Pearl TV

Organizers expect a larger turnout of attendees and exhibitors to CES in Las Vegas next week, where generative AI, IP delivery and new developments in NextGen TV are likely to draw broadcasters’ focus.

As broadcasters continue to deploy ATSC 3.0, the current reach of 70% was achieved with the launch of NextGen TV in New York earlier this month with the WNET Group. That figure will jump to 75% with the anticipated launch of 3.0 in the nation’s third largest market, Chicago in early 2024.

KYW, WPSG, WPVI, WCAU, WTXF and WUVP are now broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 technology.

Anne Schelle is managing director of the Pearl TV consortium and recipient of TVNewsCheck’s Women in Technology Leadership Award, the publication’s highest honor. She earned it through her tenacity and faith in the ATSC 3.0 standard as broadcasting’s crucial way forward.

ATSC 3.0 has hit a sludgy stretch of path toward its end goal of broad U.S. adoption and providing new content services. It will take many hands — a potential FCC task force, station group cooperation and an elongated pipeline for receivers included — to get the standard’s implementation flying again.

Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV consortium, will receive the highest honor in TVNewsCheck’s Women in Technology Awards for her tireless efforts to rally the broadcast industry around the ATSC 3.0 standard while convincing manufacturers to produce compatible sets. She’ll receive her award at the NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 18 at 6 p.m.

WUNI, WCVB, WFXT, WGBH, WBZ and WBTS are now broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 technology.

Broadcasters kept their focus largely on a NextGen TV narrative headed into this week’s CES in Las Vegas, where around 100,000 attendees are expected. Sinclair is discussing its own flurry of ATSC 3.0 developments, while the demise of pay TV service Evoca was one setback in the NextGen saga.

WUPL, WWL, WVUE, WDSU, WGNO and WNOL are now broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 technology.

Most of ATSC 3.0’s audio delay in the U.S. is attributable to the same factors that have held back the rollout of UHD content: there is still a small base of NextGen TV-capable sets; the distribution chain from networks to stations is not fully ready for new formats; and broadcasters are somewhat hamstrung in experimenting with their 3.0 content because of FCC rules that require them to effectively simulcast their 1.0 programming. But despite that, progress is being made.

Its new TV web platform, RUN3TV, adds server-side ad insertion functionality and adtech platform integrations.

Consumers will gain expanded access to affordable accessory devices that will bring NextGen TV service to sets not equipped with ATSC 3.0 tuners.

The early consumer experience of NextGen TV has been hampered by government regulations that make it hard for viewers to differentiate the new services from the legacy ATSC 1.0 programming already delivered over-the-air, according to broadcasters. Capacity is tight for both the 3.0 and 1.0 broadcasts, and broadcasters are aggressively using video compression to make it all work. L-r: E.W. Scripps’ Kerry Oslund, Pearl TV’s Anne Schelle, Fincons Group’s Francesco Moretti and ATSC’s Madeleine Noland (Alyssa Wesley photo).

The Pearl TV coalition today announced two steps it is taking to help TV broadcasters realize more of the monetization potential of ATSC 3.0 — one related to advertising and the other aimed at increasing the number of TV viewers who can watch NextGen TV.

Pearl TV and iWedia have launched a fast-track program that adds new ATSC 3.0 A/344 interactive features and streamlines the adoption of NextTV by Android TV device makers.

Pearl TV, the consortium of TV stations advancing NextGen TV, took aim at cable operators in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. That is according to a FCC document […]

Pearl TV, a coalition of U.S broadcasting companies making the transition to NextGenTV, said it launched Run3TV, a web platform that brings interactivity and other streaming content to over the air viewers.

With attendance predicted at around 60,000 with nearly 1,000 vendors, the NAB Show in Las Vegas next week will likely be down from its pre-pandemic numbers. However, vendors say that a more focused, less congested show might not be a bad thing.

In a test car, LG Electronics installed a system to receive and display ATSC 3.0 signals on a rear-seat entertainment TV. As the car traveled between the signal coverage of WKAR Lansing, Mich., and WMYD Detroit, the NRT handoff technology succeeded in keeping a steady TV signal on the receiver.

Ongoing impacts from COVID-19 could mean broadcasters won’t hit their goal of launching ATSC 3.0 in 40 markets this year, according to Pearl TV’s Anne Schelle. The broadcasting group’s managing director commented as part of a remote panel at a virtual IABM conference and discussed the pandemic’s effects on ATSC 3.0 rollout plans. Coming out of CES in January 2020, she said, the industry was in a good position to launch ATSC 3.0 in 40 markets this year, including multiple new TV models with built-in support for the new over-the-air broadcasting standard. But the pandemic has essentially delayed plans by about a quarter compared to where it should be at this point.

Next year should see broadcasters making advances in the continuing move to IP, greater use of cloud platforms and significant progress for two new wireless technologies: ATSC 3.0 and the various 5G services being rolled out by wireless carriers. Above, a Sony camcorder and prototype 5G transmitter were used to test camera backhauls over Verizon’s 5G network during a recent NBC NFL broadcast.