratulated the ATSC IT-4 Brazil Implementation Team. “IT-4 members have been diligently supporting ATSC technologies throughout the process and will continue their efforts in the upcoming phases of the SBTVD evaluation process.”

The SBTVD Forum is a nonprofit organization of private and public companies responsible for digital TV deployment in Brazil. It makes recommendations to the Brazilian Ministry of Communications for inclusion in the “TV 3.0 Project,” which is the Forum’s title for Brazil’s next generation of digital TV, including both over-the-air broadcast and over-the-top broadband components. The recommendations are the result of a call for proposals and subsequent testing and evaluations conducted by the Forum since the start of the TV 3.0 Project in July 2020.

While development of “TV 3.0” specifications and some additional testing will continue over the course of the next two years, decisions made thus far selected five key technologies proposed by ATSC for both the broadcast and broadband components of the “TV 3.0” system:

• ROUTE/DASH Transport
• MPEG-H Audio
• IMSC1 Captions
• HDR10 Video High Dynamic Range EOTF (with optional dynamic HDR metadata based on SMPTE ST 2094-10 and SMPTE ST 2094-40)
• ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting

Additional technologies proposed by ATSC were selected specifically for the TV 3.0 broadband component:

• 265/HEVC Video Base Layer Encoding
• HLG Video High Dynamic Range EOTF (optional)
• SL-HDR1 High Dynamic Range delivery (optional)
• AC-4 Audio (optional)

Brazil plans to begin deployment of its TV 3.0 system in 2024. A complete description of the TV 3.0 Project is available at https://forumsbtvd.org.br/tv3_0/. It includes the recommendation that testing and evaluation will continue in 2022-23 on the over-the-air Physical Layer and portions of the Application Coding (i.e., interactive) elements of the TV 3.0 system. ATSC’s proposals for ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer and ATSC 3.0 Interactive Content systems remain among those to be further evaluated.

Skip Pizzi, chair of ATSC’s Brazil Implementation Team, also welcomed the news, noting that “the Implementation Team is a collaborative effort of 15 ATSC member companies and others, and we are thrilled by the SBTVD Forum’s decisions to adopt so many ATSC-proposed technologies. We congratulate the Forum on its progress and look forward to our continuing collaboration in the next phase of TV 3.0 development.”

The post Key ATSC 3.0 Tech Selected By Brazil For Its Next-Gen TV Standard appeared first on TV News Check.

Jim DeChant, News-Press & Gazette Co., was reelected for his second term. Elected for a first term is Fred Engel, PBS North Carolina; and returning to the board is Brett Jenkins, Nexstar. Former ATSC Board Chair and retired Zenith executive Wayne Luplow was appointed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as its 2022 ATSC board representative.

ATSC thanks board members who are completing their terms at the end of 2021: Ira Goldstone, Cobalt Digital; Anne Schelle, Pearl TV; and Dr. Yiyan Wu, Communications Research Centre, who has represented IEEE on the board this year.

“I am pleased to welcome these exceptional industry leaders to the ATSC board of directors,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “ATSC is known for its leadership in advancing the future of digital terrestrial broadcasting, and I look forward to the fresh perspectives and valuable insight of our new board members, Fred and Brett. We give our sincerest gratitude to Ira, Anne, and Yiyan for their commitment and contributions to the ATSC Board of Directors.”

Current board members whose terms continue in 2022 are:

• Mark Aitken, Sinclair Broadcast Group
• Lynn Claudy, National Association of Broadcasters
• Mark Corl, Triveni Digital
• Jon Fairhurst, Samsung
• Richard Friedel, Fox Television Stations
• Dr. Jong Kim, LG Electronics/Zenith
• Brian Markwalter, Consumer Technology Association
• Glenn Reitmeier, GlennReitmeierTV
• Andy Scott, NCTA – The Internet and Television Association
• Dave Siegler, Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers
• Pete Sockett, Capitol Broadcasting.

Lynn Claudy is completing his third and final term as ATSC board chair at year-end. The board will elect the 2022 chair at its first meeting of the new year.

Noland said: “The past year, the broadcasting and tech industries have continued to face challenges, and ATSC remained strong through the stalwart leadership of our Board Chair Lynn Claudy. We’re pleased that he will remain as a Board Member and thank him for his service. The ATSC board of directors provides critical leadership and decision-making which are vital to presenting a unified voice as an industry. We are privileged to have such a talented group of leaders at the helm of our organization, and we anticipate that the diverse experience our new board members bring will add significant value.”

The post ATSC Board Members Elected By Membership appeared first on TV News Check.

“ATSC members are the stewards of the ATSC 3.0 Platform, evolving and expanding the system’s capabilities over time. This new development will move the technology forward and unlock innovative business scenarios for the broadcast ecosystem,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland.

ATSC is in the process of specifying standards for a Broadcast Core Network. ATSC envisions that the addition of core networking capabilities can be an integral part of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast system architecture. The aim is to facilitate efficient interconnect between broadcast towers to form one or more service networks, enabling new business opportunities that require efficient regional or national data delivery options.

Sourcing content from multiple data networks, a Broadcast Core Network holds potential to broaden the range of addressable use cases beyond those defined for linear television program delivery and extend the utility of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast facilities to untapped market areas, such as Broadcast (Virtual) Network Operator (BNO, BVNO), Regional or National Datacasting, enhanced Interactivity, and Data/Content Offload.

“We are excited to expand ATSC 3.0 options to include Core Networking,” said Luke Fay, chair of ATSC Technology Group 3 and senior manager technical standards at Sony Electronics. “This valuable addition to the ATSC 3.0 standard will enable broadcasters to coordinate data and content delivery across multiple markets. We look forward to specifying a state-of-the-art ATSC 3.0 extension with experts in the industry.”

“A high-performing Broadcast Core Network that provides services at scale will be essential to deliver on the promises of ATSC 3.0,” added Ali Dernaika, solution architect at HPE and co-chair of the ATSC Specialist Group drafting the new specification. “Following a 5G service-based architecture, the broadcast core network will streamline the efficiencies of spectrum usage and provide maximum flexibility to content delivery.”

Interested organizations may submit an intent-to-respond by Dec. 31. Details of the response requirements and schedule can be found in the RFP.

The post ATSC Opens RFP For 3.0 Broadcast Core Network Technologies appeared first on TV News Check.

The format of the two-day “NextGen Broadcast Conference” was different from previous editions, with the first day on Aug. 25 designated as a members-only annual meeting and the second day serving as a conference open to the media and other third parties. With the pandemic still very much a reality, a virtual streaming option was also offered for those unable, or unwilling, to travel to the event and adhere to current CDC guidelines, which required wearing a mask except when eating, drinking or speaking on stage.

Madeleine Noland

Some 90-odd attendees chose the virtual option. But more than 190 people attended in person, including FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who in an interview with ATSC President Madeleine Noland described 3.0 as a “disruptive” technology that gives broadcasters “a real opportunity to compete in video on phones.”

Noland said the turnout exceeded ATSC’s expectations, and that the organization planned to stick with the split private meeting/public conference setup going forward.

“We’re thrilled with the registrations,” she said.

Celebration Of Progress

While the 2018 and 2019 conferences were dominated by nuts-and-bolts discussions of what broadcasters needed to do to launch early 3.0 stations, the 2021 event had a different tone. There was a celebration of the progress 3.0 has made, with 43 markets on-air and dozens more slated to launch by year end, and some 70 consumer TV models with NextGen TV capability now available.

Several speakers cited updated NextGenTV sales forecasts from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which in January 2021 said that about 800,000 NextGenTV sets would be sold this year but in July revised that forecast to more than 2 million NextGen TV units. CTA also projects that 25% of TV sales will be NextGenTV-capable in 2023, 50% in 2024 and 73% in 2025.

Some of the near-term bump in NextGenTV numbers could be a function of the strained global supply chain for semiconductor chips and other key electronic components. A reduced volume of available chips has prompted TV set makers, as well as smartphone manufacturers, to focus on their high-end, higher-margin products. But while many NextGenTV sets continue to be premium 4K and 8K models, there are also more affordable options such as 43-inch set from Sony that retails for $599.

In fact, all 40 of Sony’s 2021 TV models have NextGen TV capability, said Nick Cosley, VP, business development for Sony Electronics, as Sony looks to achieve economies of scale by designing the same fundamental capabilities into all of its TVs.

“We’ve been looking at when is the right time for ATSC 3.0 to be mass market, and we think that time is now,” Colsey said.

Datacasting Focus

While previous NextGenTV conferences spent time discussing new programming opportunities including 4K UHD and mobile TV broadcasts, this year’s event focused heavily on datacasting. There were presentations on current 3.0 distance learning initiatives by public broadcaster WKAR in East Lansing, Mich., which is also testing first responder communications and HD radio delivery to cars, as well as Sinclair’s low-power WIAV Washington, which is working in combination with America’s Public Television Stations and SpectraRep.

SpectraRep, which works with public broadcasters to lease access to their spectrum for nontraditional uses, has enabled datacasting with ATSC 1.0 for the past 20 years, noted President and CTO Mark O’Brien. But he said the power of broadcast for data delivery has really been proven in the past 18 months as a way to provide distance learning for children who don’t have access to broadband at home.

SpectraRep has deployed more than 10,000 DigiCAP receivers with both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 receivers to students’ homes in Indiana and several other states as part of its “EduCast” service. The DigiCAP units receive secure 1.0 datacasts of educational content including live video and assignments with a simple antenna, and then retransmit it in the home over WiFi to Chromebooks or PCs.

“Now that is our foot in the door for ATSC 3.0, for the technology that ATSC 3.0 brings that takes datacasting to a whole new level with SFNs and deeper building penetration, ease of reception, more capacity, mobile reception and other things we can’t do today,” O’Brien said. “We have one hand tied behind our back with ATSC 1.0 datacasting, and yet we were still able to prove that there’s a need out there in the world.”

Auto Data Delivery Trials

There was also a panel on successful trials of 3.0 data delivery to automobiles in Phoenix and Santa Barbara, Calif., conducted by Sony in conjunction with Pearl TV and the News-Press Gazette group. Sony’s semiconductor business has already been active with automotive applications in Japan and has learned that having multiple demodulators on a receiver chip to aggregate signals from diverse antennas greatly improves reception.

The testing in Phoenix and Santa Barbara involved dedicating a single PLP (Physical Layer Pipe) within a 3.0 broadcast to an automotive data service alongside another PLP carrying the stations’ 1.0 service. The automotive PLP was set to operate at a very robust signal to noise ratio of 5 dB, while the higher-bit-rate standard PLP was set to operate at a less robust 15 dB SNR. Then the testers drove around both markets with in-car 3.0 receivers to gauge reception.

Luke Fay

Luke Fay, senior manager, technical standards for Home Entertainment and Sound Products, said the results were “very, very impressive,” particularly in Phoenix, where the in-car receivers were able to pick up a strong signal on the backside of several mountains and even halfway through a long freeway tunnel.

Testing in Santa Barbara also went well, proving the ability to transmit non-real time files as well as media streaming for auto applications such as fleet management or software updates. Using only a 15 kW transmitter, the Santa Barbara testing showed good reception up to 40 miles, even in a mountainous area with thick tree cover where LTE reception on a cellphone wasn’t available.

“The physical delivery of files should not be questioned,” Fay said. “It’s robust, it’s possible, and you can do it.”

Bob Foster

Bob Foster, president and CEO of connected car technology specialist Auton, said he experienced similar strong reception in a 3.0 automotive trial conducted in Portland, Ore., earlier this year in partnership with broadcaster WatchTV.

“I was pleasantly surprised at just how well the RF worked,” Foster said. “It reminded me of FM radio, you turn on your FM radio and it works everywhere. This was the same kind of feeling, except we had high-definition video everywhere.”

Foster planned to visit broadcasters’ Motown 3.0 Test Track in Detroit to study packet loss more carefully and perform more drive testing. His company, which makes a highly integrated telematics control unit (TCU), wants to talk to automakers about the benefits of 3.0 in the broader connected car ecosystem, which to date has relied on cellular connections.

“It’s complementary in a very powerful way,” Foster said. “There’s common information, whether it’s automotive software or trending content, that really needs to be offloaded from expensive unicast pipes and broadcast one to many. It will bring the cost down by a significant amount and decongest the unicast connections. So, it’s at least a two-fold benefit.”

Anne Schelle

Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle said that broadcasters are already seeing interest from car makers in the cost savings of using 3.0 broadcasts to deliver data instead of wireless carriers’ 4G and 5G pipes.

“2022 will really be a big year, where you’ll be able to see use cases in action, with true delivery to cars in fleets,” Schelle said. “I think the aftermarket is going to kick off as well.”

The post ATSC Touts Gains On 3.0 Receivers, Datacasting appeared first on TV News Check.

Congratulating the honorees during this year’s NextGen Broadcast Conference, ATSC President Madeleine Noland said that Stein “is an extremely valuable contributor to the work of ATSC, both as an expert technologist and also as an accomplished group chairperson. We are honored to salute his dedication with the Lechner Award.” And she recognized Smith for his outstanding leadership of the National Association of Broadcasters as a “steady advocate for the broadcasting industry who has taken every available opportunity to promote ATSC 3.0 since we first started this important work on next-generation broadcast standards.”

Richer Medal

Named for the former ATSC president who led the organization for two decades spanning both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0, the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal recognizes an individual or team that demonstrates exemplary leadership in advancing the mission of ATSC and epitomizes the vision, tenacity and leadership qualities that were the hallmark of his leadership. Noland invited Richer, who retired two years ago, to present this coveted award to Smith. NAB Chief Operating Officer Curtis LeGeyt accepted the honor for Senator Smith, who is meeting this week with Wisconsin broadcasters.

Noland said: “Senator Smith became president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters in 2009, just before the technology we later termed ATSC 3.0 became a major focus of our organization. Senator Smith understood the value that next-generation television could bring to the broadcasting industry and he was instrumental in promoting the potential to NAB’s board and membership.”

Richer Medal recipients include:

• 2019 – Mark Richer
• 2020 – The Phoenix Model Market

Lechner Award

ATSC’s 2021 Lechner Award recipient Alan Stein is vice president of technology, in the CTO office of InterDigital.  He holds 16 granted patents in digital video and heads InterDigital’s Visual Standards Team, where he manages a global group of senior technology experts who participate in major video standards organizations. Stein has been a long-time, active contributor to many ATSC activities, first with Technicolor and now with InterDigital. Stein has been a board member of the UHD Alliance and a member of the CTA Video Board.

Noland said: “Alan has distinguished himself in numerous leadership roles and in his technical contributions to the work. He has served as chair of ATSC’s Video group since its inception as an ad hoc group and now in its current form as TG3/S41 Specialist Group on Video for ATSC 3.0. Stein also serves as chair of ATSC Planning Team 6 on Global Recognition of ATSC 3.0, assisting ATSC with overall global strategy and organizing specific efforts as needed for various countries exploring ATSC 3.0.”

The Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award is bestowed once a year to an individual representative of the membership whose technical and leadership contributions to ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary. The title of the award recognizes the first recipient, the late Bernard Lechner, for his outstanding service to the ATSC.

Lechner was the retired staff vice president, advanced video systems of RCA Laboratories. His 30-year career at RCA covered all aspects of television and display research, including early work on home video tape recorders in the late 1950s, extensive development of flat-panel matrix displays in the 1960s including pioneering efforts on active-matrix liquid crystal displays, advanced two-way cable TV systems and pay-TV systems in the early 1970s, electronic tuning systems and CCD comb-filters for TV receivers in the mid-1970s, automated broadcast cameras and CCD broadcast cameras in the late 1970s and early 1980s, to HDTV in the mid-1980s.
Lechner award recipients include:

• 2000 – Bernard Lechner, Consultant
• 2001 – Rich Chernock, Triveni Digital
• 2002 – Regis Crinon, Microsoft
• 2003 – Glenn Adams, Extensible Formatting Systems, Inc
• 2004 – Graham Jones, National Association of Broadcasters
• 2005 – John Henderson, Hitachi
• 2006 – Art Allison, NAB
• 2007 – Mark Eyer, Sony Electronics
• 2008 – Michael Dolan, TBT
• 2009 – Wayne Bretl, Zenith/LG Electronics
• 2010 – Pat Waddell, Harmonic
• 2011 – Jim Starzynski, NBC Universal
• 2012 – S. Merrill Weiss, MWG Group
• 2013 – Mark Aitken, Sinclair Broadcast Group
• 2014 – James Kutzner, PBS
• 2015 – Luke Fay, Sony
• 2016 – Madeleine Noland, LG Electronics
• 2017 – Skip Pizzi, NAB
• 2018 – Mark Corl, Triveni Digital
• 2019 – Adam Goldberg, AGP/Sony
• 2020 – Jae-Young Lee, ETRI
• 2020 – Alan Stein, InterDigital

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Throughout the two days, Enensys will be showcasing at table#14 its comprehensive ATSC3.0 solution that can be operated on-premises or in the cloud for hybrid delivery of TV services over broadcast and broadband.

Enensys will unveil a range of new features for delivering, monitoring and monetizing OTA services:

• On the delivery side, the latest versions of MediaCastand SmarGate ATSCenable the delivery and signaling of broadcast apps to enrich the user experience as well as DRM data to enable subscription-based services such as video on demand or to enable the monetization of enhanced video quality content such as 4K video content. The new HTML5-based user interface of our ATSC3.0 exciter, VortexII, will also be demonstrated.
• On the monitoring side, the complete ATSC3.0 monitoring solution will be presented with the lab test tools, LabMod and Referee3 and also the 24/7 Monitoring probe, EdgeProbe ATSCthat supports Lighthouse scenario monitoring. As the deployment of ATSC3.0 gains momentum, it is crucial for operators to have central monitoring point for their stations. The GlobalViewer is designed to meet the broadcaster demands for providing all the monitoring points in one central operation center.
• On the monetization side, the Enensys AdsReach Targeted Ad solution enables broadcasters to increase their advertising revenues through more targeted ads, providing all the tools to facilitate the deployment of such a solution and providing connectors with the digital ecosystem for better reach.

“We are delighted to showcase our entire portfolio of our ATSC3.0 solution at the upcoming 2021 NextGen Broadcast Conference”, said Emerson Perez, sales director for Americas. “This will be the first in-person event for Enensys since the start of the pandemic. We look forward to showing our customers and experts how our solution can help them implementing ATSC3.0 efficiently and safely while offering the most innovative and future-proof solution. With our solution we are paving the way for the success of NextGenTV services.”

The post Enensys To Showcase 3.0 Solution At 2021 NextGen Broadcast Conference appeared first on TV News Check.

The agreement enables TSDSI to adopt ATSC standards, thus promoting global harmonization of digital broadcasting standards. This is a first step toward initiating the development of NextGen TV broadcasting standards for India.

ATSC Board Chairman Lynn Claudy said: “The agreement with Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India is a significant accomplishment. This is a great opportunity to integrate ATSC 3.0’s state-of-the-art broadcast capabilities into the global telecoms ecosystem, especially given the massive size, scope and influence of India’s market and technological expertise.”

“The agreement facilitates the adaptation of ATSC standards by TSDSI for India-specific use cases for live/linear broadcast and broadcast traffic offload” said TSDSI Chair N G Subramaniam. “TSDSI developed a technical study report on broadcast traffic offload in early 2020. We have prioritized creation of a standard that will meet the requirements of India market, which has the world’s highest consumption of mobile data per smart phone. We not only want to address this largely dense urban situation but also optimize distribution bandwidth to India’s 895-plus million rural population for entertainment, education and social welfare.”

This is a journey that started three years ago with a memorandum of understanding between TSDSI and ATSC and a jointly organized broadcast/broadband convergence conference in India. ATSC President Madeleine Noland said: “This agreement enables mobile operators to consider ATSC 3.0 adopted standards-based broadcast technologies to supplement their LTE/5G telecom deployments. The impact in terms of the large number of base stations and devices in India could be massive, even at current levels of one billion subscribers and approximately 250 million new devices being added every year.”

“Tight integration in core networks as well as in devices between cellular operators and broadcast providers may be the ultimate benefit of a collaboration between ATSC’s broadcast focus and TSDSI’s broad telecom focus. While there are still many steps to take to reach that goal, this agreement represents a first and necessary step that can open the path to these possibilities and more,” said Pamela Kumar, director general of TSDSI.

The post ATSC & TSDSI Adopt Standards To Broadcast To Mobile Devices in India appeared first on TV News Check.

Like many things in 2020, not all of those plans came to fruition, though set-makers did follow through on their “20 in 2020” promise and shipped 300,000 NextGen TV sets last year, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Broadcasters’ rollout of 3.0 was slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as some lingering delays from completing the RF repack process. As the television industry gathered for the virtual CES 2021 show this week, there were only 23 markets live with 3.0 signals covering around 20% of U.S. households.

But broadcasters led by the PearlTV and BitPath consortiums say they are aggressively rolling out more 3.0 stations this winter and spring and should have more than 40 markets covering 50% of households live by the end of this summer, with 3.0 signals covering 70%-80% of the country by year-end 2021. They are also testing how 3.0 can be carried by cable systems, working with Comcast in Portland, Ore., as well as conducting trials of 3.0 data delivery to automobiles, working with car manufacturers, auto tech vendors and cloud giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Detroit.

New NextGen TVs were unveiled during CES, and CTA forecasts that 800,000 more units will ship this year, with that number jumping to 4 million in 2022. There has also been progress on the receiver side in the form of consumer 3.0 gateway devices like SiliconDust’s HDHomeRun and BitRouter’s ZapperBox, which can receive 3.0 signals and then deliver the content (including 4K and HDR) over Wi-Fi to conventional smart TVs. There are also new specialized receivers aimed at automobile and distance learning applications, such as BitRouter’s 3Pi headless receiver introduced this week.

TVNewsCheck Contributing Editor Glen Dickson checked in with ATSC president Madeleine Noland to assess the current state of the 3.0 rollout and what’s she’s looking forward to in 2021.

An edited transcript.

The broadcasters in Pearl TV said last week they are looking to have more than 40 cities on air with NextGen TV by the end of the summer; I think we were around 20 markets total between the different consortiums at the end of 2020. Overall, what do you think of the pace of the rollout by broadcasters so far given some of the major challenges, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic?

I have been completely impressed by the rollout so far. It is nothing short of amazing what the broadcasters have been able to do. How can you say what can or couldn’t or shouldn’t have been done? To get 20 markets rolled out when it is hard to even get crews to show up at your facility to do something, when all your engineers are scattered to different home offices … it is really remarkable what they have been able to do. Personally, I can’t wait for it to come to Boston, which is where my home office is located, and Boston was on the list. I am hoping in Q1 or Q2 it will come to my area.

Looking at the other side of this equation, the consumer receivers, the first models were introduced at CES 2020 and some products began selling at retail last year. What do you think of the pace of that side of the deployment, the rollout of consumer sets?

I am extremely pleased with what LG, Sony and Samsung were able to do in 2020. Coming right off the heels of the announcement [at CES 2020], COVID becomes a factor pretty much everywhere in the world, disrupts all kinds of work including engineering work as well as production and manufacturing.

To have been able to follow through on those 20 models in 2020 and in fact, exceed that number, is really quite remarkable. We have also seen some news lately, such as that the Sony Bravia XR series will all have NextGen TV capabilities, and that there is an integration between HD Homerun and LG. We also heard about the ZapperBox coming out.

I have the feeling that we are not only going to see some more models, but we are also going to see a proliferation of device types. As was predicted, we have got our 20 markets now and probably another 20 markets in the next nine months or so, which would reach more than half of the country. Ideally, we will start to see a lot more traffic at brick-and-mortar retail, and also for the logo to start becoming more and more visible from the consumers’ point of view.

How important are those peripheral receiver devices to getting a tangible audience for these new signals?

They are critically important. There are many people out there who are in the market for a new television set and will look for one with the NextGen TV logo or NextGen TV capability. But there are also those that may have bought a new TV not that long ago who are not in the market for a new TV right now, and these types of boxes are going to be extremely important.

Another important hurdle for the industry in terms of making NextGen TV mainstream is integrating with cable. The cable industry has come out publicly in the past in some forums and said carrying NextGen TV signals would be a problem or that it might be cost-prohibitive. Where is development with the cable industry in figuring out some of the challenges of carrying 3.0 as well as the reconfigured 1.0 signals in the markets where it launches?

What I have heard from the cable industry over and over again is that if broadcasters are bringing it and consumers want it, we are going to carry it. My feeling is that if broadcasters are going to really start really utilizing these great new video features and new audio features, which are testing extremely well with consumers, then the cable industry will follow through with that.

You can imagine broadcasters putting out marquee sports events in UHD HDR, and certainly the cable subscribers will want to see it in that kind of quality. I am sure that the industry will find a way to make that possible. The other thing is the technical synergy happening with both systems migrating rapidly toward full IP-based delivery, and hopefully that is going to help ease the transition.

The announcement of what is happening in Portland is one of the most important things. It is all well and good to put things down on PowerPoints and say things at trade shows, but until you actually start hooking the pieces together, seeing how it works, seeing what it looks like and figuring out how are we going to sort through the details, you are not really close to deployment. Hearing the announcement that the testing is going on in Portland is perhaps the most important and exciting thing that has happened recently.

You mentioned some of the different applications like UHD for which broadcasters can use NextGen TV. Have you seen any shift in what kind of services or features they are looking to emphasize in the near-term, whether it is UHD, mobile reception or the ability to give enhanced audio?

The things that are going to be the most noticeable to consumers at the get-go will be the Voice Plus system, where you can enhance the dialogue relative to the music and effects. That was a feature that tested extremely well among consumers.

The other is the introduction of the interactive applications, which are going to be very clear and useful for consumers, where they can pull up weather, news, other types of things, any time they want to. Those things seem to be nearer on the horizon.

The advanced video is going to get incrementally better and better, and the question is what kind of a television you have and what are we able to carry in a channel-sharing world. That is going to continually improve.

[Later,] we will start to see advanced emergency messaging, additional interactivity and we will probably start to see more and more programming in UHD potentially with more audio channels.

When you look at nontraditional uses for the spectrum, doing new things and pursuing new business models that broadcasters weren’t able to do with 1.0, what do you see as being most attractive?

There are two facets of that. One is to use the television spectrum and the television audiences for new use cases. Probably the most prominent one is the distance learning use case. I have seen a number of proof of concepts and demonstrations about how you can effectively use the television broadcast system to help close the digital divide. which has become even more stark with COVID and so many people not being able to go to school in person.

The other use cases will develop over time. I looked at BIA Advisory Services’ predictions about how broadcast revenue might change over the years, and nontraditional broadcast services will definitely move the needle. What exactly those services are going to be? It is still hard to tell. For ATSC’s part, what we are trying to do is make sure that those are not only technically feasible, but efficient. In other words, return on investment can be there.

One of the new initiatives that we have underway is to work on a core network for broadcast. What the core network will do is allow broadcasters to have either regional or even nationwide offerings. If you can imagine a rental car fleet owner that wants to send a data dump to all of its cars across the nation, it would be really helpful to have some coordination between all the various broadcast towers. That is what the core network is about.

As you look through the rest of 2021, what is the most important thing in terms of the rollout of 3.0? What is the biggest challenge or key metric you are following?

To me the most important thing is the broadcasters’ launch of ATSC 3.0 with services that consumers can palpably recognize as different and better. If that happens, then everything else will follow, and broadcasters are well on their way to doing that. That is why we have our deployment map on the ATSC website, and we have animated it now, so it is actually really cool watching the country light up market by market.

The post TVN Tech One-On-One | Assessing A Pivotal Year For NextGen TV appeared first on TV News Check.

Elected to the board for the first time is Mark Aitken of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Re-elected directors are Mark Corl of Triveni Digital and Jon Fairhurst of Samsung. Dr. Yiyan Wu, Communications Research Centre, was appointed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as its 2021 ATSC board representative.

ATSC thanks board members who are completing their terms at the end of 2020: Craig Todd, who is retiring from Dolby, and former ATSC board chairman and retired Zenith executive Wayne Luplow, who has represented IEEE on the board this year.

“ATSC is fortunate to have directors who bring a wide range of skills, backgrounds and expertise to the board,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “I feel privileged to be able to work with this outstanding group of people as we guide the organization forward in 2021, which promises to be a critical year for next-generation broadcasting in the United States and around the world,” Noland added and congratulated Aitken, Corl and Fairhurst. She also thanked Todd and Luplow “for the strong leadership and key strategic insights that have marked their tenure on the ATSC Board.”

Current board members whose terms continue in 2021 are: Lynn Claudy, National Association of Broadcasters; Jim DeChant, News-Press & Gazette Co.; Richard Friedel, Fox Television Stations; Ira Goldstone, Cobalt Digital; Dr. Jong Kim, LG Electronics; Brian Markwalter, Consumer Technology Association; Anne Schelle, Pearl TV; Andy Scott, NCTA — The Internet and Television Association; Glenn Reitmeier, GlennReitmeierTV LLC;  Dave Siegler, Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers; and Pete Sockett, Capitol Broadcasting.

Claudy is completing his current term as ATSC board chairman at year-end. The board will elect the 2021 chairman at its first meeting of the new year.

The post ATSC Board Members Elected appeared first on TV News Check.

“Next-generation broadcasting powered by ATSC 3.0 paves the way for a broad range of automotive applications that will leverage the standard’s Internet Protocol backbone, robust mobile reception and one-to-many architecture for data and video services,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland.

ATSC disclosed its automotive efforts in the just-published summary of a planning team update report presented last month to the ATSC board of directors. While ATSC 3.0 may be best known as a television standard, it enables a multitude of new applications of interest to leading automakers, according to Planning Team 5 Chairman Dr. Jong Kim, SVP, LG Electronics, and president, Zenith R&D Lab.

He explained that ATSC has been working with automotive OEMs and fleet owners to define and explore key vehicular use cases. They include: data delivery for infotainment, software/firmware updates and advanced emergency information, as well as network redundancy and resiliency for rural coverage, indoor garage penetration and available throughput when other networks experience congestion. More study is needed on other applications such as using the high power high tower broadcast infrastructure to augment or replace GPS or deliver precision time data.

Other ATSC 3.0 use cases related to intelligent transportation systems were identified, including software and firmware updates for “smart” road equipment and sensors; maps, telematics and emergency information for freight; and emergency information for first-responder  vehicles, as outlined in the report.

The report also highlights various ATSC 3.0 automotive activities over the past year. Among them: ATSC co-hosted (with Pearl TV and WXYZ-TV) a workshop in Detroit, made presentations for members of the Intelligent Transportation Systems of America and participated in a seminar at the University of Michigan.

The planning team has “achieved our initial goal to introduce ATSC 3.0’s capabilities, especially mobile video and data delivery using the television broadcast transmission infrastructure, to major automakers and rental car fleets,” said Kim. Efforts are now under way to reschedule ATSC 3.0 field trials with leading automakers originally planned for spring 2020 but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, he added.

The post ATSC: Auto Apps Underscore Flexibility of NextGen TV appeared first on TV News Check.

They will be bolstered by 3.0 launches in Pittsburgh, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Charleston, S.C., in the first half of 2020, with other big markets including Seattle, San Antonio, Austin and Tampa scheduled to turn on in the second half of the year.

At last year’s NAB Show the country’s biggest broadcasters joined forces to announce they would begin 3.0 broadcasts in the top 40 markets by the end of 2020. Since then, set makers and broadcasters have agreed on the “NextGen TV” consumer brand, a handful of low-power stations have launched 3.0 and the stations in the Phoenix Model Market have produced a detailed 3.0 launch manual.

But details on the national rollout have been scarce, and to date, only 24 applications to broadcast 3.0 have been filed with the FCC. So the industry was looking to NAB 2020 as the place to get more clarity — until the annual convention was canceled on March 11.

The 3.0 stations in Las Vegas and Portland were initially aiming to be on air by April 20, in time for the NAB Show, say executives from Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media. But with the goal of NAB removed and vendors unable to travel to stations to install equipment, those launches have been pushed back until after the May sweeps. Las Vegas is now scheduled to turn on May 26 and Portland on June 9.

“It was not realistic to maintain the original launch dates without putting people at risk,” says John Hane, president of Spectrum Co., the coalition founded by Sinclair and Nexstar to help monetize 3.0.

Spectrum Co.’s John Hane

But Hane says that despite the challenge of COVID-19, launches in Pittsburgh, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Charleston are still planned for the first half of 2020.

“We’re holding all of our other dates, and we’re not preemptively moving any dates,” Hane says. “We’re going to try to distort reality, if we can.”

Sinclair and Nexstar were looking to launch 3.0 in 20 markets together this year, says Jerry Fritz, EVP of ONEMedia, the Sinclair subsidiary focused on the 3.0 rollout. That number may “be a little bit pushed back because of coronavirus,” he says, and was independent of 3.0 launches that might be done by stations from other groups belonging to the Pearl TV coalition, which counts Cox, E.W. Scripps, Graham Media, Gray, Hearst, Meredith and Tegna as members along with Nexstar and Sinclair (Sinclair just joined in February).

For its part, Pearl TV was still “ballparking 30 or 40 markets by the end of the year” before the COVID-19 crisis struck, says Pearl TV Executive Director Anne Schelle. While the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the industry is unclear, she says the 3.0 work is still continuing.

“There are a lot of other markets like Portland teed up, with agreements done,” Schelle says.

Portland Sets Precedent

Portland, the No. 22 DMA, is unique in that it is the first top-25 market to file formal applications with the FCC to launch 3.0 with programming from all six major networks right from the start (Phoenix, which also has all of the networks participating, started as a trial with experimental licenses). It also is launching 3.0 with the help of two duopolies: Nexstar’s KRCW, a CW affiliate, and KOIN (CBS); and Meredith’s KPDX (MyNetworkTV) and KPTV (Fox).

ONEMedia’s Jerry Fritz

KRCW and KPDX will serve as the 3.0 host stations, between them carrying simulcasts of HD feeds from the major networks as well as PBS. Five other stations in the market are teaming up to host the existing 1.0 programming from KRCW and KPDX through complex “channel-stacking” agreements.

“Why Portland?” says Nexstar EVP and CTO Brett Jenkins. “We really just had the right mix of willing participants. That’s a piece of what has to happen here. You have got to have enough stations in a market to go all in and say we’re actually going to do this, and we’re going to go ahead and apply to change the license.”

Broadcasters unanimously say that the difficult part of launching 3.0 isn’t the new technology involved but the business and legal agreements that have to be worked out on a market-by-market basis between networks and syndicators and the stations carrying their content, as well as between the stations themselves.

Channel Stacking

Pearl TV’s Anne Schelle

While new deals are required for stations to broadcast network programming in 3.0, the far thornier issue has been figuring out where to move 1.0 programming in order to free up capacity on host stations to launch 3.0. Local stations have also had to convince the networks that such “channel stacking” won’t have a negative impact on picture quality, though 3.0 insiders say the networks are being flexible.

“Everybody’s in a learning mode, especially with things like football,” Fritz says. “Fox, NBC and CBS want to ensure that the quality of sports programming is not diminished. So we’re showing them what the picture quality is going to look like with the new encoders, whether it’s doing one HD and six SDs or two HDs and four SDs.”

Hane agrees: “The networks understand we’re going to be stacking up HDs, and they’re fine with that.”

Channel stacking spreads the legacy 1.0 programming from the ATSC 3.0 host, or hosts, in a market across statistical multiplexes, or “statmuxes,” at several stations, using the latest generation of MPEG-2 encoders from vendors like Harmonic and Ateme to aggressively compress HD network and SD diginet programming. With each 1.0 station having a 19.4 megabit-per-second payload, HD network fare has traditionally been broadcast at 10 to 14 Mbps with SD diginets getting 2 to 3 Mbps each. But channel-stacking goes much further, often squeezing two HD channels along with multiple SD diginets into a single 6 MHz channel.

In Portland, for example, Sinclair’s KATU will be hosting KRCW’s 1.0 CW feed in 1080i HD alongside its existing ABC 720p HD feed and three 480i SD diginets. KRCW’s Antenna TV and ThisTV diginets will be hosted by sister station KOIN, alongside its existing CBS 1080i HD feed and two 480i diginets, while its third diginet, TBD, is slated to be carried by public broadcaster KOPB (that deal was still pending at press time).

Nexstar’s Brett Jenkins

Meanwhile, KPDX’s MyNetworkTV 720pHD feed and Bounce TV 480i diginet will be hosted by sister station KPTV, alongside its existing Fox 720p HD feed and three 480i diginets. Tegna’s KGW will host KPDX’s other two diginets, Escape and Grit, alongside its 1080i HD NBC feed and two 480i diginets.

The channel-stack at KPTV, with two HDs and four SDs, will be the most loaded in the Portland market and will be supported by Harmonic’s latest encoding platform, Electra X.

“The encoding technology has proved really beneficial and has really been the tool that’s allowed us to move stuff forward to make the lighthouse [3.0 station] a viable option,” says Meredith VP of Technology Tom Casey. “Even a couple years ago, we wouldn’t have been putting in the encoding parameters that we do today.”

Nexstar’s Jenkins agrees, and recalls demonstrating channel-stacking with the new MPEG-2 encoders to a chief engineer at one of Nexstar’s stations.

“This guy had been around for the first transition,” Jenkins says. “When we set up the air chain and showed him what it looks like, he said, ‘This actually looks better squeezed down than it used to at the higher bit rate.’”

As for the networks, Jenkins says some are more cautious than others. But he hopes the launch in Portland and other markets will provide real-world proof that channel stacking works.

“These early markets are going to be a way to demonstrate that we’re not going to hurt the business,” he says.

Early Broadcasts

As for the early 3.0 broadcasts, they will initially just be simulcasts of existing 720p and 1080i HD network programming. In Portland, KRCW will broadcast its own CW feed as well as CBS from KOIN, ABC from KATU and PBS from KOPB, while KPDX will broadcast MyNetworkTV as well as Fox from KPTV, NBC from KGW and PBS Encore from KOPB (the hosting of KOPB content is still awaiting final signoff). With a proposed modulation/coding scheme that will deliver 25 Mbps from each host 3.0 station, each commercial HD feed will initially be allocated around 7 Mbps while the PBS feeds will get around 3.6 Mbps, all using HEVC encoding.

Later in the year the 3.0 hosts could eventually offer 1080p 60 HD with high dynamic range (HDR), pending available content from the networks, and maybe even 4K UHD; Casey says that KPDX has already bought a 4K-capable encoder. But several broadcasters say the postponement of major league sports this spring, along with the 2020 Summer Olympics, will likely slow down the flow of 4K content.

“It’s a question of availability,” says Pearl’s Schelle. “We were hoping to do some stunting in different markets with 4K content.”

Work Moves Forward

Meredith’s Tom Casey

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the ATSC organization will continue to work to support the launch of 3.0 in the U.S. while also advocating for the technology on a global basis, says ATSC President Madeleine Noland. While the ATSC Next Gen Broadcast conference scheduled for late May in Washington, D.C., has been postponed until August, the ATSC annual meeting will be still be held virtually on May 20.

And the work among various ATSC committees is moving forward, including Planning Team 7 on ATSC 3.0 Service Evolution Roadmap (PT-7), which is identifying what 3.0 services broadcasters will offer in 2021 and communicating that to receiver manufacturers.

“We in the standards development industry are very accustomed to working remotely,” Noland says. “Certainly there haven’t been zero disruptions, but we were lucky we didn’t have anything planned this spring or summer that required a physical presence as a standards development organization.”

ATSC’s Madeleine Noland

A major win for 3.0’s global aspirations came in January, Fritz says, when it was adopted as a recommended broadcast standard by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Sinclair, and the larger coalition of Spectrum Co., are also continuing to pursue other business opportunities for broadcasters’ 3.0 spectrum including providing data broadcasting for industries like transportation, Internet of Things (IoT) and energy.

Another promising application for 3.0 could be providing additional data capacity alongside wireless carriers and telcos for high-demand streaming content. Both Fritz and Schelle pointed to the impact COVID-19 was having on internet traffic, particularly in Europe. Leading streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube have all “throttled” their bitrates and switched to delivering SD video from HD and UHD after receiving political pressure to do so.

“The reason for that is it’s a one-to-one connection, a one-way stream, which is an extraordinarily inefficient way to deliver that video,” Fritz says. “One of the things ATSC 3.0 allows is to offload that data. So the broadcaster now sits at the 5G table along with everybody else. For those companies, wouldn’t it just be better to rent bits from broadcasters and offload that data?”

The post TVN Tech | COVID-19 Delays, Not Derails, NextGen TV Plans appeared first on TV News Check.

For the first time, the newly-rebranded ATSC 3.0 had a presence on the show floor, and by Tuesday morning its booth was cheek to jowl with attendees. Many of them, from curious consumers to Chinese set manufacturers had the same, simple question: What is this?

It helped that they could see it for themselves via an actual ATSC 3.0 transmission of Sinclair Broadcasting’s Las Vegas NBC affiliate KSNV from nearby Black Mountain.

And there were plenty of people from ATSC, the Pearl TV consortium and Sinclair’s ONE Media on hand to patiently explain what is, frankly, not the easiest technology to synopsize in a quick, snappy way to the uninitiated.

ATSC’s NextGen TV booth attracted plenty of visitors who could see the new technology for themselves via an actual ATSC 3.0 transmission of Sinclair Broadcasting’s Las Vegas NBC affiliate KSNV from nearby Black Mountain. (David Arland photo)

But for some important booth visitors like FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who dropped in while this reporter was there, such explanations are laying important track as NextGen TV shifts gears from a technology solution into what Sinclair SVP-CTO Del Parks calls “the operational phase of 3.0.”

NextGen TV’s most tangible announcement came earlier this week with its new “20 in 20” mantra signifying the first consumer TV receivers equipped with NextGen TV capabilities from Samsung, LG and Sony hitting stores later this year. A coming out party wouldn’t have been possible this year without some actual sets headed to market, and that gave NextGen TV’s proponents some much-needed wind in their sails.

That wind helped carry a presentation from ATSC President Madeleine Noland, NAB President-CEO Gordon Smith and CTA President-CEO Gary Shapiro, who cheered on the technology in a brief session on Wednesday morning.

“Seeing the products at CES is so important,” Shapiro said. “It didn’t always appear that it would occur because there are so many roadblocks. We’ve come a long way on the road to NextGen TV.”

There’s still plenty more road ahead for it.

“U.S. broadcasters are preparing to roll out ATSC 3.0 in more than 60 markets in the U.S. this year, including the top 40,” Noland said.  “This will reach over 70% of the U.S. market when completed.”

Privately and off the record, some insiders expressed concerns that number was overly optimistic.

Perhaps more accurately emphasized was the public narrative of broadcasters (or most of them, anyway) finally standing shoulder to shoulder on the new standard.

“The broadcasters are moving forward with unprecedented cooperation and collaboration to deploy the revolutionary new technology while preserving today’s TV broadcasts,” Noland said.

“I’m very happy to say the broadcasters are very much behind this,” NAB’s Smith echoed. “There’s a momentum that cannot be stopped.”

Maybe so, but that momentum won’t be extending to any announcements, at least here at CES, as to which markets will light up next and when. ATSC and Pearl TV officials indicated those announcements won’t be forthcoming until the NAB Show in April.

At the NextGen TV booth (l-r): Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle, Carr staffer William Adams, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Covington & Burling attorney Gerald Waldron, ATSC President Madeleine Noland. (David Arland photo)

Back at the NextGen TV booth, Sinclair’s Parks was rolling up his sleeves to do the hard, minute work of the collaboration that comes next.

“We know it’s not a science experiment anymore and we have to be able to deploy,” Parks said. “One of the main principles for that deployment has to be cooperation. It’s operational integration.”

Sinclair has been NextGen TV’s John the Baptist from the outset and has been steadily working to convert skeptics in the broadcast community. Parks knows that holding back on announcing next steps for the rollouts isn’t helpful to the cause. But even though the key players know which markets are next, announcing them isn’t that simple.

MVPDs, for instance, need a 90-day period of notification if ATSC 1.0 signals are going to be moved around to create space for 3. 0 spectrum, and NextGen TV players need permission to do that.

“We have to have a lot of transparency in how we do that,” Parks said. “And before we make announcements it’s important that we have all of our partners in agreement. It’s never just a Sinclair or Nexstar or Tegna. It’s all of us together in a market.”

To Parks, the remit is clear: “It’s crawl, walk, run,” he said. “Let’s get as many markets on the air in the next 18 months [as possible] so that as people buy these televisions, there’s something for them to watch and the consumer electronics companies understand that we are committed to this.”

5G’s Next Steps

NextGen TV is only a sliver of the narrative at CES. Once again this year, 5G holds heavy sway despite the fact that most consumers have yet to see any tangible delivery of its promises from previous shows.

Analyst Shelly Palmer explained 5G’s elusive horizon line in his own Innovation Series Summit here on Wednesday.

Shelly Palmer

“5G is an inevitability,” Palmer said. “We will live in a 5G world” of low latency and high bandwidth. The problem is “this is hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure and all kinds of politics.”

While Palmer believes 5G will be an industrial and consumer game changer, “what’s not inevitable is it will be here next year,” he said. “I wouldn’t put it in my three-year plan if I’m building a business.”

Meanwhile, 5G has one of its biggest cheerleaders in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai’s default high level of animation became even more radiant when the technology arose in a conversation with CTA’s Shapiro.

“The future is very bright for 5G in this country,” Pai said. “We want to promote American leadership in 5G.”

Pai also spoke to the impediments to 5G’s realization here, among them cost and sufficient access to spectrum. On the spectrum front, he sees a solution forthcoming. “Our goal is to remove spectrum as one of the restraints on unlicensed innovation,” he said. “I’m very confident we’ll be able to do that in the coming year.”

Another key impediment to 5G is having enough workers who can do the actual job of building the infrastructure for it.

“The job is extremely demanding,” Pai said, describing his own experience of climbing towers with the workers who have to scale much higher than he’s gone himself, all the while lugging heavy tool sets and bracing against powerfully buffeting winds.

The U.S. will need to build a future workforce around those challenges, Pai said. The motivation: the payoff won’t just be for urban and suburban beneficiaries of the technology but rural areas such as from where he hails, where precision agriculture and telemedicine will be essential use cases.

Anticipatory Tech, AI and Vertical TVs

The internet of things (IoT) continues to be an important strand of CES’s narrative with a heavy show floor presence. While much of it is peripheral, at best, to broadcasters it’s useful to see how it may color consumers’ lives going forward, especially as artificial intelligence plays a larger role in so many devices.

One panel on Tuesday looked ahead to a not-far-off world of “anticipatory tech,” much of it centered on smart homes that will be getting even smarter. “In a few years, things will happen for you that you did not ask to happen,” said Lindsey Turrentine, SVP of content strategy for CBS Interactive Tech Sites.

In-home cameras with facial recognition will pair with verbal data from smart speakers and data from sources like digital calendars and maps, fueling predictive analytics that may result in any number of outcomes. Reading via maps your location on the rush hour drive home, for instance, your home may turn on your smart oven to get a jump on dinner.

Michele Turner, senior director of product management for the smart home ecosystem at Google Nest, sees it all culminating in anticipatory tech’s effort “to streamline how my world comes together in a very busy part of my day.”

Brand implications might extend to a drive-through restaurant changing up its menu offerings on reading your face. As you drive up, that menu could recalibrate what you see based on your past choices and aversions.

As with all such ever-deeper incursions of smart technology into our daily lives, red flags rise as well. “There’s a lot of sunny talk here,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, throwing some cold water on technologists edging for an ever more symbiotic world with AI. Cohn cautioned we have to think more defensively of how we’re going to build such systems in this anticipatory world considering all the ways our personal data will be even more vulnerable to both law enforcement and predators alike.

Analyst Palmer said nevertheless, AI’s presence is now deeply seated into our lives and fully woven into almost any consumer technology.

“AI is fully commoditized,” Palmer said. “Anybody who wants to add artificial intelligence to their models, go ahead to Amazon and rent it.”

And as for AI’s incursions into our professional lives as well, Palmer noted “data is the thread across human beings and machines.” Going forward, he said, we’ll need to ask ourselves “are you a good AI co-worker?”

Palmer’s event offered up another nugget worth mentioning to broadcasters on the more tangible front of new TV sets. It’s easy to get snowblind from the number of sets on display at Central Hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Dazzling new displays greet attendees from the moment they walk through the hall’s entrance, and LG’s cascading undulations of curved screens through an increasing number of 4K and 8K offerings inside.

While all offer breathtaking resolution and sound, Samsung had one novel model that Palmer previewed in conversation with Grace Dolan, the company’s VP of home entertainment marketing. The Samsung Sero shifts automatically from horizontal to vertical display mode with the screen actually rotating (the name means “vertical” in Korean).

So much content is now being created in vertical format, but Palmer noted that until this set there had been no outlet other than a phone display for it.

“We can’t change the way consumers behave,” Palmer said, “but we can change technology to meet their needs.”

The post TVN Tech | NexGen TV Turns Heads (And Sets) At CES appeared first on TV News Check.

Current directors who were reelected are Dr. Jong Kim, LG Electronics, and Pete Sockett, Capitol Broadcasting. Two previous Board Chairmen — Richard Friedel, Fox Television Stations, and former NBC Universal executive Glenn Reitmeier, GlennReitmeierTV — are returning to the board after being term-limited in 2018.

Dave Siegler, who previously represented Cox Media Group on the ATSC Board, was appointed to the board by the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers. Former ATSC Board Chairman Wayne Luplow, formerly with Zenith Electronics, was appointed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers  as its 2020 ATSC board representative.

Current board members whose terms continue in 2020 are: Lynn Claudy, National Association of Broadcasters; Mark Corl, Triveni Digital; Jim DeChant, News-Press & Gazette Co.; Jon Fairhurst, Samsung; Ira Goldstone, Cobalt Digital; Brian Markwalter, Consumer Technology Association; Anne Schelle, Pearl TV; Andy Scott, NCTA – The Internet and Television Association; and Craig Todd, Dolby.

ATSC thanks board members who completed their terms at the end of 2019: Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE; Dr. Paul Hearty, Technology Advisors; and Dr. Yiyan Wu, Communications Research Centre, who represented IEEE on the board this year. Claudy is completing his current term as ATSC board chairman at year-end. The board will elect the 2020 Chairman at its first meeting of the new year.

“The strategic direction and insights of our talented board members are especially important at this critical time as ATSC supports the commercialization of Next Gen Broadcasting in the U.S. and around the world,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “I recognize and appreciate the board’s expertise and support for balancing progress and stability as ATSC 3.0 standards are updated and preparing for our future continues in the months and years ahead.”

The post ATSC Elects New Board Members appeared first on TV News Check.

“The ATSC board of directors warmly welcomes Madeleine Noland as the incoming ATSC President,” said 2019 ATSC Board Chairman Lynn Claudy. “From a sea of highly qualified applicants, the ATSC Search Committee, headed by former Chairman Richard Friedel, selected the perfect candidate, and the Board unanimously agreed.”

Noland, senior technology and standards adviser for LG Electronics, currently chairs the ATSC technology group that oversees the ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast standard. Well-known and widely respected for her consensus-building leadership style, Noland has chaired various ATSC 3.0-related specialist groups, ad hoc groups and implementation teams since 2012.

“Madeleine is superbly qualified to lead ATSC into the future,” said Richer. “I couldn’t be happier, passing the baton to such a talented leader.”

She began her career in the television industry in 2004 with Backchannelmedia Inc., an interactive television technology developer. It was during her work there that she first started working on ATSC projects.

In 2012, she moved on to product and project management roles at Telvue Corp. before joining the LG Electronics CTO’s office in 2013. Noland has represented LG in a variety of industry organizations for over six years. Among other activities, in addition to her ATSC roles, she chairs the Ultra HD Forum’s Guidelines Work Group.

“I am humbled and honored to follow in Mark Richer’s footsteps, and I look forward with great enthusiasm to working with the talented ATSC Board and the hundreds of ATSC volunteer leaders. This is a critical time for the organization as Next Gen TV powered by ATSC 3.0 is commercialized in the months and years ahead,” Noland said.

Noland is the recipient of TVNewsCheck’s 2019 Women in Technology Futurist Award and was named one of 2018’s “Powerful Women in Consumer Technology” by Dealerscope magazine. In 2016, she received the ATSC’s highest technical honor, the Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award recognizing her leadership roles related to the development of ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV.

Credited on three U.S. patents for television technology, Noland is a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Broadcast Technology Society.

In response to the announcement, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith said: “NAB strongly supports and congratulates the ATSC on hiring Madeleine Noland to serve as president of the standards development organization. Her extensive hands-on technical experience coupled with her engaging management style will serve the organization well and ensure strong leadership at this important time in the deployment of next-generation television, ATSC 3.0.”

The post ATSC Taps Madeleine Noland As President appeared first on TV News Check.

Madeleine Noland (left) and Abby Auerbach

For the past eight years, TVNewsCheck has presented its Women in Technology awards to individuals who are established leaders at the forefront of broadcast technology. Also honored are promising up-and-coming members of the engineering community.

This year, TVNewscheck is expanding the awards, choosing two women who will be celebrated for their vision with the new Futurist Awards.

They are Abby Auerbach, executive vice president and chief communications officer of the Television Bureau of Advertising, and Madeleine Noland, senior adviser, technology and standards at LG Electronics, who also chairs the ATSC committee supporting implementation of the new ATSC 3.0 television standard. They are being recognized for pioneering new technologies or who, although not working in the sciences, have significantly influenced the development of media technology.

The inaugural Women in Technology Futurist Awards will be presented at TVNewsCheck’s ninth annual Women in Technology Leadership Awards ceremony and reception during the NAB Show on April 9 at 6 p.m. in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Here’s a look at the two winners:

Abby Auerbach

Abby Auerbach uses a TV ad trope to describe herself: “I’m not a technologist; I just play one at TVB.”

Unlike most of the Women in Technology Award winners, her background is in advertising. She went to Hofstra University with the goal of becoming an advertising creative director and that morphed into an interest in marketing. When she graduated in 1981, she landed a sales assistant position at rep firm HRP in New York.

It was a good fit and a valuable learning experience, she says. “Working with television stations put me in close touch with all of the marketing elements that I had learned about in school and showed me how to use television to target different audience targets and different population segments.

“I was able to use my graphic design capabilities and skills … for the sales reps and there was a time where they considered developing a graphics department that I would lead to help develop sales presentations.”

In 1983 she moved from the rep side to the ad agency world as an assistant buyer in Ogilvy’s broadcast department. She spent 17 years there, rising to director of the entire buying operation for local television and radio in the U.S.

“I was very young at that job and the people there really took a chance on me and supported me. I led a department of about 110 local broadcast buyers. It was a very exciting opportunity to develop businesses, to really learn the strategies and the capabilities and the power of local broadcast from the inside out.”

During her time at Ogilvy, Auerbach was not only chair of the 4A’s local TV and radio committee, but she was also chair of its EDI (electronic data interchange) committee, a post she held for four years.

“I was starting to lead the work to reduce the friction in the buy-and-sell process to speed that process, to reduce discrepancies and to improve the whole … process for buyers and sellers.”

In 2000, TVB hired a new CEO, Chris Rohrs, who had a new vision for the trade association that included working closer with ad agencies, developing advocacy and research and growing the technology of e-business. To help implement the vision, he brought in Auerbach in June of that year as senior vice president of marketing and in September she became executive vice president.

Her agency perspective gave TVB a whole new way of looking at marketing and technology solutions. In 2007, she launched the group’s first e-business effort — ePort, an automated television platform through a consortium of broadcast CTOs, technology developers, sales executives, media buyers and industry associations.

She was immersed in all facets of the platform — hiring the technology providers, bringing in the platform architect, doing all of the marketing and building the advocacy programs. “Really, it was building a business on behalf of the industry with the broadcasters’ support,” she says.

More than 2,400 TV stations and 700 media agencies have used ePort over the past 11 years to handle $30 million of local TV business, she says.

Mike McHugh SVP of media sales and electronic delivery at Strata (the company that operates ePort today) called ePort “the first line of automation between buyers and sellers.”

Auerbach realizes the technology has to keep up with the changes in the media world. “Television stations now have digital subchannels and they have websites and they have OTT channels. So there are so many more things that can be bought and sold. So more sophisticated technology, more sophisticated standards are required.”

Enter the TIP Initiative, a consortium of broadcast groups that came together in 2017 to further streamline advertising transactions for local TV broadcasters and their media agency partners.

Among the broadcasters in TIP are NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, Hearst Television, Nexstar Media Group, Gray Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tegna and Tribune Media.

This year, TIP is focusing on adding more system providers, media agencies and broadcasters and expanding the variety of interfaces to include inventory avails, proposals, makegoods and commercial instructions.

Auerbach’s work with TIP, she says, “is in promoting the importance of optimizing interoperability between buying and selling systems, reducing the friction, increasing the accuracy, the transparency and giving more functionality into the advancement of how we buy, sell and use our medium.

“Down the road, we definitely see a future where all of this automation interoperability enables lots and lots of partners to participate. It also facilitates the move from a ratings-based model of buying and selling to an impressions-based model.”

The end game with TIP, Auerbach says, is for the technology to enable the future of the industry. “We never want the technology to drive how we do business. We want the technology to facilitate the vision of the business.”

TVB CEO Steve Lanzano is enthusiastic about Auerbach’s achievements. “Marshalling industry support and adoption of new technology is no easy task. Abby has exemplified superb leadership through her outstanding consensus building and business building skills. She has expertly leveraged opportunity and coalesced disparate industry groups to drive essential eBusiness solutions for the local broadcast TV marketplace.”

Auerbach’s experience with technology differs from many other people’s, she says. “I became a woman in technology by virtue of being a technology user and being able to have a vision for how technology will advance the industry, and embracing that and leading the charge and by marshalling the technologists who for the most part were all men.

“I am very excited about the future of our industry. I think it’s all about how technology is going to drive the vision that our buyers and our sellers and our advertisers have.”

Madeleine Noland

When Madeleine Noland graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1989 she had a bachelor’s degree in music. So how did she make her way into the rarified world of television technology she now inhabits at LG Electronics and as the chair of the ATSC committee supporting implementation of the next-gen TV standard ATSC 3.0?

“I was lucky,” she says. “My father was a [microbiology] professor at the University of Massachusetts and he was happy to expose me and my siblings to a variety of technology. When I was growing up in the 1970s, mainframe computers were coming online and he taught us how to access the mainframe [at the university] and how to program in Fortran and Basic.

“I applied to U Mass. to be a math education major and I scored a perfect score on the math placement exam. They put me in some pretty hard classes and right before the semester started, I said: ‘You know, maybe I’m going to do music instead.’

“So I changed my major to a music education, but I still did a whole bunch of math classes because it’s a passion of mine. I also learned Pascal [a computer programming language], finished in 1989 cum laude and then about three years later I completed my math teaching certificate at Middle Tennessee State University.”

She quickly realized, however, that music wasn’t her thing. But it was 14 years working in the restaurant and cartography businesses before she made her way into television in 2004.

“I started working with a startup called Backchannelmedia. They were working with direct response advertising using the 1-800 number system and the wanted to use digital TV to bring interactivity to the broadcast platform and … make this direct response advertising a real measurement tool for all advertisers.”

The company’s concept, she says, “was to not only make this interactivity possible, but to use the cable TV interactive engines … to provide the inputs at the broadcast station to create a system which included a streaming server and a back-end system for creating interactive moments for broadcasters … and then also work with the cable operators to pass those ‘clickable’ moments to a set-top box … and then the interactivity is drawn on the screen for the viewer.”

Noland eventually became the company’s CTO and coauthored three patents. Around 2011, she began attending ATSC meetings, feeling that if Backchannelmedia was going to be involved in television’s future, she needed to learn what was in store.

She became involved in an early ATSC 3.0 planning committee and then became vice chair of one of the specialist groups when Backchannelmedia sold its patents and closed its doors. She then spent a short time at channel automation firm TelVue as a product manager, all the while still working with ATSC.

Noland joined LG Electronics in April 2013, initially working on its ATSC 3.0 team in LG’s office of the chief technology officer and then consulting for its standards technology and development team at the Convergence R&D Lab before moving to a senior technology and standards role at its Zenith R&D Lab.

At ATSC, she was tapped to chair its Specialists Group on Applications and Presentation for ATSC 3.0, which focused on user experience, including support for next-generation video and audio codecs, linear TV services, interactive applications, accessibility including closed captioning and other features.

She led the effort to develop key ATSC 3.0 features, including vetting of standards for watermarking, advanced emergency alerting, personalization and companion devices. The same group also enabled compelling high-quality video capabilities, as well as high dynamic range and wide color gamut solutions.

With her work on the Specialists Group, Noland helped to frame the system requirements for ATSC 3.0, coordinating the full documentation of the new standard with the work of other committees. She also played an active role in developing user scenarios that describe the desired attributes of the new standard.

Her work with ATSC was recognized in February 2018 when she was chosen to succeed Triveni Digital’s Richard Chernock as chairman of the ATSC Technology Group.

ATSC President Mark Richer said at the time: “Throughout the development of the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards, Madeleine has been a consistent and dependable leader. She is adept at forging agreements on difficult technical issues within the collaborative standards development process. Following in Rich’s footsteps is a logical progression for her.”

In addition to her work with ATSC, Noland is active with the guidelines work group of the Ultra HD Forum, a consortium of broadcasters, service providers, consumer electronics and technology vendors that are collaborating on solving the real-world hurdles, and accelerating ultra HD deployment.

The guidelines work group, she says, “publish guidelines intended to help service providers understand the landscape and the variety of parameters such as, are you going to do HDR or SDR; are you going to do light color gamut or not; are you going to do high frame rate or not; and how all these fit together and how you can build a linear service with all these various things.

“We kind of see ourselves as the plumbers of the UHD industry, of how do you get this stuff from point A to point B. We have done five iterations of the guidelines so far and we have a sixth, new version coming out very soon. That has been a very interesting part of my work. LG has been incredibly supportive for that.”

LG is a founding member of the Ultra HD Forum.

Back at ATSC, Noland explains that in addition to creating standards, “we are also working on recommended practices.”

There are thousands of different combinations with the physical layer that are possible within the standard, she says. “What you need is a recommended practice to say: of all these myriad things that you can choose from within the ATSC system, here are some things that we recommend you do depending on what you want to do. If you want to have a mobile signal or if you want to have a fixed signal, here is the way we recommend you get started.”

She’s optimistic on the progress 3.0 is making in the industry. “I think that the most important thing for next-gen TV is for there to be a critical mass development. You are always going to have early adopters and first followers and people that come late to the party.

“What I see happening is the critical mass is absolutely forming and, in my opinion, the critical mass is starting to form with the Phoenix market model partners which includes the Pearl stations as well as NBC, Fox, Univision and others. Put that together with Sinclair and their Spectrum Co. consortium and, in my opinion, you do have that nut of critical mass already, and if those groups are successful in the plans that they’re talking about, then I believe that the snowball [of adoption] will take care of itself from there.

“The most important next step is really strong coordination between the broadcasters and the consumer electronics makers and the equipment vendors. We have opportunities within the Phoenix model market and within Dallas and other areas where we can sit down together and we can talk about how we are going to do this as an industry. I think 2019 and 2020 are going to be very important years.”

ATSC Board Chairman Lynn Claudy, NAB senior vice president of technology, is one of Noland’s many fans in the industry. “I’m so impressed with how Madeleine can command a room full of opinionated engineers. Seriously, she has earned their respect.

“She’s scary smart and she’s skillful at getting the best out of individuals in a group. Madeleine represents the ATSC and her company exceedingly well. In addition to her passion and knowledge, she brings the right combination of consensus builder and tough negotiator to her role as chair of the ATSC’s Technology Group.”

And her contributions are also celebrated at her “real” job. LG Electronics Senior Vice President Dr. Jong Kim, president of the Zenith R&D Lab, says, “Madeleine is a key contributor, both to LG and the industry. Her leadership of the ATSC 3.0 technology group, which as we all know is sort of an old boys’ society, is especially noteworthy.

“As ATSC 3.0 moves from the laboratory into the marketplace, I expect Madeleine’s standards stewardship and evangelism to play an important role in Next Gen TV implementations by broadcasters and manufacturers alike.”

And despite all of Noland’s activity championing the future of television technology, she still has time for her earlier music passion. She is a wind synth and keyboard player in a Massachusetts progressive rock band called Eccentric Orbit, continuing, as she has throughout her television career, to follow a different drummer.

The post Noland And Auerbach: TVN’s Bright Futurists appeared first on TV News Check.

Mark Richer

Mark S. Richer, the long-time president of the Advanced Television Systems Committee, has announced plans to retire later this year. Richer, who has led the standards development organization since 2000, previously served as ATSC executive director in 1996-97 in between senior technology leadership roles at PBS and Thomcast Communications.

The ATSC board of directors elected Lynn Claudy of the National Association of Broadcasters as board chairman for 2019, succeeding Richard Friedel of Fox, who served as chairman from 2016 to 2018. Claudy, who has been involved with the ATSC for three decades, is NAB’s SVP of technology. He joined NAB in 1988 as a staff engineer and held positions of director of advanced engineering and technology and VP before assuming his present position in 1995.

Claudy appointed Friedel to lead the search committee to identify the next ATSC president.

Richer’s 40-year television career has spanned the transitions from analog to digital TV, standard-definition to high-definition TV, and now to 4K and Next Gen TV. The capstone of Richer’s career is the ATSC 3.0 suite of Next Gen TV standards, representing the world’s first Internet Protocol-based system that marries broadcast and broadband.

In addition to leading the ATSC for 20 of its 35 years, Richer’s noteworthy industry contributions include his pioneering development of closed captioning in the 1980s and his key role in what is now known as ATSC 1.0, overseeing the technical evaluations of proponent systems for the world’s first digital TV broadcast standard in the 1990s.

Reflecting on his career, Richer said, “It’s been an honor and a privilege to participate in the dynamic television industry over the years. I’m particularly proud of the ATSC’s role in redefining the future of television with ATSC 3.0, but our work isn’t done by any means,” he said, citing the ATSC’s important role in updating and developing standards, while supporting the launch of Next Gen TV broadcasting. “I look forward to assuring a smooth transition to new leadership in the months ahead.”

“Mark is well known and respected for his leadership skills, deep industry knowledge, unwavering integrity, future-focused vision and wry sense of humor,” said Claudy. “With broadcaster deployments of ATSC 3.0 now underway, he’s going out on top. And while Mark will be missed, the ATSC is well positioned for the future,” he said.

Richer first joined the ATSC as executive director in 1996 after 16 years at PBS where, as VP of engineering and computer services, he was responsible for development of new technologies for PBS and its member stations, design of audio/video systems and management of computer operations.

He was instrumental in the development of the Line 21 closed captioning system for which PBS was awarded a technical Emmy. He also was responsible for the selection and implementation of digital video compression and transmission technology and led PBS efforts in the area of digital and high definition television.

From 1997 to 2000, Richer was VP-GM of Comark Digital Services, a division of Thomcast Communications. At Thomcast, he was responsible for marketing, communications, strategic planning and business development for Thomcast Communications, including its Comark and Comwave subsidiaries.

Richer chaired the system testing and evaluation working party for the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service, chaired by former FCC Chairman Richard E. Wiley from 1987 to 1995. Richer’s group was responsible for testing proponent advanced television systems, including that of the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance, the core of the ATSC 1.0 digital broadcast standard adopted by the FCC in 1996.

Among accolades over the years, Richer received Broadcasting & Cable’s Technology Leadership Award in 2007, the National Association of Broadcasters’ Television Engineering Achievement Award in 2010, and America’s Public Television Stations’ EDGE Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2018.

He is a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, a charter member of the Consumer Technology Association’s Academy of Digital Television Pioneers and serves on the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council.

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Anne Schelle, Pearl TV, was re-elected to the board. Newly-elected directors are Jim DeChant, News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting; Ira Goldstone, Fox; and Dave Siegler, Cox Media Group.
Board members whose terms expire at the end of 2018: Brett Jenkins,  Nexstar Media Group;  Richard Friedel, Fox; Glenn Reitmeier, NBC Universal; and Wayne Luplow, who represents the IEEE on the board this year. Friedel’s term as ATSC Board Chairman also expires at year-end. The board will elect its 2019 chairman at its first meeting of the new year.

Current board members whose terms continue in 2019 are: Lynn Claudy, National Association of Broadcasters; Mark Corl, Triveni Digital; Jon Fairhurst, Samsung; Dr. Paul Hearty, Sony Electronics; Dr. Jong Kim, LG Electronics; Brian Markwalter, Consumer Technology Association; Thomas Bause Mason, Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers; Andy Scott, NCTA – The Internet and Television Association; and Craig Todd, Dolby. Additionally, Dr. Yian Wu, Communications Research Centre, has been appointed to the 2019 ATSC board by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

“The ATSC is fortunate to have a talented, experienced and engaged board of directors, which drives our overarching strategy,” said ATSC President Mark Richer. “This is especially critical as the ATSC and its members continue to develop and update standards and support the implementation of Next Gen TV powered by ATSC 3.0.”

The four members:

Jim DeChant, VP of technology, News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting, has more than 35 years in the television industry. Throughout his career, has focused on utilizing best of class technologies to develop content creation and distribution systems for news, entertainment, educational and advertising systems.

From his early days in as a cable TV producer, he focused on the efficient production of programming for both community producers and local origination facilities. In 2008, with the advent of video-over-IP technologies, he created an all-IP playout system used by television and cable operators today.

At the News-Press & Gazette Company, he is, focused on web and mobile streaming, over the top file based content and advanced television broadcast transmission.

Ira Goldstone, executive engineer at Fox, brings extensive experience at Tribune Broadcasting, Univision and Fox. He previously served two terms on ATSC board of directors and led the S34-1 subgroup on HDR. He co-chaired the 32-4 ad hoc group on core broadcast services and participated in S35’s work to identify ATSC 3.0 interoperability requirements.

His 25 years with Tribune Broadcasting were capped as VP and CTO. In 2008, Goldstone joined Univision Television Group as engineering VP, and joined Fox in 2014.  A SMPTE Fellow, he received the NAB Engineering Lifetime Achievement award in recognition of 35 years of broadcast industry technical leadership, and the Broadcast & Cable Technology Leadership Award.

Anne Schelle is managing director of the Pearl TV broadcaster partnership. During her tenure as a member of the ATSC board, she has led numerous working group initiatives focused on the support of the ATSC 3.0 standard.

Previously she was senior adviser to NAB and led the Open Mobile Video Coalition. Schelle was a founding management team member for the nation’s first commercial digital cellular network (Sprint Spectrum) and also xDSL Networks (a competitive local exchange carrier.)

Previous experience included key roles at LCC Inc., McCaw Cellular Communications and MCI/ Airsignal. She is also a past CEO of Acta Wireless and was vice chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association Board and founding chair of its video committee.

Dave Siegler is VP of technical operations for Cox Media Group at the company’s Atlanta headquarters. He leads CMG’s Technical Operations groups to integrate new technologies and processes across various platforms for broadcast television stations, one local cable television station, radio stations and newspapers.

His previous experience includes six years with Turner Broadcasting and 13 years in various positions with Post-Newsweek (Graham) Television Stations. A SMPTE Fellow and SBE Life Member, he received the B&C Technology Leadership Award. He chairs the ATSC 3.0 Personalization Interactivity & Interactivity Implementation Team and NAB’s Television Technology Committee.  He also serves on the boards of directors of SBE and IEEE BTS.

The post ATSC BOARD Elects New Members appeared first on TV News Check.

On Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 11 a.m., the 2018 EDGE Award for Excellence in Digital Innovation will be presented to Mark Richer, President of the Advanced Television Systems Committee, for “the successful and timely completion of the ATSC 3.0 standard, and the integral role the committee played in ensuring public television stations’ repacking efforts are synched with the Next Generation broadcasting standard.”

The post ATSC’s Richer to Receive APTS Award appeared first on TV News Check.

With the approval of the A/311 Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization, and Error Protection standard on Dec. 6, AEA has become an official function within the ATSC 3.0 suite of next-generation broadcast transmission standards, and the core element of next-generation emergency communications capabilities has been set.

“This is a significant milestone for emergency information capabilities in broadcast technology,” said Edward Czarnecki, Monroe’s senior director of strategic and government affairs. “By approving this advanced emergency messaging feature of the standard, the ATSC is enabling broadcasters to leapfrog to IP-based, mobile, customizable, and media-rich emergency notifications to their audiences, with the potential for a range of first responder and public safety services as well. We deeply appreciate the amazing work of those broadcast and consumer electronics engineers from several countries who collaborated with us to establish this feature as part of the standard.”

Seeing a need for a specialized broadcast messaging format that fully leverages the next-generation capabilities of ATSC 3.0, and also portable across systems and national boundaries, Monroe Electronics proposed a new messaging format for advanced emergency alerting by TV. The ATSC standard’s AEA feature will enable a vastly improved user experience for TV viewers when it comes to emergency alerts, whether they’re watching through receivers on fixed screens, mobile phones, or portable devices such as tablets or vehicle-mounted displays.

Furthermore, the feature allows broadcasters to be more than just a conduit for Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages; it gives them an opportunity to engage with their viewers. The AEA feature will also provide powerful new options to help public safety officials get more information out to viewers, resulting in a major public policy benefit.

“Advanced Emergency Alerting provides a direct connection for a wide range of urgent information from the station to the audience — including warnings, advisories, bulletins, and all manner of emergency information. The Emergency Alert System as we know it today will continue to be used by television broadcasters. However, Advanced Emergency Alerting will both complement and go beyond the narrow confines of today’s EAS,” Czarnecki continued. “Stations and consumers will benefit from more detailed and useful alert information; media, graphics, and live feeds; enhanced geotargeting; and even personalized notification capabilities — all delivered to ATSC 3.0 receivers in TVs and portable devices like tablets, laptops, and perhaps even smartphones.”

Using the AEA capability in ATSC 3.0, television stations will be able to send detailed, geotargeted alerts and warnings to the general viewing public or even to specific audiences such as first responders. Broadcasters can supplement those urgent messages with rich multimedia elements that make the alerts more informative than simple EAS messages.

In terms of the user experience, ATSC AEA will enable advanced options for interaction, such as allowing consumers to select the type, language, and display mode of notifications. Users will also be able to choose among text, audio, and video alerts, which will be important for those with accessibility challenges.

Flexible enough to handle both EAS messages and any other type of urgent communications, the specifications proposed by Monroe and ultimately adopted by ATSC will provide the foundation for the capabilities being advocated by the AWARN Alliance and others.

Now that the AEA specification has been officially adopted as part of ATSC 3.0, consumer receiver manufacturers can integrate this feature set into their product designs. As such, manufacturers could potentially include the AEA feature in television receivers, portable tablets, mobile devices, and home gateway devices.

Monroe Electronics designed the AEA specification to accommodate emergency communications requirements not just in the United States, but in Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and all other countries that use the ATSC suite of standards. For that reason, AEA could have significant international impact.

Taken together, all ATSC 3.0 standards will be the “glue” that enables broadcast protocol to exist in an internet environment, which means better pictures and sound, personalized and geotargeted viewing, mobile viewing, more robust emergency alerts, and the seamless integration of broadcasting programming with other IP-based services.

More information on ATSC 3.0, the A/331 standard, and the AEA feature in A/331 is available at http://atsc.org/standards/atsc-3-0-standards/.

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