The announcement comes just ahead of the annual CES in Las Vegas, where the ADTH receiver will be on display at the Advanced Television Systems Committee exhibit booth (Central Hall 19744.)

Ivy Shou, ADTH president, says: “The ADTH receiver is not only the industry’s first receiver certified to utilize the NextGen TV mark from the Consumer Technology Association, it’s also verified for content security and is the most affordable option in the market.  We’re delighted to expand availability of the ADTH receiver beyond the ADTH website to now include Walmart.com, which offers the new product for just $89.99 with free shipping available.”

Developed to meet the specifications of broadcasters who are upgrading to NextGen TV powered by ATSC 3.0, ADTH says the receiver is the first to meet the rigorous requirements of the electronics industry’s self-certification program.

Since its initial introduction a few months ago, continuous software improvements have enhanced the device’s utility and ease of use. With an internet connection, the ADTH receiver purchased today can benefit from continuous improvements — including recent enhancements spurred by user suggestions. The device’s on-screen display now includes a number pad to make it easier to tune to specific channels, and a bookmarking function has been added to save favorite channels.

ADTH is implementing a recording function (now available in “beta” mode), to enhance usability of the receiver. Other recent updates have sped up channel changing, improved the electronic program guide, and addressed market-specific issues reported by broadcasters. Future updates will allow users to add specific channels, improve reception sensitivity, and to personalize closed-captioning settings.

Built to bring the benefits of NextGen TV to existing TV receivers with an HDMI connection, ADTH says the receiver can provide a better viewing experience (depending on available broadcasts), with better audio and video quality, High Dynamic Range (HDR) video, and immersive Dolby audio.

The ADTH receiver can support a maximum resolution of 2160p (or 4K-quality), along with HDR, Dolby AC-4 Audio, and A3SA content protection. The device includes a dual-band Wi-Fi receiver, Bluetooth 5.0, a remote control and power adapter.

The post ADTH Offering NextGen TV Receiver Through Walmart.com appeared first on TV News Check.

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.

To which John Hane says pshaw.

Hane, president and CEO of the BitPath NextGen consortium between Nexstar and Sinclair, says data leasing revenue could start rolling in within select markets or regions inside of the next year. He sees that the mountain NextGen TV has yet to scale is massive, but argues the progress made so far in lighting up new ATSC 3.0 markets is also considerable.

In this Talking TV conversation, Hane takes the measure of that progress, lays out the challenges still in front of the technology’s implementation, and ventures a guess as to when it will finally become a significant percentage of broadcasters’ bottom line.

Episode transcript below, edited for clarity.

Michael Depp: BitPath is a spectrum consortium between Nexstar and Sinclair built on ATSC 3 architecture to deliver data and create new revenue streams for TV broadcasters. So, how is that whole new revenue stream thing going?

I’m Michael Depp, editor of TVNewsCheck, and this is Talking TV. My guest today is John Hane, president and CEO of BitPath. We’ll be doing a check in with how far along BitPath has come in building its network, the challenges it continues to face in its growth and the biggest question of all: When, if ever, is ATSC 3 going to become a viable revenue stream for broadcasters? We’ll be right back with that conversation.

Welcome, John Hane, to Talking TV.

John Hane: Hey, Michael. Thanks for having me.

Good to see you. John, I wanted to talk about ATSC 3 and revenue right now because we’re coming up on the NAB Show in Las Vegas next month and checking in with NextGen TV is always an important part of the narrative at the show. I’m also supposed to be moderating a panel on NextGen revenue with a trio of station group leaders during the show, so there’s a good chance for me to do a little prep in advance. So, let’s check in with the situation. First of all, how many markets is Next-Gen lit up in now?

John Hane: In terms of number of markets, I don’t know. It’s well over 60% depending on how you count. People count differently, but 60% of the population in terms of markets, we have, I think as of the end of this month. We’re launching a top 10 market this month. We’ll have, I think, seven of the top 10. Something like 20 or 21 of the top 25 and 43 or 44 of the top 50. So, we’re filling in the gaps. I mean, there’s been a lot of activity. A lot of markets have launched. We’re still waiting for some big ones to pop, including one that we’re launching this month. But we’re continuing to roll out markets. We have markets on the rollout plan for every quarter of the year.

So, are you on schedule? Ahead? Behind?

We didn’t have a formal schedule for getting everything done because there’s no central management of this process. We’ve led the significant majority of BitPath, our team has led … and when I say led, I mean the people doing the work are the station groups. We’re just sort of nudging and providing some coordination services and helping figure out the hosting plans. But we’ve been involved in the great majority of the rollouts. Pearl has done a number of rollouts, including some of the big markets and others have sort of rolled out on their own without any sort of participation in either of BitPath or Pearl.

The industry is moving along. You know, I guess you can call it organically. We didn’t have a hard schedule. What I liked and, you know, I guess a good phrase is ‘how are we doing?’ Better than I expected, but not as good as I could have hoped for. I think we’re in a good place. We need to fill in these holes and the top 50, top 25 and especially in the top 10.

You know, as you get into the remaining large markets, they have various complicated issues that have to be worked through and they take time. And not everything is within all the players’ control. So, I’m highly confident that they’re going to be work out. I wish they were worked out, you know, now. But everybody in those markets that is planning to transition to 3.0 is working very hard on it.

You touched on a key issue there. There’s no central management of all this. So, that’s kind of one of the things that makes this very tough, isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

All right. Your consortium believes that data leasing is going to be ATSC 3’s real revenue superpower, right?

I think it is a real revenue superpower. So, you know, I did I was involved in retransmission negotiations for the first 10 or 12 years of that and since some of the major and groundbreaking ones. So, I’m very aware of the changes and the profile of advertising versus subscription revenue. And I think with 3.0, the television side is extremely relevant to that. I won’t go down that rabbit hole now, but I think it’s super, super important. And people who discount the importance of 3.0 to revenue on the core television side, I think are selling it short.

You have to look at two factors: what are the growth opportunities and what are the opportunities of 3.0 to sort of mitigate some of the headwinds that are in the existing business in particular as they affect the revenue streams. So yes, I do think on a bit-for-bit basis, there is no question that much higher revenue can be delivered per bit through data services, through non-traditional television data services. But I’m not discounting at all, you know, the revenue opportunity inside the core business.

Well, let’s stick to the one rabbit hole, though, OK? For the uninitiated, very briefly, can you explain how that works?

The way that we evaluate it is in order to provide wireless data services, you need a tremendous amount of infrastructure. You need management systems, you need devices, you need control systems. You need all of those things. Well, the highest cost items really are the RF infrastructure, the spectrum licenses, the towers. That is far and away the highest capital cost associated with providing wireless data services.

We have that in place. So, the way that we view it is we need to provision these participating stations to be able to provide ATSC 3 data, and that’s once you’ve switched over, it’s really fairly uncomplicated and we’re sort of building a playbook of how we do that in an effective way. Then you’re able to transmit, then you’re able to put data in.

You have to have devices, right? You have to have receiver devices in addition to the regular television sets. So, we’re working on that part, too, and we’ve developed a few core businesses that we intend to launch first that we think are compatible with where we are in the transition.

And we’re working on optimizing the way we get that data into the television stations. We have a plan operating now, and also how we sort of get the market for user devices going so that we can have customers for those services.

OK, but in order to capitalize on data leasing, you have to have these important things that fall into place. First, you need a national footprint of NextGen stations to light up and then they have to join your network, right?

You don’t need a national network for everything. You need a national network for some services. And ultimately the full realization of that potential is when you have a national network. But the services that we’re launching initially are services that don’t require the national network or national coverage. They’re services that are sort of more market-oriented to individual markets.

And those would be, if you think about one of our first target verticals is energy distribution. Those tend to be clustered in specific geographic regions. And they’re heavy users of certain kind of data and in particular certain kinds of data services. So, we can provision those. If you think about, I mean, here in the Washington, D.C., metro, Pepco, which will make electric power, is the big electricity provider. Our coverage in D.C. already covers substantially all of Cape Coast footprint in the region.

But to get the full potential and to have the national network in place, about how far along are you from realizing that?

Well, we have over 60% of the country covered.

I mean timewise. Are we talking a couple of years?

I think we’re clearly over halfway. I mean, if you’re talking about the long tail and getting down to market 200, you know, some of those are very difficult because many of them have only one or two stations. If it’s one station, you have to flash cut it. But to have a substantially complete nationwide network, you know, I think if we could get some regulatory certainty from the FCC, I could see it being done in two years.

And the biggest markets you mentioned before, they’re the toughest to launch, right? The most complicated?

Well, they have a sort of a unique set of complications. There are some things that are more difficult. Some of them have not been that difficult. Some of them are proving exceptionally difficult and they’ve just taken a lot more work.

And the second dynamic required to monetize data leasing, as I understand, is the companies that want to lease the data transfer services from you need to build these compatible receivers on their ends as sort of destinations for the data that they send.

Right.

How hard of an ask is that to make of those companies?

You know, I think it’s a hard ask today because the full coverage and the full network is not in place and that’s why we’re not waiting for that. We’re building our own receiver devices and the first services we launch will be our own branded services that we will provide directly. And we’re building and working on acquiring compatible devices for that service. So, we’re not going to wait for third parties.

And I think there’s a lot to be said for this approach. If we wait for others to come build devices to buy our services, I think we’re going to be waiting until everything is built. You have to prove that it works, and we know that it works. We’re proving it in the field. We’re building the devices. We’re showing very high value on some particular verticals. Are the devices optimal today? No, they’re not.

But we’re working very hard on getting better form factors, lower power requirements, moving closer to where we ultimately want to be for a really widespread consumer B2C and B2B set of customers throughout the economy, including end user retail economists, customers. We’re building the devices depending on how well that goes. You know, we could have paying customers early next year.

I hear what you’re saying about this incremental kind of market-based or regional-based implementation of this right now as a lead up to more national services. But all in all, there are some pretty complicated things that need to fall into place here for the cash register to start really ringing for broadcasters. What do you say to the critics or the skeptics who say this is all just too complicated and it’s never going to happen?

People that say this is too complicated are people who have not launched, you know, wireless data services and they’re sort of not familiar with the processes. The project steps, the way you finance these things, it’s an unknown. So, if I took somebody from satellite or mobile wireless and drop them at the NAB and some of them work in some of the sessions that seem very important and topical to everybody who listens to and watches this podcast, you know, they wouldn’t know what we were talking about, and it would seem all very difficult and arcane. But, you know, our staff is built of people who do this.

Our contractors and providers are people who do this. I’ve done this in the past. You know, these are known steps, right? It’s just a matter of us taking them out, execution and success in the marketplace. You know, those depend on a lot of factors. But knowing how to get from point A to point B, how to build a network, how to start before the network is fully built, how to sort of step into it methodically, those are known things.

OK, you are a true believer. Obviously, you are John the Baptist here. So, given that, when do you think the broadcasters are really going to see an ROI on this technology? When are we going to see it as a business line in the earnings reports?

On the on the data side, only separating that from the core business you asked me to do, I think so. When you say an ROI, I would say if you’re talking about the incremental cost of propagating data, for our initial services it’s very, very low. So, I think the ROI will be really good as soon as it starts, and I think it could start next year. We’re not going to burden the full cost of the transition in the first year or two on the first data services that we launch. But if you look at them on a on a bit-for-bit basis for the capital cost of setting those services up and for the operating cost of provisioning them and for the capacity overhead that we’re taking away from television, which by the way, for everything we’re planning for the next four years is trivial. You don’t have to stop any television service at all in order to accommodate this.

Now, BIA sort of famously projected that by 2030, revenue from NextGen datacasting could run between $6.5 and $15 billion for the industry. How many millions are you personally willing to bet on the accuracy of that prediction?

Well, I didn’t make the predictions, so I don’t want to bet on the accuracy. But I definitely believe the business falls somewhere in there.

Does the timeline sound right to you as well?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, so here are the things that we don’t have within our control. When we set up these transition rules with the FCC, they were not the rules that we wanted. They were a negotiated set of rules that had a lot of input from cable competitors, and we didn’t get everything we wanted. And even if we had gotten everything we wanted, it was impossible to know back then exactly how this would play out. Right. So, we’re sort of at the midpoint or better and we need some adjustments.

So, you’re asking for that FCC task force?

Well, we need a task force, and we need some relief on the hosting rules. The hosting rules have some fairly perverse consequences, given the way that things are rolled out, particularly with the growth of diginets. So, you know, we’ve we’re working with the [FCC] Media Bureau and with the commission. I’m not sure that they fully appreciate the urgency of this. The rule changes can’t or are not a sufficient condition to wrap this up quickly, but they’re clearly a necessary condition. They’re absolutely a necessary condition.

And I’ll give you an example. In the largest market, and we’re not managing that market, but in the largest market, there’s a particularly difficult problem. And the parties have come up with different solutions. And one of the solutions would require what, to my mind, would be a very inconsequential modification or waiver of the hosting roles. And I think the commission is very concerned about it and overthinking it. But that’s my perspective.

So, I think relief from the FCC could definitely ease things and speed them up. It’s not going to solve it. We have a lot of commercial business and technical and other issues that we have to tackle. But, you know, we’re way along the way when you have, you know, 21, 22 of the top 25, you have most of the top 50. We have a lot more going up, the 75 and even 100. You know, there’s been a lot of metal bends. I mean, we’re bending metal, right? This is happening.

Well, you may get a chance to buttonhole FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel next month, if you’re lucky.

I hope so.

Well, John Hane, it’s been good to check in with you and see you at the NAB show in April.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Thanks to all of you for watching and listening. You can catch past episodes of Talking TV on TVNewsCheck.com and on our YouTube page. We’ll see you next time. Thanks.

The post Best Of Talking TV: When Is NextGen TV Revenue Coming? appeared first on TV News Check.

Based on ATSC 3.0, an advanced television broadcasting technology, NextGen TV can be enhanced with internet content to enable viewers to get more out of live sports, live news, and live events in real-time. ATSC 3.0 gives broadcasters the power to serve their markets with a range of high value data services in addition to improved television broadcasting, the release said.

“In addition, NextGen TV adds a new dimension to TV viewing, with vibrant video and new Voice+ dialogue enhancement that brings voices to the foreground,” the release continued. “Movie theater-quality sound lets viewers hear every voice clearly and keeps the volume consistent across channels.  NextGen TV also  improves the way broadcasters reach viewers with emergency alerts and can support a wide range of features currently in development.”

NextGen TV is touted as “the most significant broadcast technology upgrade in history.” Features available will vary by device and station as broadcasters roll out service across the country. NextGen TV can continue to evolve as new technologies are introduced because it is built on the same basic technologies that power the internet and mobile broadband. New sets compatible with ATSC 3.0 are marked with the distinctive “NEXTGEN TV” logo.

The launch of NextGen TV follows a decade of development and months of planning and preparation by the local stations, the release said. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, WPIX has converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions and will broadcast its own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in the NextGen TV format. All programming of the participating stations will continue to be available in the existing DTV format, which can be received on all modern television sets. BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated transition efforts across the three television stations.

From Honolulu to Houston and from Miami to Seattle, NextGen TV service is already available in dozens of markets across the country. New York metro area viewers can learn more about NextGen TV by visiting www.WatchNextGenTV.com, which offers a guide listing cities where NextGen TV is already live, as well as links to available NextGen TV set models.

Antenna viewers without NextGen TV sets can simply rescan their TV sets to ensure uninterrupted service. Rescan instructions are available at fcc.gov/rescan. Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.

The post WPIX, WABC, WXTV-DT Launch NextGen TV In New York City appeared first on TV News Check.

Broadcasters are continuing to adopt cloud technology and IP networking while maintaining a strong defense against cybersecurity threats. And they are also exploring the potential benefits — and hazards — of artificial intelligence (AI) to their operations.

Those were some of the key takeaways from Technology Leaders on Trends in 2024, a TVNewsCheck webinar moderated by this reporter that gathered top broadcasters and vendors to examine the current state of media workflows and forecast key technology trends for the new year and beyond. “Hybrid” was a theme that came up repeatedly, both in the context of business models and broadcasters’ technology architectures. (To watch the video of the full webinar, click here.)

Tackling Hybridity

Paul Cheesbrough, CEO of Tubi Media Group for Fox Corp., noted the “key milestone” when Nielsen Gauge data in July 2023 showed broadcast and cable TV linear viewing fell below 50% of overall TV consumption for the first time as streaming viewing continued to grow (to 38.7% over the same month).

“That key tipping point is pretty material, and it kind of summarizes nicely where we are as a business, which in terms of consumer distribution of our content is very hybrid with the traditional platforms but also the new emerging platforms like streaming,” Cheesbrough said. “As a technology organization, supporting that hybrid of platforms where the consumer exists is really central to how we’ve invested and how we structure ourselves. Now, the big focus on ’24 is obviously to keep those platforms running, but really lean in to making sure streaming is a good long-term business for us, that it monetizes well, and that the economics of it really start to pull through.”

Fox has already created a cloud-first technology infrastructure based around its Tempe, Ariz., content hub to support this hybrid distribution model of linear TV and streaming, and there are other broadcasters like Sinclair that are also aggressively shifting their workflows to the public cloud. But Bryan Bedford, head of IoT and verticals for Cisco Systems, said that most customers are looking to implement hybrid technology infrastructures that combine cloud compute with a healthy dose of private cloud or on-premise hardware. That is largely due to the cost of running broadcast workflows on public cloud platforms.

“Now people are coming to us and asking, how can we look at a hybrid environment?” Bedford said. “Not to discredit that [the cloud], there are a lot of great uses cases for public cloud, it’s awesome. But they’re looking at cost innovation and what can we do in our own data center, to maybe alleviate some of that opex sourcing.”

Bedford added that investment in 2110 IP routing infrastructures continues to grow. He said the industry has moved out of the “bleeding-edge adoption phase” as workflows have solidified and integration expertise has grown, and that Cisco has seen a “steady increase across all major areas” for 2110 including studios, production control rooms, master control rooms, stadiums and mobile production units. The company now has several hundred live 2110 deployments around the world.

“We don’t see it slowing down for some time,” Bedford said.

Lawo is also seeing interest in hybrid architectures, said Jeremy Courtney, senior director in the company’s CTO office. He estimated that most Lawo customers are still using on-premise hardware for 70%-80% of their technical infrastructures.

“There are some customers that have absolutely embraced the cloud and have gone all in, but we’re seeing more who favor the hybrid approach,” Courtney said. “If you are going to use the cloud 24/7, there are some costs that come with that. And I think it’s not unreasonable to say if you are using functionality on a 24/7 basis there’s no advantage to having that all in the cloud, by egress costs, ingress costs, etc. Then to be honest, run it on premise.”

Courtney said many broadcasters used to equate “agility” with working in the cloud, but that the industry has learned that is not necessarily true. While public cloud can help at peak times, he said, “you can absolutely have a level of agility in your data center on premise.”

As it looks to help its customers support live production, Lawo is busy developing a three-layered “dynamic media facility” with IP as the key enabler, Courtney said. The bottom layer is connectivity and edge compute, with the ability to take in and pump out signals from legacy standards like SDI, as well as “tactile” surface like pushbuttons and consoles that operators “can feel and be creative with.”

The middle layer is the local network, where broadcast technology is transitioning from “FPGA purpose-built devices with fixed functionality” to standard servers with “agile functionality, the ability to spin things up and spin them down as and when you need it.” The top layer is the public cloud, used in combination with low-bandwidth transport technologies like SRT to help manage the unpredictable nature of the internet.

“We’re bringing this all together in one package, and underpinning this package you need a cloud-native software platform that allows you to discover devices, to control those devices, and coming back to that agile piece, that platform needs to enable you to spin things up and spin them down as you see fit,” Courtney said. “And we very much believe that as our customers learn to leverage this, they’ll absolutely see much better utilization in how they consume products and services.”

NextGen TV Developments

Along with its cloud initiatives, Sinclair continues to march ahead with the rollout of the ATSC 3.0, or NextGen TV, standard, said Mark Aitken, president of ONE Media and SVP of advanced technology for Sinclair. Close to 75% of the country is now reached by a 3.0 signal, he said, and an important development in 2024 will be adding second and even third 3.0 stations in markets where 3.0 is already on-air to enable new businesses like data distribution.

“[ATSC] 3.0 is headed into the picking-upsteam phase,” Aitken said. “We’re doubling up in major markets we’re already deployed in. What’s important about that is having additional capacity. The ability to bring more stations in the same market leads to additional capacity to do things other than simply television programming.”

Given the capacity crunch, 3.0 stations are also looking to use guide data broadcast in the over-the-air signal to steer consumers to “virtual channels” and interactive applications like betting and gaming that can be delivered to smart TVs through a broadband connection. Aitken said that functionality will be demonstrated at CES in Las Vegas next month.

“It’s enabling the broadcast equivalent on the internet, that’s tied directly into the ‘store’ that a station represents,” he said.

AI’s Prospects And Pitfalls

Not surprisingly, the opportunities and pitfalls of AI dominated much of the discussion. Cisco has just published an “AI readiness index” polling 8,000 businesses across 30 different markets, said Bedford, which indicated that plans are already in place for many companies, but actual rollouts are lagging behind.

“AI is the number one topic in both C-suites right now,” Bedford said. “Our data says that 95% of CEOs have an AI strategy documented, and they’re trying to figure out how they implement it.”

Tegna is still in the exploratory phase with most AI applications, said Kurt Rao, Tegna SVP and CTO. However, he noted that Tegna, like many other large broadcasters, has already been using AI-based closed captioning systems for years.

“What’s really new in the last 12 months is generative AI, the large language models,” Rao said. “We’re very bullish on what we think it could do on a number of fronts. On the content side of the house, we think there are opportunities there to create better products and/or improve the production workflow internally. That’s one vertical use case.”

Gen AI could also be used to automate back-office functions like invoice processing or T&E, he said, as well as in IT applications like monitoring network or device logs for cybersecurity purposes.

“We’re at the very beginnings of experimenting with this, so I don’t want to say we’ve proven anything out,” Rao said. “But in pilot mode or experimentation mode, we’re certainly seeing signals that it could be very helpful.”

Aitken said that Sinclair is collaborating with Korean broadcasters on using AI to add sign language functionality as an assistive service in ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. He also thinks AI could be helpful in optimizing data flows for data distribution applications that use 3.0 in combination with other wireless delivery networks like 4G or 5G, such as delivering software updates or infotainment to automobiles.

Fox appears to be farther ahead than most broadcasters in addressing AI. Cheesbrough described how Fox has already trained AI algorithms to produce catch-up highlights for streaming viewers who are joining a game already in progress, something it first did for FIFA World Cup coverage last year and is now providing with NFL coverage this fall.

Fox has worked with OpenAI to develop search and discovery functionality for its Tubi streaming app, which allows a viewer to type in a generic theme like “romantic Christmas movies from the ’80s” instead of having to search for a specific title. And Cheesbrough said Fox is also experimenting with “caution” on various production applications for news and sports coverage, including assistive tools for journalists and AI-generated match commentary.

“In the last year we’ve seen a lot of organic adoption, which is both a blessing and a curse, given some of the security rails you need to put around some of the public large language models,” said Cheesbrough of the rapid rise of AI in general.

On that note, Fox has created a method to protect its content as it is being “crunched up and spat out on the other end” by large language models from AI companies, Cheesbrough said. He described the system, which Fox aims to open-source in 2024, as “modern-day digital rights management.” Every piece of content that Fox publishes digitally is now fingerprinted using blockchain technology, with commercial terms of trade attached to it. That becomes the integration point for companies like OpenAI and Google to start working with Fox’s content.

“It’s very early days on that, but one of the biggest things it does is it allows attribution,” Cheesbrough said. “So, if you’re in ChatGPT and you search for something and some of our content has helped produce that result, we get attribution back for the generation of that result, and ultimately, we’d like to get paid for that as well. So those rails that we’re starting to build are super-strategic and critical from a distribution point of view.

“We’re pretty cautious about [AI],” he continued. “You know, the first wave of the internet, a lot of IP and content was harvested, and media companies and publishers didn’t get fair payment for that. We’re making sure that we go into this with optimism, but also some level of caution and control.”

To watch the video of the full webinar, click here.

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The two additional stations add five new services to the Miami market, now bringing it to a combined total of 11 NextGen TV services, for Miami’s more than 1.7 million television households.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide our viewers NextGen TV in South Florida,” said Bert Medina, president-CEO of Berkshire Hathaway’s ABC affiliate WPLG. “Our goal is to provide our audience with the best quality video and audio experience available. Our mission continues to be to inform, entertain and educate our community. This is a natural evolution for us.”

Miami viewers can now access five more channels over the air for free with NextGen TV:

• WPLG-TV (ABC and Local 10 Plus that provides news, weather, traffic and entertainment. Until today, Local 10 Plus was available only via streaming).
• Sunbeam Television’s WSVN (Fox, TheGrio and This TV).

“WSVN’s strong, loyal viewership will benefit from NextGen TV’s technology, as it will greatly improve television reception,” said Paul Magnes, WSVN co-president/GM. “We can now offer our viewers a more compelling way to watch 7 NEWS, live sports and programming, over-the-air.”

“Underscoring the demand for NextGen TV, Miami is now a top U.S. media market with multiple major networks—ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, PBS, Telemundo, and Univision—broadcasting NextGen TV for its viewers,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, the broadcaster business group leading the NextGen TV transition. “By launching a second stick, these local broadcasters share an ongoing commitment to expand this free service within the Miami area and deliver important local news stories, sports and entertainment. NextGen TV’s emergency alert system and dual language capabilities are essential to residents and we’re proud that we can give them even more options now.”

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Launched in 2021 with support from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the fellowship gives participants practical, first-hand experience with the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard and the broadcast television industry. Over the course of the program, fellows will participate in training programs, seminars and one-on-one coaching with Next Gen TV standard experts and AWS representatives. The program will conclude with fellows presenting their projects at the 2024 NAB Show in April in Las Vegas.

The fellows also participate in the NAB Leadership Foundation’s Technology Apprenticeship Program (TAP), a complimentary career development program that is designed to train, inform and recruit a diverse workforce to meet emerging technology and engineering needs within the broadcasting community. During orientation, fellows had the opportunity to visit the Technology Lab at NAB headquarters in Washington, D.C., which features equipment for testing and research of cutting-edge television and radio technologies.

The 2023-24 fellows are:

Howard University

• YaSin Abdul-Musawwir, Film and Television, Junior
• Rachel Ibihwiori, Computer Science, Senior
• Emmarah Kouadio, Interactive Media and Computer Science, Senior
• Teshi Waruingi, Computer Science, Senior

University of Missouri

• Charles Dake, Finance, Senior
• Amanuel Hailemariam, Information Technology, Senior
• Shannon Worley, Journalism, Senior

“The PILOT Next Gen TV Fellowship is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for students to get real-life experience in broadcast technology, learn more about television innovation and work beside industry experts,” said John Clark, PILOT executive director. “We’re thrilled to partner with Howard University and the University of Missouri for this year’s program that will provide fellows an immersive journey into the next generation of television.”

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The B²C Lab, which features six GatesAir Maxiva UHF transmitters, was established as North America’s first 100% front-facing industry research lab — a low-risk innovation environment to explore multi-sectoral applications of the ATSC 3.0 standard including convergence with 5G networks. Its work includes active participation with industry stakeholders and ATSC 3.0 technical teams, including the Tower Network Implementation team (TN-IT5), whose aim is to connect broadcast transmission towers to form an IP and 5G-based scalable and configurable Inter-Tower Communications Network (ITCN).

The lab’s work incorporates joint research and development efforts with the Communications Research Center in Ottawa, the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Seoul, South Korea.

“ATSC 3.0 is the world’s most efficient one-to-many data delivery system, and we’re happy to be part of an auspicious global group of research scientists working together to advance NextGenTV and data delivery applications,” said Orest Sushko, director for the B²C Lab. “In Canada, we work with a variety of industry stakeholders that are interested in developing both television and non-television applications using the standard, which includes the deployment of datacasting services to support smart city initiatives offering public safety and first responder applications,” Sushko noted. “Here in Toronto, we operate through Canada’s first ATSC 3.0 experimental/developmental license, and Humber College actively participated in the process of helping develop the necessary requirements for 3.0 experimental operation in Canada .”

Humber B²C Lab’s engineering manager, Willie Perez, has designed an OTA test bed that spans three tower sites to deliver NextGen TV services airing on UHF chs. 22 and 28, with two GatesAir Maxiva transmitters at each site enabling content and IP data delivery. The configuration includes two UAXTE-3P-C, two UAXTE-2P-C, and two UAXTE-50 transmitters. The transmitters operate at low power (between 15 and 400 watts TPO) and are well suited in leveraging ATSC 3.0’s physical layer to extend coverage from each tower site.

“This helps us optimize specific datacasting use cases where we don’t need to send a lot of data, but need to ensure that the data is very robust in its transmission properties,” Sushko said. “What we like about GatesAir is their ability to tailor a transmission solution that met our initial requirements while enhancing the overall functionality of our OTA testing services. GatesAir supports our development of new and novel applications using ATSC 3.0 in meaningful ways that will help foster long-term sustainability for the broadcast industry.”

The Humber B²C Lab will soon add a seventh Maxiva transmitter to a fourth ATSC 3.0 experimental site atop the CN Tower in downtown Toronto, which Sushko says will expand the lab’s reach of testing services to approximately 25% of Canada’s marketplace. “GatesAir is helping us build a world-class ecosystem that allows us to undertake extensive testing with reliable performance, ensuring the best possible success,” he said.

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Hisense says it “is expanding the number of television programmers bringing interactive capabilities to the living room, with cable networks and regional sports networks now able to join local stations and national networks offering these new features.”

The Verance Aspect watermark provides a high-performance, commercial implementation of the ATSC audio A/334 watermark specification. Hisense is the first mass market consumer electronics company to launch watermark detection commercially bringing enhanced ATSC 3.0 capabilities to Hisense NextGen TVs.

Broadcasters are including watermark signals in their services that pass transparently through all distribution paths and set-top boxes, and will be reliably detected in Hisense ATSC 3.0 TVs. The watermark signals trigger the launch of NextGen TV broadcast applications to offer a rich set of interactive experiences for opted-in consumers including sports betting, fantasy sports, watch party, personalized news and weather and advanced emergency information.

Douglas Kern, Hisense USA head of product marketing, said: “We are excited to expand NextGen TV interactive services to all of the viewers of national networks, local stations and cable networks regardless of how they receive their television signal, all while bringing many new interactive services to Hisense consumers.”

Nil Shah, CEO of Verance, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Hisense, which is once again proving to be an industry leader in developing innovative NextGen TV solutions. Its embrace of the Verance Aspect watermark will serve as a driving market force for consumers to fully realize NextGen TV functionality.”

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“The transition from trialing ATSC 3.0 to delivery and monetization is on a fast track,” said Ralph Bachofen, vice president of sales and marketing at Triveni Digital. “At this year’s NAB Show New York, we’ll demonstrate solutions for broadcasters that simplify NextGen TV delivery and boost revenue generation. In particular, we will highlight the redundancy options available to broadcasters, including automatic switch-over systems, dual broadcast chains, an orchestrator, and state-of-the-art monitoring, to ensure successful service delivery in the NextGen TV era.”

Solutions will include:

ATSC 3.0 Translator | Triveni Digital’s new ATSC 3.0 Translator reduces the cost of NextGen TV service delivery. Leveraging the solution, broadcasters can efficiently repeat or translate their existing ATSC 3.0 signal to other areas without the need for an entire broadcast chain, minimizing costs, equipment, and power usage. The ATSC 3.0 Translator also includes an optional feature for NextGen TV signing, helping broadcasters quickly expand the reach of ATSC 3.0 services.

The ATSC 3.0 Translator validates NextGen TV signals in real time down to the frame structure, offering support for multiple physical layer pipes. Using the innovative solution, broadcasters can perform ATSC 3.0 network troubleshooting and postmortem analysis with log and trend files to improve NextGen TV experiences for viewers.

StreamScope XM Analyzer and Monitor With A3SA Decryption |Triveni Digital’s StreamScope XM Analyzer and Monitor are the industry’s first test and measurement products to support the NextGen TV decryption protocols, enabling broadcasters to better understand their subscribers and monetize ATSC 3.0 services. Using A3SA decryption functionality on the StreamScope XM, broadcasters can transmit encrypted content in the ATSC 3.0 environment while ensuring outstanding content integrity. The company will also showcase a 12-port input card and a new Continuous Transport Stream Recording capability that enables a wider, more detailed dataset for troubleshooting QoS issues.

SkyScraper XM Datacasting System for Boosting Revenues | Triveni Digital will showcase its state-of-the-art SkyScraper XM Datacasting System for ATSC 3.0. “The system offers unparalleled scalability and efficiency” for delivering advanced, revenue-enhancing datacasting services. SkyScraper XM supports standard content distribution and private NRT distribution applications over ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0, with optimized data delivery features such as Forward Error Correction (FEC), Opportunistic Data Insertion, and statistical multiplexing through hybrid broadcast and broadband delivery systems.

StreamScope Enterprise Centralized QoS Management | Triveni Digital’s StreamScope Enterprise platform enables broadcasters to perform nationwide or regionwide QoS monitoring, with the capability to manage a collection of quality assurance elements, view overall system status, and launch problem-solving sessions for specific faults. The StreamScope Enterprise platform connects to Triveni Digital’s StreamScope XM ATSC 3.0 Monitor to streamline NextGen TV delivery.

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Public television’s WLIW owned by The WNET Group leads the transition as the first full-power ATSC 3.0 station in the market. In addition to WLIW (PBS), viewers can receive CBS’s WCBS (CBS), WNET’s WMBQ-CD (First Nations Experience), Comcast/NBC’s WNBC (NBC), WNET (PBS) and Comcast/NBC’s WNJU (Telemundo) via over the air via supported TVs and devices.

WLIW is hosting ATSC 3.0 for all participating stations by carrying its own signal and simulcasts from the other partner stations in the market that boasts a population of over 7.7 million TV households, according to the 2023 Nielsen DMA Rankings. All channels will be carried by WLIW, but they will appear on their originally assigned local station lineups on all NextGen TV receivers.

The WNET Group said it is uniquely positioned as host or “lighthouse” in this commercial/noncommercial station partnership as the local operator of two full-power signals after moving WLIW to One World Trade Center in 2019 in anticipation of the upcoming ATSC 3.0 technology.

“WLIW21 is the first full-power station to convert to NextGen TV in the largest television market in the U.S. — this is broadcast television history in the making,” said Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of The WNET Group. “We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with WNBC, WNJU and WCBS on ATSC 3 as we navigate the challenges and opportunities of this digital evolution. I’m confident this partnership will ensure the best possible outcome for our New York area viewers.”

Heartland Video Systems has been the project consultant and integrator for The WNET Group.

Viewers who watch television over-the-air in the New York City DMA (including all five boroughs of New York City, Long Island, portions of New York State, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) will need to rescan their television sets following the conversion.  No action is required by cable and satellite subscribers.

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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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“As ATSC 3.0 deployments accelerate across the United States, it is critical for broadcasters to rapidly and cost-effectively launch NextGen TV services,” Bachofen said. “My session at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association clinic will touch on how broadcasters can achieve greater efficiency when launching and operating NextGen TV, enabling more interactive TV experiences for viewers.”

Bachofen’s session will highlight how broadcasters can repeat or translate their existing ATSC 3.0 signal to other areas without the need for an entire broadcast chain, thereby minimizing costs, equipment, and power usage. This innovation is ideal for broadcasters working in both public statewide networks and private cloud-based environments.

Bachofen is an expert on the role of metadata in the effective provision and monitoring of DTV services in ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 infrastructures. With more than 30 years of experience in ATSC and IP technologies, he will bring a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience to this session.

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association session will take place on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 12:45 p.m. CT. More information about the session and event registration details are available here.

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The testbed was built with the help of DigiCAP, a ATSC 3.0 solutions provider based in Seoul, South Korea. It will serve as a platform for developing and demonstrating various ATSC 3.0 applications and use cases, such as enhanced emergency alerting, interactive education, and datacasting.

In early August, a delegation of Korean engineers and technology suppliers visited WCTE to set up and test the new station. The delegation included representatives from RAPA, ETRI, DS Broadcast, and DigiCAP. Welcomed by WCTE leadership and technical staff, who were actively involved in the testing process, the delegation met with local decisionmakers and business leaders, as well as two members of the Tennessee Legislature. The delegation also visited Putnam County’s Emergency Management Center and toured WCTE’s mountaintop transmitter site. While on-site in Monterey, the RAPA delegation installed and tested an ATSC 3.0 system configuration comprising a media encoder, air-chain and modulator, and conducted a successful low power test of the system configuration.

PMVG, RAPA and WCTE anticipate the commencement of full ATSC 3.0 service to the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee and Kentucky this fall.

“We are excited about the new capabilities ATSC 3.0 can bring. As a public station in rural Tennessee, we see 3.0’s potential to better serve our community by enabling us to add more services and distribution channels,” said WCTE Station Manager Craig Lefevre. “The testbed will not only benefit the Upper Cumberland region, but also inspire the broader industry to explore the possibilities of 3.0.”

Marc Hand, founder and CEO of PMVG, added: “As a platform for NextGen testing and development, this demonstration site will show how public media can continue to lead in delivering cutting-edge content and services. We look forward to working with WCTE and RAPA to experiment with the ATSC 3.0 features that can benefit all public stations and their communities.”

“DigiCAP is proud to be part of this significant initiative that will showcase the capabilities of NextGen TV, from enhanced emergency alerting to targeted education services,” said Joonyoung Park, DigiCAP SVP. “The launch of the testbed exemplifies the power of international collaboration and demonstrates how technology leaders and innovative broadcasters can come together to drive the future of broadcasting.”

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ADTH NextGen TV Box

Atlanta DTH (ADTH) announced today that shipments of ADTH’s NextGen TV Box began this week.

“This is a landmark moment both for us and for our development partner, Tolka,” said Ivy Shou, president of Atlanta DTH. “The ADTH upgrade accessory receiver is not only fully certified with the NextGen TV logo but also verified for content security. This assures that consumers will get the best possible experience at home, enjoying the outstanding advantages of NextGen TV channels in 70 markets across the USA.”

Shou added: “The ADTH NextGen TV Box packs a huge amount of processing power and versatility into its compact dimensions and makes UHD TV reception easier than ever. It is also the first set-top box to support A3SA digital rights management. Our product and software development teams have managed to achieve this at a very affordable price point.

“We were honored to be recognized by the Pearl TV industry organization and its certification associate, Resillion, as one of the first vendors to produce officially certified NextGen upgrade accessory receivers.”

The ADTH NextGen TV Box allows ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV and ATSC 1.0 free-to-air television programs to be viewed on any IP-compatible TV display. Housed in a compact unit designed to fit beneath or alongside the display, it comes with ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 support, Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi, HDMI, S/PDIF digital audio, and RCA connectors.

A range of features are supported including an electronic program guide and parental controls. Dolby AC-4, audio description and closed captions can be activated to support viewers with impaired hearing.

Orders for the ADTH NextGen TV Box can be placed via ADTH’s website. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $119.99.

A3SA digital rights management is being promoted by the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority which was established by the major networks and broadcast groups in consultation with the Consumer Technology Association. It is designed to protect content producers and broadcasters from disruptive program piracy.

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Switching on the new transmission standard are Sinclair’s WUCW (CW); Hubbard’s KSTP (ABC); CBS’s WCCO (CBS); Fox’s KMSP (Fox); and Tegna’s KARE (NBC.

The launch and new transmission standard was commemorated today at an event hosted by the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, and Pearl TV with broadcast executives, government officials, and university students as the stations switch on the new transmission standard.

Jerald Fritz, executive vice president for Sinclair’s ONE Media subsidiary, said: “As a vanguard in developing and deploying this revolutionary technology across the country, Sinclair Broadcast Group is proud to be the host station for this collaborative effort with other local broadcasters. Together we are enabling Minnesotans to experience all that the digital world of TV and data services has to offer.”

Coinciding with the launch of the new service, the NAB will announce at the event that the Hubbard School will become the host for its next PILOT Next Generation TV Fellowship. The NAB, and its PILOT program, are dedicated to advancing broadcast technologies and cultivating new media opportunities.

“Today we are delighted to announce that the University of Minnesota will become a host school for the PILOT Next Generation TV Fellowship. First launched two years ago, the fellowship is an immersive program designed to educate and introduce students to television broadcasting through practical experience. The program provides hands-on application development to four students from each of our host schools to leverage the capabilities of the next-generation broadcast TV standard,” said NAB Senior Vice President John Clark, emerging technology executive director of PILOT. “Students and faculty participating in this experiential fellowship will spend eight months working with industry experts to conceptualize and develop an ATSC 3.0 application or service and demonstrate it at NAB Show, the premier trade show serving the media and entertainment industry.”

NextGen TV, a free over-the-air service, is the first major overhaul to the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s standard for receiving over-the-air signals in 25 years. Now broadcasting in more than 70 markets, NextGen TV is expected to reach over 75% of U.S. television households in 2023.

A feature built into select new TV models manufactured by Hisense, LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony, NextGen TV is widely available to consumers at retail across more than 100 models, starting at $599. While features may vary by device and broadcaster as commercial service expands in local markets, NextGenTV is designed to be future proof, enabling a viewer’s television set to advance with technological improvements.

The first NextGen TV certified upgrade accessory receiver from ADTH and powered with Tolka software is now available for order at an introductory price of $89. This device will soon be followed by a set-top box from Zinwell, available later this fall, adding to the growing market of affordable set-top products to help more viewers transition to NextGen TV service.

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Switching on the new transmission standard were CBS’s KYW (CBS) and WPSG (CW); ABC’s WPVI (ABC); NBC’s WCAU (NBC); Fox’s WTXF (Fox); and Univision’s WUVP (Univision)., channel 65).

A feature built into select new TV models manufactured by Hisense, Sony, LG Electronics and Samsung, NextGen TV is widely available to consumers at retail across more than 100 models, starting at $599. While features may vary by device and broadcaster as commercial service expands in local markets, NextGen TV is designed to be future proof, enabling a viewer’s television set to advance with technological improvements. The first NextGen TV certified upgrade accessory receiver from ADTH and powered with Tolka software will soon be available at retail, as a low-cost option for viewers across the country, including in Philadelphia.

NextGen TV, a free, over-the-air service, is the first major overhaul to the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s standard for receiving over-the-air signals in 25 years. Now broadcasting in more than 65 markets, NextGen TV is expected to reach 75% of U.S. television households in 2023.

LTN is enabling the video transport between the contributing Philadelphia stations. Using the LTN Network, a proprietary multicast IP transport network, it ensures that each station’s content is sent to the NextGen transmitter with the highest reliability and lowest latency.

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PMVG has already made significant strides in leveraging the power of NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) to amplify public media’s reach and engagement. With this investment, the group is poised to take on even greater activity and innovation to serve the local communities reached by its 118 public television stations, encompassing a remarkable 235 million people.

Knight Foundation’s support will boost PMVG’s efforts to foster innovation and sustainability in the sector by pioneering initiatives designed to “strengthen the bond between public media and its audience.” Through NextGen TV, stations will be able to deliver enriched public interest content tailored to their communities. This includes local news and public affairs programming, interactive experiences and crucial geo-targeted emergency information.

Under this initiative, PMVG will collaborate with Information Equity Initiative (IEI), a nonprofit organization that leverages television spectrum to deliver customized digital content to homes and facilities that lack access to the internet. IEI’s work includes K-12 education, educational initiatives for individuals experiencing incarceration and public health applications with a focus on communities where broadband is inaccessible, unaffordable, or unreliable.

Marc Hand, PMVG CEO, said: “This is a significant endorsement of the work of PMVG and the importance of the ATSC 3.0 platform, as well as other technologies, by the Knight Foundation. This will enable PMVG to work with public stations, technology companies and application developers to ensure that the transition to this platform brings the full range of benefits to local communities. As media and content distribution technologies continue to change rapidly, PMVG will bring collaborations with a broad range of technology companies to future focused developments that are essential for public media. We are deeply appreciative of this support and endorsement by Knight, reflecting the leadership role the Foundation plays in building strong and sustainable local media.”

Erik Langner, CEO of IEI, said: “America’s public media broadcast infrastructure reflects decades and tens of billions of dollars of investment. It is a reliable, virtually ubiquitous resource that is currently underutilized. Working in collaboration with PMVG, we can deploy new services that leverage public media’s broadcast spectrum for the customized delivery of digital information with a special focus on those without steady internet access. Our solutions can be delivered in months, not years.”

“Ensuring that public media is able to adapt to new technology is a critical part of ensuring communities are informed and engaged,” said Jim Brady, Knight’s vice president of journalism. “That’s why we’ve invested in PMVG’s efforts to develop and deploy NextGen TV. It will allow public news stations to better serve their tens of millions of users.”

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“As ATSC 3.0 deployments accelerate across the U.S., we’re on a mission to enable more efficient NextGen TV delivery and superior viewing experiences,” said Jing Zhou, Harmonic director of broadcast solutions. “Our collaboration with DigiCAP demonstrates how Harmonic is leading the charge for ATSC 3.0 innovation and showcases our continued commitment to the broadcast community.”

The new solution enables Harmonic’s XOS media processor to receive real-time feedback from DigiCAP’s DigiCaster. By creating an interactive connection between the DigiCaster packaging, signaling and scheduling systems, the solution “allows broadcasters to dynamically fine-tune statmux bit rate allocations based on available bandwidth within the ATSC 3.0 physical layer pipes,” the companies say. The advanced solution supports both real-time and non-real-time data transmissions.

“The Harmonic-DigiCAP collaboration provides broadcasters with a solution to utilize the ATSC 3.0 spectrum much more efficiently,” said Sang Jin Yoon, DigiCAP senior vice president of business development. “DigiCAP products are deployed in ATSC 3.0-enabled stations throughout the United States, and this new solution will fuel even more NextGen TV deployments.”

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Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, said: “The addition of Zinwell to the stable of manufacturers producing certified receivers is terrific news, bringing to six the total number of companies now producing NextGen TV receivers for the home. We’re excited that Zinwell’s first receiver will be in the market for the holiday season, the second such upgrade accessory receiver available for consumers. Thousands of television sets with NextGen TV electronics inside are now being sold each day and we anticipate a robust market for affordable upgrade accessory receivers for existing displays in viewers’ homes. The TV industry is eager to promote the advantages of NextGen TV — including enhanced audio and video — and the addition of another NextGen TV certified manufacturer will expand options for consumers.”

By the end of 2023, Pearl TV expects U.S. consumers to have purchased more than 10 million certified NextGen TV television sets and anticipates strong interest in upgrade accessory receivers that could bring the advantages of NextGen TV broadcasts to any television with an HDMI connection.

The NextGen TV certification program was developed in concert with broadcasters to ensure that viewers are receiving and displaying the full capabilities of NextGen TV service from local stations. NextGen TV certification services and tools are provided by Resillion (formerly Eurofins Digital Testing) on behalf of the Consumer Technology Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, which joined forces in 2019 to launch the innovative logo program.

Paul Wu, Zinwell VP of sales and marketing, said: “We greatly appreciate the efforts made by Pearl TV, the Consumer Technology Association, the National Association of Broadcasters, and Resillion in promoting the NextGen TV standard nationwide. I am proud of our team and our close collaboration with Pearl TV in obtaining NextGen TV certification. We have a robust internal research and development team dedicated to the development of ATSC 3.0 products. We offer a diverse range of ATSC 3.0 products catering to different market segments, including entry-level and high-end versions.

“Our products will be available in the market in the fourth quarter of this year. In addition to ATSC 3.0 set-top boxes, our ZAT series also features remote education functionality and emergency alert systems, making it more powerful than the most advanced ATSC 3.0 set-top boxes. Its versatile applications extend from home use to schools, institutions, and public service environments.

“In addition to its product development capabilities, Zinwell provides excellent quality and cost-effective solutions through its advanced and highly automated manufacturing facilities located in multiple locations. Established in 1981, Zinwell is committed to the research and manufacturing of consumer electronic products and has always been a trusted long-term OEM/ODM partner, dedicated to growing together with customers in the new era of ATSC 3.0,” Wu said.

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Switching on the new transmission standard were Sinclair’s WSBT (CBS and Fox); Gray Television’s WNDU (NBC) and WSJV (H&I); Michiana Public Broadcasting’s WNIT (PBS); and Family Broadcasting’s WHME (independent).

Launch in South Bend follows a decade of development and months of planning and preparation by the local stations. WSJV, which is owned by Gray Television, has converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions. WSJV will broadcast its own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in NextGen TV format. All programming of all participating stations will continue to be available in the existing digital format, which can be received on all modern television sets.

BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the five television stations. BitPath will make its NavPath and BitPoint precise navigation and positioning services available at no charge to Indiana’s first responders.

Antenna viewers without NextGen TV sets can simply rescan their TV sets to ensure uninterrupted service. Rescan instructions are available at fcc.gov/rescan. Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.

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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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An aggressive roll-out plan is in the pipeline, as the joint venture aims to extend its network to all 300 television stations currently served by Ark.

“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, Ark CEO.

Leveraging NextGen TV spectrum, the joint venture hopes to bring a plethora of applications ranging from citizen safety, IoT management, Smart City services, digital signage, to interactive applications. The network is initially launching dozens of these applications in 10 markets, with plans to expand to cater to the needs of cities and communities across the country.

The companies said the platform “fosters the spirit of innovation and agility, enabling the quick and robust development of applications on-demand.”

“In the explosive and rapidly changing world of AI-based digital solutions, the Mobius platform brings light-speed capabilities to envision, engineer and launch applications leveraging the NextGenTV network,” said Chandra Kotaru of Gaian.

“You think of an app, we deliver the app,” Kotaru added. “On-demand IT is the future, and we are proud to bring such bleeding-edge technology to the NextGenTV industry.”

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The GatesAir transmitters will replace legacy Harris Platinum VHF transmitters at WBIQ Birmingham and WDIQ Dozier, with integrated Maxiva XTE exciters to enable quick ATSC 3.0 conversions in the field. The VAXTE for WBIQ was specified to support an approved power increase for ATSC 1.0 and future ATSC 3.0 coverage improvements, raising WBIQ’s ERP from 3 kW to 3.4 kW; WDIQ will continue to transmit at 30 kW. Both stations broadcast on VHF ch. 10.

The Dielectric antenna will replace a decades-old antenna for WIIQ’s ch. 19 frequency serving the Demopolis region, with reach into the Meridian, Miss., market. The replacement antenna adds a substantial vertical polarization element to improve indoor reception of both ATSC 1.0 content and NextGen TV services powered through the ATSC 3.0 standard in the future. Dielectric’s “Future Fill” technology is built into the antenna, which will allow WIIQ to support ATSC 3.0 services through a simple increase to the antenna’s null fill, smoothing out the antenna for uniform NextGen TV coverage.

TSG’s scope of services for all stations includes initial systems design and specification, decommissioning of existing systems, equipment procurement, installation, testing, commissioning and proofing, according to TSG CEO Bo Hoover. The final RF system upgrades follow TSG’s buildout of APT’s new statewide ATSC 3.0-ready microwave distribution system, and transmission system upgrades at several RF sites. Following these final RF upgrades, APT’s entire nine-station network will be capable of delivering NextGen TV content.

“We don’t know when yet, but we will hit the ground running once our NextGen TV plans come to fruition,” said Windell Wood, director of engineering, Alabama Public Television. “TSG’s exceptional work on our microwave system enable the IP system architecture required for ATSC 3.0, and all nine of our stations will soon have antennas with approximately 30 percent vertical polarization. That, along with new high-efficiency transmitters, will provide a robust and reliable ATSC 3.0 capable transmission network for our stations well into the future.”

Hoover worked closely with the GatesAir engineering team to specify VAXTE design for WBIQ’s power increase, which required proper alignment with a previously installed Dielectric antenna. “The FCC locks WBIQ into a lower power level to avoid interference with channel 9, which makes indoor reception a challenge,” Hoover said. “Through the approved power increase and an elliptically polarized antenna, we were able to specify a system that improves ground coverage for both ATSC standards.”

All nine stations will feature GatesAir transmitters and Dielectric antennas once installations are finalized. “We only have seven field engineers throughout the state to take care of nine TV transmitters and 30 microwave sites, among other responsibilities,” Wood said. “GatesAir Maxiva UHF and VHF transmitters are very similar in construct, with modular designs and common parts that make maintenance easy. There are no surprises for our engineers from site to site. And Dielectric’s antennas are very well-built and engineered. We have had other antennas burn up in the field that required emergency replacement work. That doesn’t happen with Dielectric.”

Wood is currently exploring the addition of a tenth TV station on the network, which would be APT’s first low-band VHF station on the network.

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Working in collaboration with Pearl TV’s FastTrack program, Tolka Telecommunications Corp. ensured that the ADTH NextGen TV Box met the requirements of the Consumer Technology Association NextGen TV logo program and the expectations of ATSC 3.0 TV broadcasters. Designed for use with household TV receivers, set-top boxes, in-car receivers, mobile phones, tablets or computers, the Tolka ATSC 3 Stack enables television viewers to experience NextGen TV free-to-air television programs on Android and Linux platforms.

Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV consortium, said: “On behalf of the nation’s broadcasters who are spearheading the introduction of NextGen TV channels throughout the country, we delighted to recognize Tolka for its expertise in developing a software stack that can power the ADTH upgrade accessory receiver comments. The TV industry is eager to promote the advantages of NextGen TV — including enhanced audio and video — and the addition of an affordable set-top device with the official NextGen TV certification opens new avenues for broadcasters and for the millions of viewers looking for an easy upgrade solution. It’s as simple as connecting the power, an antenna and an HDMI cord with the new ADTH device. And this is just the first of several products that are coming for viewers who are hoping upgrade to enjoy the enhanced NextGen TV experience.”

NextGen TV certification services and tools are provided by Resillion (formerly Eurofins Digital Testing) on behalf of the CTA and the NAB which joined forces in 2019 to launch the logo program. “We congratulate ADTH and Tolka for being the first accessory device to be certified NextGen TV,” says Dr. Bob Campbell, Resillion director of engineering. “The NextGen TV logo is essential to maximize device sales, demonstrating compliance to the standards and giving consumers confidence in a product, and we hope to support many more to carry the mark in the coming months.”

“We would like to thank Pearl TV, the Consumer Technology Association, the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters and Resillion for their efforts in promoting NextGen TV as a major step in the advancement of broadcast television standards across the USA,” said Alex Day, Tolka Telecommunications’ vice president of business development. “NextGen TV offers a major advance in terms of viewer experience including 2160p 4K video resolution, 120 Hz frame rate, high dynamic range, wide color gamut and cinema-quality audio. It is already accessible in 60 percent of homes across the U.S.A. and expected to reach 75% of American viewers by December of this year.”

The ADTH NextGen TV Box allows ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV and ATSC 1.0 free-to-air television programs to be viewed on any IP-compatible TV display. Housed in a compact unit designed to fit beneath or alongside the display, the ADTH NextGen TV Box comes with ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 support, ethernet, Dual-band Wi-Fi, HDMI, S/PDIF digital audio and RCA connectors. A wide range of features are supported including an electronic program guide and parental controls. Dolby AC-4 Dialogue Enhancement, audio description, and closed captions can be activated to support viewers with impaired hearing.

The ADTH NextGen TV Box is scheduled to ship in July and is available now for pre-order on ADTH’s website. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price  for the NextGen TV receiver is $119.99 and it is available for pre-order at the discounted price of $79.99 for a limited time.

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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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Speaking on the panel “Monetizing NextGen Broadcast” moderated by TVNewsCheck Editor Michael Depp, Sinclair President-CEO Chris Ripley said he was happy with the FCC’s announcement Monday that it will create several task forces to assist broadcasters in completing their voluntary transition to 3.0, particularly with launch difficulties in some remaining large markets.

“We need a little bit of a push here from the FCC to finish off this transition,” Ripley said.

Ripley would also like to see the FCC take a leadership role in “signaling to the marketplace” that the transition will happen by announcing a sunset date for 1.0 and tackling the thorny issue of the substantially similar rule. That de-facto simulcasting requirement currently results in the new 3.0 stations in a market cramming together to share a single channel, with each getting only about 4 to 5 megabits per second total to play with.

“We think datacasting is an incredible opportunity for the industry that will be unlocked by ATSC 3.0,” said Ripley. “The reality of where we sit today is there is not a lot of excess spectrum available when every lighthouse [station] is burdened with all four affiliate businesses. That’s why the taskforce and getting to the sunset window is an important milestone. We believe revenue will start flowing through the datacasting marketplace as early as 2024, and we need to start that and build on that so we can diversify our revenues as an industry over time.”

Pat LaPlatney, president and co-CEO of Gray Television, noted that the FCC did a great job in “shepherding” the launch of 5G for wireless carriers. “We feel we need that same support for our industry,” he said.

Low-Bandwidth, High Value

Sinclair and Nexstar have been pursuing datacasting applications that don’t require many bits but still have high value through BitPath, their datacasting joint venture. Last year BitPath demonstrated several B-to-B applications for 3.0 including enhanced GPS services to provide better accuracy for utility and industrial applications and IoT device control that would let utilities communicate with HVAC systems during times of peak demand (perhaps suggesting a customer turn down their AC in exchange for a discount).

At the Wynn hotel this week BitPath was demonstrating a new B-to-B app, using 3.0 to distribute machine learning (ML) models from the cloud to intelligent devices at the edge that don’t have a full-time IP connection. Those ML models could be used to update predictive analytics in a smart sensor at a factory, or to send an image of a missing person to a security camera.

“That’s an asymmetric communication where you have big downloads and small uploads, and that’s a perfect use case for 3.0, where it can do something more efficiently than the current wireless infrastructure,” Ripley said.

Scripps has been working closely with Nexstar over the past year on datacasting, said E.W. Scripps President-CEO Adam Symson, and has just completed a core datacasting network in four contiguous markets. But while several broadcasters (including Nexstar) have pointed to a years-old BIA study that suggested datacasting revenues for the industry could approach $15 billion by 2030, Symson sought to downplay any near-term financial expectations.

“That is technically live, and we’re in the stages now of determining what that marketplace is worth,” Symson said. “You’re not seeing it on our earnings calls or press releases, because we have to make sure we’ve got an actual marketplace developed.”

Distributing data to automobiles, such as software updates, is another attractive opportunity for 3.0. Delivery of data files to automobiles, as well as live TV reception at highways speeds, has been extensively tested at the “Motown 3.0 Test Track” in Detroit developed by Pearl TV and managed by Scripps ABC affiliate WXYZ. But developing that as a business is still probably years away, as it first would require a national core network as well for slow-moving auto manufacturers to deploy 3.0 receivers in millions of cars.

“We’ve got to have the core network ubiquitously deployed,” Symson said. “We’ve got the core network up and running in four markets. That’s terrific. But that’s not going to compel Mercedes in four markets to suddenly start selling cars with different chips. So there’s an order of things that have to happen, and they’re happening. But there are other industries that I can see with fewer endpoints, whether it’s energy, agriculture, or IoT, where you don’t have to go through the process of selling to the consumer millions of cars for there to be an ROI.”

Defining The Marketplace

Ripley said enhanced GPS is likely to be the first source of datacasting revenues. That same prediction was made by BitPath COO Sasha Javid in a briefing at the Wynn on Monday evening, where he demonstrated how a small 3.0 transmitter could be used to send an updated ML model (in this case, a headshot of this reporter) to a smart camera running facial recognition software.

While the ML “backplane” application is brand new, Javid said Bitpath has been working steadily on the “NavPath” enhanced GPS application with a utility customer in Oregon who wants to use it to track natural gas leaks. That included running a commercial trial in Portland, Ore., last summer that replicated initial testing BitPath conducted in Washington, D.C.

The prospective NavPath customer was impressed by the low latency of the data delivered via 3.0 as well as its robust receivability, Javid said. Not only was the 3.0 signal received easily in downtown Portland, where urban canyons can interfere with cellular and satellite reception, but it was also received south of Salem, Ore., at a distance of up to 75 miles away. BitPath is working with the prospective customer on ruggedizing the enclosure for the NavPath receiver and hopes to have it finished and in the field by year-end.

Both NavPath and the ML application only require fractions of a megabit to operate, with a total payload of a few hundred kilobits at most including the overhead of robust modulation/coding. That is essential given the current spectrum realities, Javid said.

“We’re focusing on applications that are viable in the world we’re living in today and probably still in 2027, which are low-data-rate applications, high value, and maybe not a nationwide network,” he said. “And we’ve got to focus on those.”

The post 3.0 Data Revenues To Start Trickling In Next Year appeared first on TV News Check.

“Today, we are announcing a public-private initiative, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, to help us work through outstanding challenges faced by industry and consumers” Rosenworcel said during a speech Monday. “This Future of Television initiative will gather industry, government, and public interest stakeholders to establish a roadmap for a transition to ATSC 3.0 that serves the public interest. A successful transition will provide for an orderly shift from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 and will allow broadcasters to innovate while protecting consumers, especially those most vulnerable.”

The initiative will be composed of three working groups. The first will focus on smoothly escorting consumers through the transition. ATSC 3.0 already is up and running in 66 markets covering 60% of the U.S., although very few consumers own NextGen TV-compatible TV sets or set-top boxes.

“ATSC 3.0 is not backwards-compatible,” Rosenworcel said. “To move forward, we need a solution. We can’t saddle consumers with unworkable sets.”

The second working group will focus on completing the transition to NextGen TV. “What are the conditions we need to put in place to get to the other side?” Rosenworcel said.

And the last will consider what the rules should be post-transition. “When we reach the future, we’re going to need clear rules and a clear understanding of how they fit into the overall environment,” she said.

The initiative will include representatives from the broadcast and consumer electronics industries, public interest advocates, and government representatives.

The FCC adopted rules in 2017 to support a voluntary, market-by-market rollout of ATSC 3.0, which first became available in 2020 in Las Vegas. Rosenworcel is proposing a rule-making that would update those conditions and propose more permanent rule changes around multicasting, simulcasting and other broadcast technologies.

“I applaud the fact that the FCC heeded our call on this,” said NAB President-CEO Curtis LeGeyt to reporters on Monday. “We were really focused on what the FCC could do externally. The reality is that this can’t work without us being hand-in-hand with the consumer electronics industry. It can’t work unless we continue to be accessible to viewers across the country. Our competitive advantage is that we reach our viewers via a free over-the-air signal rather than through an intermediary. We aren’t going to jeopardize that access.”

The post FCC To Partner With NAB On NextGen TV-Focused ‘Future Of Television’ Initiative appeared first on TV News Check.

Sinclair said: “As an innovative distribution industry, U.S. broadcasters, including commercial and non-commercial station operators, have deployed NextGen Broadcast service to date across the U.S. in 69 markets covering over 60% of the country’s population. Many more deployments are on schedule for this year. Linking those markets and stations to allocate data capacity efficiently among potential data customers is essential in establishing broadcasting as a competitive data distribution platform. That is the purpose of this Core Network.”

In anticipation of providing a Data Distribution as a Service (DDaaS) platform, Sinclair established several joint ventures and strategic relationships with some key technology partners in the U.S., Korea and India. Working with Sinclair, these partners are designing, building and deploying this sophisticated DDaaS platform infrastructure.

Those relationships include CAST.ERA, a joint venture with SK Telecom, the South Korean, global-leading, Information Communications Technology company, which brings its sophisticated experience to infrastructure development. SK Telecom will be providing its advanced mobile edge computing technology, “Petasus Media,” to the project. Sinclair will also rely on Saankhya Labs in India, which will contribute to the broadcast Core Network and provide wireless technology to the new DDaaS platform.

Designed and built to exploit the uniquely efficient “one-to-many” architecture of broadcasting, this NextGen IP data platform will serve many diverse use cases, Sinclair said. Those will include large-scale software updates for “edge-heavy” industries like building/industrial automation, automotive and critical infrastructure. Data can be accurately and seamlessly distributed across diverse local/regional/national markets and delivered via broadcast spectrum using low-band channels, propagating further and penetrating buildings better than other wireless bands.

Data distribution companies or Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) seeking a cost-efficient supplement to perform data off-loading from traditional unicast cellular service will find this data distribution platform to be a needed complement to their IP data distribution tools. Spectrum providers, such as BitPath, will be able to utilize the DDaaS platform to monetize their spectrum in a way that is not currently possible in today’s decentralized and unconnected TV broadcast architecture.

As an example, providers of data services to vehicles will be able to deliver software updates simultaneously to an infinite number of IoT devices in their smart vehicles to update software for new functionality, infotainment, bug fixes, and navigation. Safety updates can be delivered within hours, not days. Services can be provided to hundreds of thousands of devices instantly and simultaneously with no slowdowns since broadcast architecture is not subject to cell phone network bottlenecks.

Notably, Sinclair said, the platform is designed to enhance Advanced Emergency Information significantly by enabling region-wide connectivity for this critical public interest service that can provide robust connectivity where other communications systems may fail, especially during peak traffic times or in an emergency.

Last year’s Florida hurricanes are critical examples of the robust broadcast infrastructure. While over 2/3 of the cell phone network failed in and around Fort Myers during the category 4 Hurricane Ian (over 1,550 towers down), area-wide broadcast coverage remained in service. Of the 32 TV stations serving the Tampa market and another 14 in Fort Myers, only five suffered temporary outage.

All the remaining television broadcasters blanketed the area. Interconnecting these TV broadcasters using a data network will ensure that users with charged cellphones and vehicles equipped with NextGen reception capabilities will have access to evacuation routes, shelter locations, and emergency resource locations, all of which can be conveyed in multiple languages. NextGen Broadcast can save lives. This DDaaS network is intended to facilitate these critical services.

The sophisticated NextGen wireless backbone will incorporate new cloud technologies including SD-WAN (Software Defined Wide Area Network) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) orchestration. This will permit cooperating broadcasters to match available spectrum capacity dynamically with users’ data needs. This platform is also designed to allow customers’ data to be tracked, confirmed, and billed in an effective ‘least cost routing’ manner. This IP-centric platform will deliver committed bit rates 24/7 with no slowdowns regardless of usage. The backbone network will also provide a wide range of security, modulation, and coding options catering to specific applications and quality of service needs. This data platform can scale across various spectrum-enabled businesses including automotive services, aircraft/drone connectivity, first responder missions, distance learning solutions, and more.

As NextGen Broadcasting is deployed throughout the country, and other broadcasters see the value in participating in this business, Sinclair said it expects use of the platform to increase from local and regional services available in some markets now to nationwide services by 2024. To this end, Sinclair has created a new DDaaS business-related unit under Del Parks, President of Technology, to capitalize on these emerging opportunities.

Chris Ripley, Sinclair president-CEO, said: “Data Distribution as a Service is the inevitable next step in the evolution of broadcasting. It allows us to continue providing exceptional and enhanced video programming and, at the same time, repurpose the remaining capacity of our channels to meet the needs of data users nation-wide on market-disrupting terms. The service is part of our future. Building this platform is one of the necessary and exciting steps to that end.”

The post Sinclair To Build NextGen Data Distribution Core Network appeared first on TV News Check.

SpectraRep, a provider of datacasting solutions, applications and systems, today announced a strategic alliance with broadcast equipment supplier Heartland Video Systems and ATSC 3.0 gateway solution provider DigiCAP to support public television stations in their adoption of the ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) standard.

The alliance will leverage the deep broadcast experience of each company to provide public stations with guidance on the planning, budgeting, and integration of the ATSC 3.0 standard.

SpectraRep President Mark O’Brien expressed his commitment to the new alliance saying: “We believe ATSC 3.0 will revolutionize the broadcasting industry, and we share this vision with Heartland Video Systems and DigiCAP. Our companies have complementary expertise and extensive experience with public broadcasting, and we know the challenges and opportunities very well. Our combined effort will deliver a unique value to public television stations as they look to transition to ATSC 3.0 and enhance their broadcasting capabilities.”

Heartland Video Systems, a provider of broadcast equipment and solutions, will bring its expertise in broadcast engineering, integration and support to the alliance. DigiCAP, a South Korean company, specializes in solutions and equipment for the broadcasting industry, particularly for the emerging standard of ATSC 3.0. SpectraRep, a provider of emergency alerting through datacasting, will provide its expertise in ATSC 3.0 content delivery, including its IncidentOne solutions, which leverages the power of the digital television (DTV) network to deliver data to first responders at incident scenes.

“We value our deep personal and professional relationships with our friends in public television,” said Dennis Klas, Heartland Video Systems president. “We felt we could provide even better service by showing not only how, but why, public stations are critical to ATSC 3.0 success. Public stations need to be included as their markets transition to NextGen TV.”

In addition to expounding on the value around the transition to ATSC 3.0, the firms say that a significant goal of the alliance will be to help stations simplify hardware selection, system integration and datacasting services. With the help of the alliance, public stations will be assisted in finding lighthouse partners and paths to bandwidth monetization that will make ATSC 3.0 services faster and easier to implement.

“Broadcasting in ATSC 3.0 is only part of the challenge,” said John McCoskey, SpectraRep COO and former PBS CTO. “Identifying enterprise and commercial customers, ingesting, and managing proprietary data and managing those relationships is what SpectraRep has been doing in ATSC 1.0 for over 20 years. Improved reception, additional capacity and mobile applications are tools SpectraRep can leverage to improve existing customer relationships and identify new ones. We very much look forward to helping the industry move forward through this strategic alliance.”

Joonyoung Park, DigiCAP SVP, said: “South Korea has more experience with ATSC 3.0 than any country in the world. We have a great deal of knowledge and experience that will benefit public broadcasters on both the transmit and consumer device side, which we are excited to share.”

The companies said they will meet regularly to share expertise, relationships and outreach to improve public television’s awareness of, and access to, ATSC 3.0. One tool that is available for download now is: Twenty-Five Essential Considerations for ATSC 3.0 Conversions: A guide for public TV stations transitioning to ATSC 3.0. (Visit www.spectrarep.com and click on the Resources link to download.)

The post SpectraRep, DigiCAP, Heartland Video Systems Working To Accelerate 3.0 Adoption By Public TV Stations appeared first on TV News Check.

Using the new decryption functionality on StreamScope XM, broadcasters can transmit encrypted content in the ATSC 3.0 environment to better understand who their subscribers are and monetize NextGen TV services, while ensuring outstanding content integrity. The effort is part of Pearl’s FastTrack to NextGen TV program, to accelerate and streamline the path for adoption of NextGen TV technology. In addition, Triveni Digital and the A3SA security authority have agreed to a multi-year deal to enable the use of Triveni Digital’s GuideBuilder XM broadcast chain and StreamScope XM products in their testing and certification services.

“Encryption is a key requirement for delivering ATSC 3.0 services,” said Mark Simpson, Triveni Digital, president-CEO. “After a long collaboration with the A3SA security authority and under Pearl’s FastTrack umbrella, we are excited to bring this important capability to the broadcast television market. Triveni Digital is a leader in the development and deployment of NextGen TV technology, and adding broadcast decryption to our industry-leading StreamScope XM product line will help to accelerate the monetization of ATSC 3.0 services. We appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with Pearl TV to develop leading-edge NextGen TV technology for broadcasters.”

Triveni Digital’s StreamScope XM offers a suite of products for monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting complex DTV content, now with broadcast decryption and continuous transport stream recording capabilities available. Triveni’s GuideBuilder XM and Broadcast Gateway broadcast chain products are powering many NextGen TV deployments in the US and internationally.

Pearl has helped to create the security authority to develop protocols for securing ATSC 3.0 broadcast services leveraging the same tools that web-based content services use (i.e., IP-based encryption protocols, device certificates, and rights management technology) in conformance with the ATSC Security Standard for NextGen TV.

“As NextGen TV deployments grow in the U.S., protecting high-value television content is essential,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. “We’re excited to join forces with Triveni Digital and help to ensure that ATSC 3.0 content, services, and information is well protected and secure.”

Triveni Digital will demonstrate its StreamScope XM Analyzer and Monitor at the NAB Show, April 16-19 in Las Vegas at Booth W3251.

The post NAB Show: Triveni Digital Introduces ATSC 3.0 Test and Measurement Products With NextGen TV Broadcast Decryption appeared first on TV News Check.

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.”

The post NAB Show: Verance In Deals With Sinclair, Gray, Graham & Capitol To Increase Distribution Of ATSC 3.0 Applications That Drive New Revenue Opportunities appeared first on TV News Check.

Schelle, the managing director of the Pearl TV consortium, has promoted the new voluntary ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard that broadcasters, manufacturers and consumers are embracing. On April 18 at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, TVNewsCheck will recognize her for this effort with the Women in Technology Leadership Award.

Bringing all those disparate groups to the table required serious consensus building and perseverance.

Schelle says she helps those with different points of view find common areas of agreement. This was critical, she says, as she helped the industry build a new transmission standard that had to be adopted by the FCC, adopted by broadcasters, supported by manufacturers and accepted by consumers.

“I’m good at bringing together coalitions to make decisions,” she says.

Part of it is the fact that she understands the technology and its value and is able to articulate that in a simple way. “Whether it’s a broadcaster or a TV manufacturer or a regulator, what’s in it for them?” Schelle says. “I think about it as a value proposition that at the end of the day benefits the consumer.”

She says she has been fortunate to learn about technologies from the Pearl members who are “a bunch of Navy SEALs” with strong technology specialties.

“They know so much about a technology that I’ll never know. I’m curious and they teach me. They lead,” she says.

Schelle at the 2019 NAB Show announcing the launch of NextGen TV.

Working on the NextGen TV wasn’t the first time she’s used her consensus-building muscles. She’s previously brought groups together in digital wireless as well as with the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC).

John I. Taylor, SVP for public affairs and communications at LG Electronics USA, says he first saw Schelle’s ability to bring stakeholders together to advance a cause with the OMVC and later through Pearl TV and the NextGen effort.

“She’s a tireless advocate for the new standard and the benefits it’s going to bring” to broadcasters, equipment manufacturers and viewers, Taylor says. “NextGen TV wouldn’t be where it is today without her vision, without the creation of the Pearl TV group and advancing the cause of reaching across the industry to bring everyone together.”

Schelle, Taylor says, is not the kind of leader who only operates from the 90,000-foot level. “She has a vision as a leader at that level, but she is also really in the weeds. She knows the technology, she knows the business, and she is very adept at working with both engineers and corporate executives in making a compelling case for NextGen TV.”

Catherine Badalamente, president-CEO of Graham Media Group, says Schelle “gets the technology probably better than anybody else that I know” and understands how to have the “difficult technology conversations.”

In addition to understanding the technology, she says, Schelle understands how it can benefit the future of broadcast, mapping out a way forward for broadcasters through the NextGen effort.

“She’s figured out that world for us and allowed us to stay relevant in the game,” Badalamente says. “She sees the path forward better than anybody, and she’s relentless to make sure we stay on that path.”

And it hasn’t been easy, Badalamente adds. “I see her worry, just like I do. We need [NextGen TV] to be able to compete today so that we’re even in the game. And that has been her mission.”

Schelle at CES 2023 following a Pearl TV demonstration to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington (center) and ATSC Board Chair Richard Friedel.

Pat LaPlatney, co-CEO-president of Gray Television, says Schelle’s perseverance has helped push NextGen through a long process. “Early on, she saw that a this was going to be a long road,” he says. “She persevered. She found a way to get all the many different constituencies involved and invested. And when we had a setback, she never lost sight of the broader goal. For that reason, we’ve come a really long way in 10 years.”

And staying with a project that has taken so long could prompt some with lesser staying power to opt out, he notes. “It would be easy to say, ‘I’m done with it.’ But she’s got a ton of juice” and has brought energy and excitement to the journey. “She’s never lost an ounce of that over the years from what I can tell.”

And she also brought the right skills — including big-picture thinking — to the job, he says.

“She’s a wonderful blend of technologist, government relations person, with a really solid understanding of the media business,” LaPlatney says. “She’s not an engineer, but she absolutely understands the engineering, and she understands how the government works, and she understands the media business. There aren’t a lot of folks who really understand all three of those distinct areas and you really have to, to be effective in what she’s doing.”

As Schelle puts it, she’s worn a lot of hats to push NextGen and ATSC 3.0 from concept to reality and get buy-in from the various groups. “We did tests together, and we all tripped over the truth together. Each partner sees the benefit when you see the benefit.”

Currently, NextGen TV is at the rollout phase, which she calls the hardest phase and requires “delighting the consumer” with services being introduced. The marketplace started teasing NextGen TV technology to consumers during the 2020 CES (Consumer Electronic Show) with a number of TV models on offer.

“It wasn’t just one TV, it was 20 models from three manufacturers” that kicked off the marketplace, says Schelle, who enjoys hanging out with her daughters and taking family trips when she’s not consensus building for NextGen TV, and is on the board of noncommercial WYPR-FM Baltimore.

In 2021, Phoenix marked the first market to have a commercial NextGen station on air. “In Phoenix, we brought in an entire ecosystem. Ecosystems don’t happen overnight. It happens through collaboration,” she says.

The Phoenix rollout tested the reception of NextGen technology with consumers.

“Those two moments were validation of our ideas,” she says. “Innovation and progress can be complex, but this process we put in place worked, and it culminated in a real device that was being sold at retail to consumers.”

The whole project has been a big lift for broadcast, Schelle says, because NextGen is not backward compatible.

“It requires investment from broadcasters, it requires belief from the regulators to do it, it requires consumers to want it,” she says. “It’s completely voluntary. It’s voluntary for broadcasters to do it, voluntary for consumers to buy it, voluntary for manufacturers to make these devices.”

Schelle during an ATSC board visit to Jeju Island, South Korea, in 2018.

And while Schelle has had successes in her past, she’s also had some failure. She co-founded XDSL Networks and raised a lot of money, but when the market went sideways in 2001, she says, it imploded.

“We believed in the technology so much, but we didn’t see the marketplace. That was a real lesson for me,” she says. “It didn’t change the way I look at things, but I just got smarter.”

In order to win, she adds, “You’ve got to place bets. There are going to be some things that don’t work. That’s part of it.”

And, she says, for those entering the world of technology, it’s important to know that “if you haven’t failed at something, you’re going to fail at something.”

Those failures, Schelle says, can make you “a better businessperson, a better technologist.”

All through the long NextGen journey, Schelle says she has maintained a belief in the technology itself.

“I have a strong belief in the curiosity around technology and the passion for how it can transform consumer’s lives, and the good it can bring,” she says.

Read more about this year’s Women in Technology Awards here.

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The pilot program will provide free, over-the-air redundancy to emergency messaging currently sent by local governments via text, email. social media, and other system platforms. The broadcast platform will bring with it the efficiency of instantaneous and simultaneous delivery to all users. ONE Media 3.0, through Sinclair’s ABC affiliate WJLA, will also provide enhanced, rich media supplements to those emergency messages that meet its newsworthy criteria.

Initially, the pilot will focus on emergency messages from Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The pilot will be expanded to other area jurisdictions in coming months. The pilot program will initially use the facilities of WJLA’s sister station in Washington, WIAV-CD, and then migrate to WJLA with its broader reach.

The ATSC 3.0 over-the-air transmission standard enables an exceptionally advanced alerting and informing tool. Rather than simple text crawls across a TV screen that a tornado is approaching, for example, this new service will deliver a much more robust signal that can render real time doppler radar, weather images, evacuation routes, shelter locations, flood maps — and do it in multiple languages. Importantly, the messages can be geo-targeted to just the area affected by the emergency warning based upon inputs by the viewer. Not limited to weather emergencies, the new tool will be employed for virtually all emergencies including civil unrest, hazardous spills and AMBER Alerts.

This Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) can include both alerts and vital recovery information received on a wide range of enabled consumer devices and connected vehicles. According to ONE Media 3.0, “because TV stations operate independently of the cellular network and have back up power, they can continue to distribute emergency messages even when the cellular network and electric grids are down. While not a replacement for other alerting pathways, the new broadcast system dramatically enhances alerts with critical information and provides much needed redundancy.”

The AEI pilot is an outgrowth of the AWARN Washington, DC Roundtable, which brought together local TV broadcasters and emergency managers from across the National Capital Region. The discussions centered on the voluntary deployment of AEI using the NextGen platform and ways to continue COG’s longtime commitment to supporting emergency communications.

Scott Boggs, managing director, homeland security and public safety at COG, said: “The jurisdictions that we represent are always looking for more and better ways to inform the public during emergencies. We see NextGen AEI as a powerful new tool for both public warning and providing vital information for recovery after disaster strikes. Because it uses over-the-air broadcast signals, AEI can be especially effective for reaching underserved audiences.”

According to Jerald Fritz, ONE Media 3.0 executive vice president strategic and legal affairs, the pilot project is an opportunity to showcase the life-saving capabilities of NextGen Broadcast. “Sinclair and ONE Media 3.0 have developed an open-source broadcaster app that provides a range of new consumer services, with AEI being the most powerful from a public service perspective. Sinclair has made a huge investment in local journalism at our stations across the country. Working with the COG to voluntarily deploy AEI through the 7 News newsroom paves the way to extend our ‘first informer’ role to many more markets,” he said.

AWARN Executive Director John Lawson said the National Capital Region pilot is an extension of a dialogue at the national and grassroots levels between broadcasters and emergency managers in several regions. “Through our AWARN roundtables, we found that technology is only the front-end of the conversation. Just as important is developing the relationships between local stations and emergency managers to actually use the technology. The Washington AEI pilot is a testbed for both technical capabilities and the working relationships between broadcasters and emergency managers that are vital to keep the public safe,” he said.

Anyone in the WIAV (displaying on ch. 58) viewing area who has a NextGen TV set or a NextGen set-top converter box should be able to receive the emergency messages from WIAV. As other devices, including NextGen-enabled phones, are deployed, those too will benefit from this sophisticated new emergency tool, according to ONE Media 3.0.

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Last year’s show outperformed what were admittedly low expectations across the industry. It drew 940 exhibitors and 52,468 attendees and was hailed as a great social reunion for both broadcasters and their technology suppliers. With another year of reduced COVID-19 impact and no vaccination requirements for NAB 2023, vendors are feeling optimistic, despite uncertainty in the broader economy. But they don’t expect the show to immediately jump back to 90,000 attendees and 1,600 exhibitors, if ever.

“As far as bookings, it’s looking great,” says Dielectric VP of Sales Jay Martin. “I think there are more groups going than last year, but they’re sending less people. I know CES did a lot better than last year, and I think NAB will too, but nowhere near the historical numbers.”

Value-added reseller Advanced Systems Group is taking over 100 people to the show, “an astronomical number” for the 425-employee company, says ASG President Dave Van Hoy. It will be Van Hoy’s 44th NAB.

Dave Van Hoy

“I don’t have an open time slot between Friday and Tuesday night,” Van Hoy says. “The show is busy for us, and that’s a great sign. There are a lot of new products and technologies to talk about with both clients and vendors.”

Van Hoy is seeing some pullback from tech companies in the Silicon Valley area because of travel restrictions, but more New York and Los Angeles customers are making the trip.

“It looks like the participation rate of content creators will be very high,” Van Hoy says.

He sees cloud-based workflows and IP transport technologies like NDI and SRT as hot topics, along with “XR-type [extended reality] workflows” including AR and VR.

An Upward Trend

NAB currently has more than 1,000 exhibitors signed up and is expecting to land around 1,200 total, which would represent a 25% jump from last year. Total exhibit space will be up a similar percentage, rising from 500,000 net square feet last year to around 625,000 this year, says Chris Brown, NAB EVP and managing director of global connections and events.

Chris Brown

While some vendors have popped back to the same size booths they had in 2019, many are keeping a smaller footprint and choosing to invest marketing dollars in sponsorships or hospitality suites. Brown is already in discussions with the 50 biggest exhibitors about their 2024 space, and a few are looking to increase their footprints.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised there,” he says.

Attendance is pacing 16% above last year, with NAB expecting 62,000 to 65,000 total attendees. COVID’s impact kept international attendance down in 2022 to about 25% of the total. But international registrations are looking up this year, and currently represent 30%.

“We’re at just over 55 official delegations, which is a bigger number than we’ve had in a long, long time,” Brown says. “And we’re seeing Asian countries coming back with some pretty good delegations.”

Brown believes overall attendance will continue to grow, though he’s certainly not sure it will bounce back to pre-COVID levels by 2024 or 2025, if ever. And that may be just fine with many vendors.

“We had great feedback last year based on the dimensions of the show, where we had a number of vendors tell us this is great, these are the right people, this ratio of attendee to exhibitor really gives us a great chance to spend quality time with those people,” Brown says. “And we’re not all stressed out about standing in line for cabs and lunch and everything else.”

Focus On Content

Once again, the exhibition and companion conference will be organized into four “content pillars” with supporting theaters on the show floor: Create, Connect, Capitalize and Intelligent Content. “Create” will be spread among the North and Central Halls, while the other three pillars will all be in the spacious new West Hall.

Radio companies, which were spread among the three halls last year, have been consolidated in West this year. NAB has also created a “broadcaster district” in West, locating all of the meeting rooms and sessions relating to TV and radio managers there as well as its large member headquarters lounge. Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference sessions will be held in West as well.

“Everything for broadcasters centers in the West Hall, and we hope that creates better alignment and less confusion about where they should be,” Brown says.

But NAB attendees shouldn’t get too comfortable with the show’s current layout. NAB is losing use of the North Hall next year as the LVCC goes through renovations and will actually be moving part of its exhibition back into the South Hall for 2024 and 2025.

“So, we’re going to have a couple disruptive years there where we’ve got to slide things around a bit,” says Brown.

Last year was the first NAB where the exhibition ran Sunday to Wednesday, instead of Monday to Thursday. The initial premise was to bring some new attendees to the show, including West Coast professionals who could make NAB a short weekend trip.

NAB is keeping that schedule for 2024 based on initial feedback from attendees and exhibitors, which Brown characterized as mostly positive. He says early data shows the change drew some new attendees, though most vendors this reporter spoke with reported a slow Sunday. Brown says the change also helped better spread the traffic across four days, with Wednesday still holding onto about 40% of Monday’s traffic level. By comparison, Thursday used to have lighter traffic, at about 33% of Monday.

“We need to give it a three-year run to really see what trends really evolved from that,” Brown says.

Vendors Express Optimism

Sean Moran, COO of camera supplier Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, likes the new schedule and says Hitachi enjoyed better traffic from West Coast customers in 2022 than it had in the previous few editions.

Overall, 2022 traffic in Hitachi’s Central Hall booth “seemed a little light,” Moran says, particularly from European, Latin American and Asian customers. He is more optimistic about 2023 and is expecting a “good year, with good traffic flow.”

Like many vendors, Hitachi was impacted by supply chain problems in 2022. It was able to ship only 20% of orders due to shortages of components like sensors and capacitors.

The company struggled with cash flow until it was able to develop some new cameras designed around components it knew it could source, which allowed it to get product out the door. Delivery timelines have been cut from 120-150 days to 30-60 days, and Hitachi finished its 2022 fiscal year last month with a strong last quarter and met its financial quotas, Moran says.

Hitachi is unveiling several new products at NAB, including a 1080p camera that is upgradeable to 4K and super-slo-mo operation and a 4K box camera suitable for robotic installations. But the company will have a smaller booth than last year, and a much smaller booth than it did in 2019 — roughly one-half the size. Many vendors have downsized their booths due to broader changes in the industry, but Moran says Hitachi’s decision to go smaller was based on the limited impact the NAB’s hiatus from 2020-21 had on its orders. The company found other ways to market its products, including building a Los Angeles studio for virtual events.

“Our business didn’t skip a beat because of NAB,” he says. “It was no great loss for us we didn’t exhibit those two years.”

Barbara Spicek

Transmitter vendor GatesAir will be in a bigger booth in West Hall this year as it is exhibiting alongside Thomson Broadcast, which acquired it in August 2022. Almost 30 employees will be coming to NAB between the two companies, including new GatesAir CEO Barbara Spicek, a former NewTek executive. The booth will feature a full range of television, radio and digital audio broadcasting (DAB) products including an end-to-end demonstration of ATSC 3.0 that combines OTA and OTT streams.

Ray Miklius, GatesAir VP of EMEA sales, says the company is seeing good growth internationally from digital television conversions in Africa and Southeast Asia and DAB projects in Europe and the Middle East and has already booked key meetings for NAB.

“We’re expecting some significant international customers to come,” Miklius says.

Hot Topics: AI, AR, Cloud And 3.0

IP transport and content management vendor TVU Networks has doubled the size of its West Hall booth from last year. But at 20×20, it is still much smaller than the 60×60 space TVU occupied in 2019. That’s because customers place more value on conference room space for meetings than the show floor, says TVU CEO Paul Shen.

Paul Shen

With uncertainty in the economy and the lack of an election or big event like the Olympics, Shen is seeing some domestic customers pull back from traveling to NAB. But at the same time, he is seeing increased interest from international customers, particularly Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

“Last year, we hardly saw anyone from there,” Shen says. “As a whole schedule, we’re almost on par with last year.”

TVU used to exhibit in the South Hall, and Shen likes the proximity to cloud companies that West now affords. He says that given recent developments in generative AI, AI will be an important topic at NAB this year as broadcasters look to create content more quickly and at a lower cost. He notes that for several years TVU has been developing AI tools to accelerate the production process, such as AI-aided indexing.

“If you look at the entire media supply chain, from acquisition all the way to distribution, AI can do a lot of the work and make the production much more efficient,” Shen says.

Jeff Birch

CBS Television Stations will have a smaller contingent at NAB than last year, with about a half-dozen staffers officially attending and perhaps a few more coming at their own expense. That is due to tighter travel budgets, says CBS Television Stations VP of Engineering Jeff Birch, a predicament shared by other broadcasters.

Birch was fine with NAB’s schedule change last year, as he says “your weekend is shot anyway” with traveling to Vegas. But he notes the show floor was pretty quiet on Sunday.

“It will be interesting to see this year if Sunday is more populated,” he says.

A top priority for Birch is evaluating augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology for CBS stations’ studios, as he is a “little tired of spending big dollars on hard sets” that only last a few years before they start to look worn and need to be refreshed. He would like to see if AR/VR technology has advanced to the point where a station could go for “half a set in the virtual world,” with the rest remaining a traditional hard set. The comfort level of both talent and guests in working with AR will be a key consideration in employing the technology.

The second item on Birch’s hit list is 1080p HDR technology for master control operations as CBS continues to launch 3.0 broadcasts across the group. CBS stations are on-air in 3.0 in a half-dozen markets right now and Birch hopes to double that by year-end.

Right now, those stations are upconverting 1080i to 1080p. When the CBS network starts to eventually deliver programming in 1080p HDR, Birch wants to make sure they are ready to deal with it. Today most stations aren’t, as they don’t have the 3-gigabit HD-SDI routers required to move an uncompressed 1080p HDR signal around the plant. Commercial playout systems are also currently 1080i, so stations will have to upconvert local interstitials to make them seamless with the network feeds, just as they did in the early days of the HD transition.

“Once we get there, most of the plants are old enough that they cannot pass the 1080p signal,” Birch says. “So, we will have to build a parallel path, and we absolutely have to figure out the most efficient way to do that.”

A third technology focus for Birch is “a perennial favorite,” and that is field acquisition gear and contribution systems.

“How do I get material from the field on-air as fast as I can, while also giving us the greatest amount of visibility around the group?” he says.

Mike Kralec

Sinclair Broadcast Group will have more than 50 people attending NAB between its corporate staff and regional engineering managers. Evaluating new technology is important for the company as there is “transformation in flight” in several areas across Sinclair, says Sinclair CTO Mike Kralec. That includes transforming all its existing media operations as well as developing a data distribution business using the new ATSC 3.0 standard. (Sinclair is making structural changes as well, as on Monday the company announced a reorganization of its various businesses including broadcast, private equity and real estate assets.)

“There’s a significant amount of support required at Sinclair for how we transform the media operations and how we transform via 3.0,” Kralec says. “In general, I’m looking at how we can leverage any technology, whether it’s AI or cloud technology in general, to optimize our media operations, separate from the data distribution side of things.”

While there is a tremendous amount of technology change occurring, Kralec says, two things are clear: the cloud isn’t going away, and neither are local stations. Sinclair has already transferred its content ingest and archive functions to the public cloud and has been working to migrate playout there as well. The company is expected to have further announcements regarding its cloud development efforts at the show, and Kralec will be evaluating different components of future station architectures including network transport for ground-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground connectivity.

Kralec says the appeal of the cloud isn’t just about avoiding new capital expenditures on traditional on-premise hardware. It’s more about gaining the flexibility to quickly pivot the business to pursue new opportunities.

“If we need to stand up this live event quickly, is our station connected and able to handle that?” he says.

While some vendors have grumbled about the new Sunday-to-Wednesday schedule for the show, Kralec says the exact timing of NAB is irrelevant to him.

“I’m fully engaged for that entire period of time,” Kralec says. “It could be Tuesday through Friday, but it’s my only focus for those days.”

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Switching on the new transmission standard were ABC-owned KGO (ABC), CBS-owned KPIX (CBS), NBC-owned KNTV (NBC), Fox-owned KTVU (Fox), TelevisaUnivision’s KDTV (Univision) and Nexstar’s KRON (MyNetworkTV).

Launch of NextGen TV follows a decade of development and months of planning and preparation by the local stations. KRON has converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions and will broadcast its own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in NextGen TV format. All programming of all participating stations will continue to be available in the existing DTV format, which can be received on all modern television sets.

BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the six television stations.

Antenna viewers without NextGen TV sets can simply rescan their TV sets to ensure uninterrupted service. Rescan instructions are available at fcc.gov/rescan. Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.

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Switching on the new transmission standard were Hearst Television’s KCCI (CBS), Nexstar Media’s WHO (NBC), Sinclair Broadcast Group’s KDSM (Fox) and Iowa PBS’s KDIN (PBS).

Today’s launch in Des Moines follows a decade of development and months of planning and preparation by the local stations. KDSM, which is owned by Sinclair, has converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions and will broadcast its own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in NextGen TV format. All programming of all participating stations will continue to be available in the existing DTV format, which can be received on all modern television sets.

BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the four television stations. BitPath will make its NavPath and BitPoint precise navigation and positioning services available at no charge to Iowa’s first responders.

Antenna viewers without NextGen TV sets can simply rescan their TV sets to ensure uninterrupted service. Rescan instructions are available at fcc.gov/rescan. Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.

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Switching on the new transmission standard were Deerfield Media’s WHAM (ABC), Nexstar Media’s WROC (CBS), Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s WUHF (Fox) and WXXI Public Media’s WXXI (PBS).

Today’s launch in Rochester follows a decade of development and months of planning and preparation by the local stations. WUHF, which is owned by Sinclair, has converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions and will broadcast its own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in NextGen TV format.

All programming of all participating stations will continue to be available in the existing DTV format, which can be received on all modern television sets. BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the four television stations.

“Once again, broadcasters have launched ATSC 3.0 while preserving every free over-the-air service and without any disruption to cable and satellite viewers,” said John Hane, president of BitPath. “Stations have far exceeded the FCC’s requirements to protect viewers who rely on older digital TVs, while bringing improved television service to those with new ATSC 3.0 sets.

“In addition, the advanced digital broadcasting services we’ll be launching on ATSC 3.0 will help keep local broadcasting strong, while providing new, high value services to people, businesses, and public agencies – all without any compromises to television service. We’ve also committed to make our groundbreaking NavPath precise navigation service available for free to Rochester’s first responders. This is a win-win-win for viewers, stations, and the entire metro area.”

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To which John Hane says pshaw.

Hane, president and CEO of the BitPath NextGen consortium between Nexstar and Sinclair, says data leasing revenue could start rolling in within select markets or regions inside of the next year. He sees that the mountain NextGen TV has yet to scale is massive, but argues the progress made so far in lighting up new ATSC 3.0 markets is also considerable.

In this Talking TV conversation, Hane takes the measure of that progress, lays out the challenges still in front of the technology’s implementation, and ventures a guess as to when it will finally become a significant percentage of broadcasters’ bottom line.

Episode transcript below, edited for clarity.

Michael Depp: BitPath is a spectrum consortium between Nexstar and Sinclair built on ATSC 3 architecture to deliver data and create new revenue streams for TV broadcasters. So, how is that whole new revenue stream thing going?

I’m Michael Depp, editor of TVNewsCheck, and this is Talking TV. My guest today is John Hane, president and CEO of BitPath. We’ll be doing a check in with how far along BitPath has come in building its network, the challenges it continues to face in its growth and the biggest question of all: When, if ever, is ATSC 3 going to become a viable revenue stream for broadcasters? We’ll be right back with that conversation.

Welcome, John Hane, to Talking TV.

John Hane: Hey, Michael. Thanks for having me.

Good to see you. John, I wanted to talk about ATSC 3 and revenue right now because we’re coming up on the NAB Show in Las Vegas next month and checking in with NextGen TV is always an important part of the narrative at the show. I’m also supposed to be moderating a panel on NextGen revenue with a trio of station group leaders during the show, so there’s a good chance for me to do a little prep in advance. So, let’s check in with the situation. First of all, how many markets is Next-Gen lit up in now?

John Hane: In terms of number of markets, I don’t know. It’s well over 60% depending on how you count. People count differently, but 60% of the population in terms of markets, we have, I think as of the end of this month. We’re launching a top 10 market this month. We’ll have, I think, seven of the top 10. Something like 20 or 21 of the top 25 and 43 or 44 of the top 50. So, we’re filling in the gaps. I mean, there’s been a lot of activity. A lot of markets have launched. We’re still waiting for some big ones to pop, including one that we’re launching this month. But we’re continuing to roll out markets. We have markets on the rollout plan for every quarter of the year.

So, are you on schedule? Ahead? Behind?

We didn’t have a formal schedule for getting everything done because there’s no central management of this process. We’ve led the significant majority of BitPath, our team has led … and when I say led, I mean the people doing the work are the station groups. We’re just sort of nudging and providing some coordination services and helping figure out the hosting plans. But we’ve been involved in the great majority of the rollouts. Pearl has done a number of rollouts, including some of the big markets and others have sort of rolled out on their own without any sort of participation in either of BitPath or Pearl.

The industry is moving along. You know, I guess you can call it organically. We didn’t have a hard schedule. What I liked and, you know, I guess a good phrase is ‘how are we doing?’ Better than I expected, but not as good as I could have hoped for. I think we’re in a good place. We need to fill in these holes and the top 50, top 25 and especially in the top 10.

You know, as you get into the remaining large markets, they have various complicated issues that have to be worked through and they take time. And not everything is within all the players’ control. So, I’m highly confident that they’re going to be work out. I wish they were worked out, you know, now. But everybody in those markets that is planning to transition to 3.0 is working very hard on it.

You touched on a key issue there. There’s no central management of all this. So, that’s kind of one of the things that makes this very tough, isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

All right. Your consortium believes that data leasing is going to be ATSC 3’s real revenue superpower, right?

I think it is a real revenue superpower. So, you know, I did I was involved in retransmission negotiations for the first 10 or 12 years of that and since some of the major and groundbreaking ones. So, I’m very aware of the changes and the profile of advertising versus subscription revenue. And I think with 3.0, the television side is extremely relevant to that. I won’t go down that rabbit hole now, but I think it’s super, super important. And people who discount the importance of 3.0 to revenue on the core television side, I think are selling it short.

You have to look at two factors: what are the growth opportunities and what are the opportunities of 3.0 to sort of mitigate some of the headwinds that are in the existing business in particular as they affect the revenue streams. So yes, I do think on a bit-for-bit basis, there is no question that much higher revenue can be delivered per bit through data services, through non-traditional television data services. But I’m not discounting at all, you know, the revenue opportunity inside the core business.

Well, let’s stick to the one rabbit hole, though, OK? For the uninitiated, very briefly, can you explain how that works?

The way that we evaluate it is in order to provide wireless data services, you need a tremendous amount of infrastructure. You need management systems, you need devices, you need control systems. You need all of those things. Well, the highest cost items really are the RF infrastructure, the spectrum licenses, the towers. That is far and away the highest capital cost associated with providing wireless data services.

We have that in place. So, the way that we view it is we need to provision these participating stations to be able to provide ATSC 3 data, and that’s once you’ve switched over, it’s really fairly uncomplicated and we’re sort of building a playbook of how we do that in an effective way. Then you’re able to transmit, then you’re able to put data in.

You have to have devices, right? You have to have receiver devices in addition to the regular television sets. So, we’re working on that part, too, and we’ve developed a few core businesses that we intend to launch first that we think are compatible with where we are in the transition.

And we’re working on optimizing the way we get that data into the television stations. We have a plan operating now, and also how we sort of get the market for user devices going so that we can have customers for those services.

OK, but in order to capitalize on data leasing, you have to have these important things that fall into place. First, you need a national footprint of NextGen stations to light up and then they have to join your network, right?

You don’t need a national network for everything. You need a national network for some services. And ultimately the full realization of that potential is when you have a national network. But the services that we’re launching initially are services that don’t require the national network or national coverage. They’re services that are sort of more market-oriented to individual markets.

And those would be, if you think about one of our first target verticals is energy distribution. Those tend to be clustered in specific geographic regions. And they’re heavy users of certain kind of data and in particular certain kinds of data services. So, we can provision those. If you think about, I mean, here in the Washington, D.C., metro, Pepco, which will make electric power, is the big electricity provider. Our coverage in D.C. already covers substantially all of Cape Coast footprint in the region.

But to get the full potential and to have the national network in place, about how far along are you from realizing that?

Well, we have over 60% of the country covered.

I mean timewise. Are we talking a couple of years?

I think we’re clearly over halfway. I mean, if you’re talking about the long tail and getting down to market 200, you know, some of those are very difficult because many of them have only one or two stations. If it’s one station, you have to flash cut it. But to have a substantially complete nationwide network, you know, I think if we could get some regulatory certainty from the FCC, I could see it being done in two years.

And the biggest markets you mentioned before, they’re the toughest to launch, right? The most complicated?

Well, they have a sort of a unique set of complications. There are some things that are more difficult. Some of them have not been that difficult. Some of them are proving exceptionally difficult and they’ve just taken a lot more work.

And the second dynamic required to monetize data leasing, as I understand, is the companies that want to lease the data transfer services from you need to build these compatible receivers on their ends as sort of destinations for the data that they send.

Right.

How hard of an ask is that to make of those companies?

You know, I think it’s a hard ask today because the full coverage and the full network is not in place and that’s why we’re not waiting for that. We’re building our own receiver devices and the first services we launch will be our own branded services that we will provide directly. And we’re building and working on acquiring compatible devices for that service. So, we’re not going to wait for third parties.

And I think there’s a lot to be said for this approach. If we wait for others to come build devices to buy our services, I think we’re going to be waiting until everything is built. You have to prove that it works, and we know that it works. We’re proving it in the field. We’re building the devices. We’re showing very high value on some particular verticals. Are the devices optimal today? No, they’re not.

But we’re working very hard on getting better form factors, lower power requirements, moving closer to where we ultimately want to be for a really widespread consumer B2C and B2B set of customers throughout the economy, including end user retail economists, customers. We’re building the devices depending on how well that goes. You know, we could have paying customers early next year.

I hear what you’re saying about this incremental kind of market-based or regional-based implementation of this right now as a lead up to more national services. But all in all, there are some pretty complicated things that need to fall into place here for the cash register to start really ringing for broadcasters. What do you say to the critics or the skeptics who say this is all just too complicated and it’s never going to happen?

People that say this is too complicated are people who have not launched, you know, wireless data services and they’re sort of not familiar with the processes. The project steps, the way you finance these things, it’s an unknown. So, if I took somebody from satellite or mobile wireless and drop them at the NAB and some of them work in some of the sessions that seem very important and topical to everybody who listens to and watches this podcast, you know, they wouldn’t know what we were talking about, and it would seem all very difficult and arcane. But, you know, our staff is built of people who do this.

Our contractors and providers are people who do this. I’ve done this in the past. You know, these are known steps, right? It’s just a matter of us taking them out, execution and success in the marketplace. You know, those depend on a lot of factors. But knowing how to get from point A to point B, how to build a network, how to start before the network is fully built, how to sort of step into it methodically, those are known things.

OK, you are a true believer. Obviously, you are John the Baptist here. So, given that, when do you think the broadcasters are really going to see an ROI on this technology? When are we going to see it as a business line in the earnings reports?

On the on the data side, only separating that from the core business you asked me to do, I think so. When you say an ROI, I would say if you’re talking about the incremental cost of propagating data, for our initial services it’s very, very low. So, I think the ROI will be really good as soon as it starts, and I think it could start next year. We’re not going to burden the full cost of the transition in the first year or two on the first data services that we launch. But if you look at them on a on a bit-for-bit basis for the capital cost of setting those services up and for the operating cost of provisioning them and for the capacity overhead that we’re taking away from television, which by the way, for everything we’re planning for the next four years is trivial. You don’t have to stop any television service at all in order to accommodate this.

Now, BIA sort of famously projected that by 2030, revenue from NextGen datacasting could run between $6.5 and $15 billion for the industry. How many millions are you personally willing to bet on the accuracy of that prediction?

Well, I didn’t make the predictions, so I don’t want to bet on the accuracy. But I definitely believe the business falls somewhere in there.

Does the timeline sound right to you as well?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, so here are the things that we don’t have within our control. When we set up these transition rules with the FCC, they were not the rules that we wanted. They were a negotiated set of rules that had a lot of input from cable competitors, and we didn’t get everything we wanted. And even if we had gotten everything we wanted, it was impossible to know back then exactly how this would play out. Right. So, we’re sort of at the midpoint or better and we need some adjustments.

So, you’re asking for that FCC task force?

Well, we need a task force, and we need some relief on the hosting rules. The hosting rules have some fairly perverse consequences, given the way that things are rolled out, particularly with the growth of diginets. So, you know, we’ve we’re working with the [FCC] Media Bureau and with the commission. I’m not sure that they fully appreciate the urgency of this. The rule changes can’t or are not a sufficient condition to wrap this up quickly, but they’re clearly a necessary condition. They’re absolutely a necessary condition.

And I’ll give you an example. In the largest market, and we’re not managing that market, but in the largest market, there’s a particularly difficult problem. And the parties have come up with different solutions. And one of the solutions would require what, to my mind, would be a very inconsequential modification or waiver of the hosting roles. And I think the commission is very concerned about it and overthinking it. But that’s my perspective.

So, I think relief from the FCC could definitely ease things and speed them up. It’s not going to solve it. We have a lot of commercial business and technical and other issues that we have to tackle. But, you know, we’re way along the way when you have, you know, 21, 22 of the top 25, you have most of the top 50. We have a lot more going up, the 75 and even 100. You know, there’s been a lot of metal bends. I mean, we’re bending metal, right? This is happening.

Well, you may get a chance to buttonhole FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel next month, if you’re lucky.

I hope so.

Well, John Hane, it’s been good to check in with you and see you at the NAB show in April.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Thanks to all of you for watching and listening. You can catch past episodes of Talking TV on TVNewsCheck.com and on our YouTube page. We’ll see you next time. Thanks.

The post Talking TV: When Is NextGen TV Revenue Coming? appeared first on TV News Check.

But after the initial rush to get early “lighthouse” stations on air, NextGen TV’s momentum has slowed as broadcasters have run into delays launching in the biggest markets. There are still only four consumer electronics manufacturers making compatible TV sets — Sony, LG, Samsung and Hisense — and no accessory devices have yet been officially certified to receive NextGen TV signals. And some early set-top boxes with 3.0 tuners that did come to market have lost functionality as stations have begun encrypting their signals to provide copy protection for high-value content.

Task Force Sought

NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt and top station group executives including Nexstar CEO Perry Sook and Graham Media CEO Catherine Badalamente visited the FCC late last month to formally air their concerns about the rollout. An accompanying letter described a “stalled transition” and asked the FCC to both emphasize its support for the standard to CE manufacturers and create an ATSC 3.0 task force “to attack problems as they arise.”

The biggest problem, albeit not a new one, is a lack of available spectrum for both launching 3.0 in the biggest markets and fully exploiting the standard to offer new services in any market. That’s because unlike the 1.0 transition, broadcasters didn’t get any additional spectrum to launch 3.0, which the FCC deemed a voluntary standard.

Launching 3.0 first requires all the broadcasters in a market to work together to find a home for the existing 1.0 programming on one (or two) “lighthouse” station’s 6 Mhz channel, thus clearing it for 3.0 transmissions. This “channel-stacking” process is a complicated dance of shuffling the lighthouse station’s primary and secondary 1.0 program streams among multiple 1.0 “host” stations, with diginets from host stations sometimes switching sticks in order to create the most efficient 1.0 multiplexes across the market. In addition to some fancy engineering and investment in new MPEG-2 encoders, the process can also involve lengthy business negotiations between stations.

Jeff Birch

“It’s the same stumbling block in every market, and that’s divvying up the spectrum we’ve got to be able to accommodate everybody and all of their subchannels,” says Jeff Birch, VP engineering, CBS Television Stations. “And I’m not laying this at the FCC’s feet. In some of the markets, we’ve been able to make it happen, and it’s been a collective effort on the part of every broadcaster in every market.”

The channel-stacking problem is most acute in large urban markets, which tend to have both the most stations and the most diginets per station. Four of the top 10 DMAs—New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco—have yet to launch 3.0. Los Angeles and Dallas are on-air with 3.0, but without all of the “Big Four” networks.

“If you count up all of the program streams in the New York market and try to carve out enough space to get at least one or two ATSC 3.0 sticks, and move everything from those sticks elsewhere, the math doesn’t work,” Birch says.

Nonetheless, he is hopeful that at least one New York station will begin broadcasting 3.0 this summer, with at least some of the stations participating.

Persistent Spectrum Crunch

Dave Folsom

Once the 1.0 channel-stacking is complete in market, broadcasters still face a spectrum crunch with their new 3.0 product. That’s because all five or six stations involved are sharing one 6 MHz channel. Setting the modulation scheme of the 3.0 signal to replicate the existing 1.0 coverage in a market generally gives a total payload of anywhere from 24.5 megabits per second (Mbps) to 29 Mbps depending on a market’s characteristics, says Dave Folsom, CTO for broadcast consortium Pearl TV.

Most 3.0 markets on-air today are working with around 24.5 Mbps. That gives each station around 4.5 Mbps, enough to do 1080p/60 video with high dynamic range (HDR). Folsom says that is a meaningful improvement in picture quality over the 720p and 1080i SDR currently offered in 1.0, particularly given the efficiency of HEVC encoders from vendors like Ateme, Harmonic and Synamedia.

“That might sound like a low number, but remember, HEVC is four times more efficient than MPEG-2,” says Folsom, who adds that the 3.0 signals have superior receivability over 1.0 due to the improved multipath performance of COFDM modulation.

But 4.5 Mbps is not enough for the 4K HDR format offered by streaming competitors like Netflix as well as by broadcast networks themselves through their own apps, such as Fox Sports. Over-the-air 4K HDR would require at least 2.5 to 3x more bits for an acceptable picture, Folsom says, and perhaps more for live sports.

Different, But Same?

Broadcasters could differentiate their 3.0 product by offering unique content, but they face a regulatory constraint there as well. To protect the interests of both 1.0 viewers and cable operators, stations transmitting in 3.0 are required by the FCC to offer “substantially similar” programing on their 1.0 signal, a de facto simulcasting rule that sunsets this July but is expected to be extended by 3.0 insiders.

Joe St. Jean

“I think the FCC is going to extend it, and we think that’s the right thing to do, and I think they’re going to look to change that sunset date to something plus-three years or plus-five years, which makes a lot of sense for us, because with the volume of sets out there we certainly don’t want to drop the 1.0 audience on an OTA basis,” says Joe St. Jean, EVP technology policy and standards, Paramount. “We need to give it some time where everyone is starting to manufacture in 3.0 before you can even think about sunsetting [1.0]. And then of course, the cable folks will need to convert to 3.0 at some point if it’s going to be differentiated.”

Broadcasters aren’t prohibited by the “substantially similar” rule from offering the same programming in 4K on their 3.0 broadcasts, but with channel-sharing they don’t have the available bits to do so. That’s why the NAB urged the FCC to speed up the entire process of shifting completely to the new standard. It called the dual transmission of the same programming in both 1.0 and 3.0 “wasteful” and noted the growth of 4K across streaming platforms. It said 4K will soon be considered “table stakes” for getting rights to high-value content like live sports and that broadcasters risk losing them to “pay TV platforms that are permitted to employ more advanced technologies.”

Sam Matheny

“If you want to unlock the true capability of the NextGen TV standard, you need to get past the point where we are, which is a lighthouse station and a whole bunch of channel-sharing,” says NAB CTO Sam Matheny. “We need to get to full deployment.”

Bet On HDR, Not 4K

What wasn’t mentioned in the NAB’s letter is that broadcast networks aren’t yet even delivering 1080p HDR feeds to their O&Os and affiliates. That is despite the fact that some are producing a bevy of content in the format, including all NFL coverage on Fox and CBS this past season (Fox used it to create upconverted 4K HDR for its app and pay-TV partners, and downconverted it for 1.0 distribution).

Folsom says none of the 3.0 stations he’s worked with are yet receiving native 1080p HDR network content. Instead, they are providing their 720p or 1080i SDR 1.0 feeds to the lighthouse station in the market, usually at a high-quality contribution rate of around 20 Mbps. The feeds are then converted to 1080p before they are fed into an HEVC encoder for 3.0 broadcast.

Stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which represent a large chunk of existing 3.0 sticks, are upconverting the SDR feeds to HDR using advanced HDR by Technicolor. That technology, formally known as SL-HDR1, dynamically adjusts the brightness, contrast and color saturation on a frame-by-frame basis. Other 3.0 stations are simply transmitting 1080p SDR.

Folsom says there are myriad issues relating to networks’ slow pace in providing 1080p HDR, including rights issues and upgrades that still need to be made to broadcast centers, distribution networks and commercial insertion systems at local stations. He says Fox, with its new fully IP, SMPTE 2110-compliant plant in Tempe, Ariz., is probably the furthest along.

“We have the bandwidth to do 1080p 60 HDR, and that is gorgeous,” Folsom says. “If the networks would only give us HDR, and I think they’re working on it, then that would be a real gamechanger.”

After upgrading its satellite IRDs from AVC to HEVC encoding during the C-band auction process several years ago, CBS is fully capable of delivering 1080p HDR to its affiliates. The network also has sufficient capacity to deliver both an SDR and HDR feed for some time, which it would probably do for an interim period to give stations time for necessary upgrades.

“We can deliver it to the affiliates’ door,” St. Jean says. “But they have to upgrade their plant in their station to support it, and that’s really where the heavy lift is going to be.”

None of the CBS-owned stations are fully ready to handle a 1080p HDR signal with their current infrastructure, Birch says. While fully supporting 1080p HDR doesn’t require a 2110 plant, it may mean upgrading to 3-gig HD-SDI in some cases. In the interim, CBS would probably take a phased approach as it did with the initial conversion from SD to HD, first allowing “pass-through” of a complete network signal and then creating “islands” of 1080p HDR equipment to support some local functions.

“I see that same scenario here, where we just get it from the IRD to the transmitter first,” Birch says. “Then we’ll have to figure out how to upconvert some local content so it looks like HDR and get that out to the transmitter, and then eventually rebuild the station to handle it all natively, which will not be cheap.”

Considerable Costs

Birch says a “very crude pass-through” would probably cost $100,000 to $150,000 per station. Before spending more on things like switchers and cameras to support HDR and/or 4K there would have to be “a philosophical conversation” about how much local stations are really going to change their operations for 3.0.

“Because will I do local news in 4K HDR in the near future?” Birch says. “Probably not. Maybe my live infrastructure doesn’t change that much, but my commercial playout and my network pass-through has to change. You’re still probably looking at $1 million a station to do some of this.”

Overall, Birch says there is a much greater difference in picture quality between SDR and HDR than there is between 1080p and 4K.

“We want to give the viewer the biggest bang for their buck,” Birch says. “The real grabber is HDR.”

St. Jean concurs and says that 4K is more of a “marketing effort” with consumers.

“I don’t think anyone really intends to deliver 4K anytime soon,” he says. “And quite frankly, I’m not sure there’s a need to, when the TV set is doing such a good job of upconverting.”

Stretching The Receiver Pipeline

As the NAB emphasized in its letter to the FCC, more NextGen TV receivers at lower prices need to come to market for the new standard to be successful. Pearl TV has been working on that issue with its “FastTrack to NextGen TV” program, partnering with semiconductor supplier MediaTek to develop a “reference platform” for high-volume TV manufacturers that includes a TV System on Chip (SoC), ATSC3 demodulators and software stack. That saves individual set-makers from investing in their own engineering work.

Of course, there are millions of existing 4K- and HDR-capable TVs in living rooms across the country that don’t have 3.0 tuners. Offering consumers a low-cost accessory device, such as a set-top receiver, would be the most cost-effective way to turn them into NextGen TV sets. There is also a strong demand for low-cost set-top receivers in countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago that have recently adopted 3.0.

In that vein, Pearl recently released a detailed set of requirements for a “Stand-Alone Receiver” that includes both a 1.0 and 3.0 tuner and connects to a legacy TV set via HDMI. It lists all technical requirements that need to be implemented under the standard including content protection under the A3SA [ATSC 3.0 Security Authority] specification, which involves encrypting content to avoid unauthorized duplication.

The encryption of 3.0 signals has become a thorny issue for some purchasers of early 3.0 set-tops, who initially used them to receive 3.0 lighthouse stations but then could no longer watch them after the stations began implementing A3SA encryption last year. Some viewers have complained about the issue on TV-focused message boards like AVS Forum, and even speculated that broadcasters are trying to create a pay TV service with 3.0.

Folsom notes that such encryption is standard practice with most internet media today including YouTube videos and is generally invisible to the consumer, and that it was always part of the 3.0 standard. He adds that there are no existing NextGen TV sets that have a problem receiving encrypted signals, and that Pearl is working with at least one set-top maker to help them address their issue.

“Some manufacturers put out receivers that did not have decryption capability in them, and when those receivers first were announced, there was at least one manufacturer that put a receiver out that did not have decryption capability in it,” Folsom says. “We warned that company that encryption was coming. So, there is now a vocal audience out there that said wait, you’re encrypting.”

Certifying such accessory devices to actually be NextGen TV-compliant and thus allow manufacturers to use the “NextGen TV” logo to indicate as much would obviously avoid such problems in the future. Pearl announced earlier this month that software firm Tolka is the first company to officially enter their “Accessory Device Certification Program,” which involves NextGen TV certification services and tools provided by Resillion (formerly Eurofins Digital Testing) on behalf of the CTA and the NAB.

“It speaks to the trust of having that logo,” Matheny says. “I’m buying a device designed to leverage the new standard, as opposed to something that could break on you later.”

Anne Schelle

The Tolka software stack, designed specifically for accessory receivers, was demonstrated at CES 2023 in January as one of several products being “next for certification” under Pearl’s FastTrack program. Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle is hopeful that Tolka will have a fully certified product ready in time for the NAB Show in April. She adds that Pearl is working with several other vendors in the accessory device program, which includes rounds of pre-testing at its lab in Bradenton, Fla. A big priority is keeping the engineering costs down for smaller companies that might be selling sub-$50 products like USB accessories, while also making sure consumers don’t get burned by a non-compliant product.

“Our goal is to get them all funneled through, so they’re getting logoed this year,” she says.

The post For NextGen TV, Cheaper Receivers, Bigger Markets And More HDR Are Next appeared first on TV News Check.

“America’s broadcasters are proud of the collaborative effort that is bringing free over-the-air next-generation broadcasting to viewers in more than 60 cities across the country,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. “With consumers already purchasing, on average, more than 13,000 NextGen TV sets every day and more than six million TV receivers equipped with NextGen TV electronics already in homes, the focus now turns to expanding the audience base to provide more connection options for consumers. This remarkable growth underscores why Pearl TV recently launched its Fast Track for NextGen TV program.  We’re speeding up the process to bring more upgrade accessory receivers and television models to market.”

The FastTrack program provides consumer electronics manufacturers with an easier, faster, and more cost-effective process to introduce NextGen TV-compatible products for consumers. It guides device makers through the NextGen TV logo and other conformance requirements—meeting those of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) — and including security and regulatory compliance, testing, and opportunities for distribution and marketing partnerships.

“NAB applauds Tolka on powering the upcoming ADTH NEXTGEN TV upgrade accessory receivers, which have officially begun the process of securing NEXTGEN TV certification,” said Sam Matheny, executive vice president and chief technology officer at the National Association of Broadcasters. “We are optimistic ADTH will achieve certification in time for the 2023 NAB Show and provide first-hand insight into cost-effective, consumer-friendly receivers coming to market that will deliver a complete experience for NextGen TV viewers.”

Tolka’s software stack on ADTH receivers was demonstrated at the 2023 International CES as one of several products “next for certification” for the NextGen TV mark. Conformance requirements to earn the NextGen TV certification mark are detailed in Pearl’s recently published guide for consumer electronics manufacturers.

NextGen TV certification services and tools are provided by Resillion (formerly Eurofins Digital Testing) on behalf of the CTA and the NAB, which joined forces in 2019 to launch the innovative logo program. At the 2023 NAB Show, Dr. Bob Campbell, director of engineering at Resillion, will be delivering an update on the certification program’s progress and the latest developments in accessory device compatibility.

“The NextGen TV logo is essential to maximize device sales, demonstrating compliance to the standards and giving consumers confidence in a product,” Campbell said. “Resillion is keen to assist any company looking to carry the mark and hopes ADTH will be one of many certified Campbell TV accessory devices on display at NAB Show.”

The post Tolka Enters NextGen TV Upgrade Accessory Device Certification Program appeared first on TV News Check.

The award will be presented during the NAB Show on Tuesday, April 18, at 6 p.m. in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

For the past six years, Schelle has led Pearl TV’s effort to rally the fractious TV station group community to implement a new, advanced broadcast TV transmission standard, while convincing consumer electronics companies to produce compatible sets. The consortium of eight of the larger broadcast TV companies has helped lead the way for the industry’s ever-growing adoption of the ATSC 3.0 standard and the opportunities it opens for expanded, personalized programming and new industry revenue streams including advanced advertising and datacasting.

“Anne’s work has brought NextGen TV to an inflection point,” said TVNewsCheck Publisher and Co-Founder Kathy Haley. “Her ability to keep the industry relentlessly focused on the end goal, even as a chorus of naysayers predicted that 5G and streaming would swamp the fledgling technology, has given local broadcasters the ability to reinvent their role in a fragmenting media world.”

TVNewsCheck’s Women in Technology Leadership Award recognizes women who have contributed substantially toward advancing their industry technologically. It supports the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation’s Technology Apprenticeship Program, which trains, informs and recruits a diverse workforce that meets the emerging technology and engineering needs within the broadcast community.

Register here to attend the 13^th annual Women in Technology Awards Presentation Ceremony and Reception at NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Previous Women in Technology Leadership Award honorees:

• Sharri Berg, president, Fox Weather and COO of news and operations, Fox Television Stations
• Judy Parnall, head of standards and industry, BBC
• Marcy Lefkovitz, VP, technology and workflow strategy, The Walt Disney Co.
• Barbara Lange, former executive director of SMPTE
• Lisa Pedrogo, VP of engineering and strategic initiatives, WarnerMedia
• Tish Graham, former VP of broadcast technology at ABC Owned Television Stations
• Diane Tryneski, now board member and adviser to several digital technology companies
• Glodina Connan-Lostanlen, now chief sales officer, Imagine Communications
• Michelle Munson, now founder, Eluvio
• Renu Thomas, then EVP of media operations, technology and IT at Disney ABC Television Group
• Darcy Antonellis, now executive adviser, Amdocs
• Wendy Aylsworth, now CEO, Walden Pond
• Cindy Hutter-Cavell, senior engineer and practice manager, Cavell Mertz & Associates
• Andrea Berry, now EVP operations & technology, Telemundo Enterprises and LATAM

The post Pearl TV’s Anne Schelle To Receive TVN’s Women In Technology Leadership Award appeared first on TV News Check.