NAB Show: Verance In Deals With Sinclair, Gray, Graham & Capitol To Increase Distribution Of ATSC 3.0 Applications That Drive New Revenue Opportunities

Verance announced today that it has entered into agreements with Sinclair Broadcast Group, Gray Television, Graham Media Group and Capitol Broadcasting Co. to implement the Verance Aspect audio watermark on stations across the station groups. As a result, each of the broadcaster’s NextGen Broadcast (ATSC 3.0) applications, which offer the opportunity to drive new business models and revenue through interactive applications, can now reach up to five times the number of homes — specifically enabling all homes that receive their television signals through the NextGen TV’s HDMI connection via a cable/satellite set top box or media adapter.

Aspect is Verance’s high-performance implementation of the ATSC open watermarking standards. The Verance Aspect watermark launches broadcast applications by carrying metadata and triggers associated with NextGen Broadcast experiences through all distribution paths (including ATSC 1.0 over-the-air, ATSC 3.0 over-the-air, cable/satellite, and over-the-top services) to reach 100% of connected televisions.

Without the Verance Aspect watermark, approximately 80% of households are unable to receive NextGen capabilities, according to the company.

These announcements of major broadcaster agreements builds on the momentum that Verance announced at the 2022 NAB Show that LG Electronics was the first television manufacturer to implement ATSC 3.0 watermark detection on NextGen TVs. Verance expects additional television manufacturers to follow in LG’s footsteps.

“Bringing Verance’s Aspect watermarking to all of our stations accelerates our NextGen Broadcast applications strategy to better understand our viewers and to provide them with personalized broadcast experiences,” said Mike Kralec, CTO, Sinclair Broadcast Group. “We believe that Verance’s watermarking technology substantially enhances use of the NextGen Broadcast standard that we hope that all the television manufacturers will adopt quickly.”

A demonstration of the Verance Aspect watermark application will be on display at the NAB Show (April 16-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center). As part of the ATSC Booth (W3443), Sinclair will be showing how viewers can have access to Broadcast App functionality by embedding the watermark in the audio signal that launches the interactive experience on a NextGen TV for any pay TV or ATSC 1.0 over-the-air viewer.

The Broadcast App is then available to all NextGen TV viewers who want to take advantage of this new capability, regardless of how they receive the TV signal, gaining access to both broadcast and broadband content.

“NextGen TV is a game changer for broadcast television, and it is exciting to see interactive experiences powered by Verance watermarking on Gray’s stations,” said David Burke, senior vice president and CTO of Gray Television. “With Verance watermarking, Gray can now proceed with confidence, knowing that our applications can be received by the largest number of viewers across all of our signals and can help Gray with our business objectives.”

“Verance’s Aspect watermarking will enable Graham to reach our HDMI viewers with interactive experiences,“ said Anthony Plosz, VP and CTO, Graham Media Group. “This capability enables Graham and other broadcasters to better understand and serve our audiences and to better support our NextGen TV business opportunities.”

“We are excited to rollout Verance’s Aspect watermarking across our stations to help drive the distribution of our NextGen TV apps to a larger audience and to allow us to bring new NextGen experiences to our viewers,“ said Peter Sockett, director of engineering and operations, Capitol Broadcasting Co. “This opportunity will help us to better scale the broadcaster application opportunity.”

Nil Shah, Verance chief executive officer, said: “Sinclair, Gray, Graham and Capitol are at the forefront of a broadcaster movement to establish a direct connection with their viewers to drive engagement and revenue, and Verance is excited to have these innovative broadcasters as partners. As interactive applications deploy across the United States with the broader deployment of NextGen TV, we are excited for enhanced viewing experiences, such as sports betting and dynamic advertising, that drive new revenue opportunities for broadcasters.”