Phoenix To Serve As ‘Model Market’ For ATSC 3.0

[eastof111]

Ten stations in the market will deploy the next-generation TV standard before early April 2018 November 15, 2017

By Phil Kurz

PHOENIX—Seven broadcasters across 10 stations in Phoenix will launch what they describe as a “model market” to demonstrate the viability of the next-gen ATSC 3.0 ecosystem while at the same time continuing to serve over-the-air viewers with legacy ATSC 1.0 digital television, the broadcasters announced today.

The broadcasters include E.W. Scripps Company, Fox Television Stations, Meredith Local Media Group, Nexstar Media Group, Tegna, Telemundo Station Group and Univision. The Pearl TV consortium will coordinate the effort.

“Our goal is to have the market serve as a model for deployment for the next generation of TV service,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV.

“That will provide the industry with the components and framework that will be common as guidelines for the industry to deploy 3.0 services.”

Government authorization allowing broadcasters to begin deploying ATSC 3.0 on a voluntary basis is expected to be granted Nov. 16 at the FCCÂ’s monthly Open Commission Meeting in Washington, D.C.

If commissioners vote in the affirmative, the participating Phoenix broadcasters will aim to have ATSC 3.0 service on air before the NAB Show, April 7-12 in Las Vegas, said Schelle.
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Anne Schelle

There were a few reasons Phoenix, with more than 20 percent of its 1.8 million TV viewers receiving OTA television, was chosen for the model market project, she said.

“First, we are already testing together for the Verance watermark test,” said Schelle. Another factor was separate ATSC 3.0 interactivity testing Pearl TV has been involved with in the market.

Additionally, the consortium has a good relationship with cable operators in Phoenix, which makes it easier to test MVPD interoperability, she said.

Finally, only a couple of the stations participating in program will be changing channel assignments as part of the FCC TV spectrum repack and those stations are assigned to Phase 1 of the repack, she said. That made it relatively uncomplicated to get an early start in Phoenix.

Participating stations include:

· KNXV (Channel 15), E.W. Scripps Company’s ABC affiliate;

· KSAZ (Channel 10), Fox Television Station’s Fox station;

· KUTP (Channel 26), Fox Television Station’s MyTV Network;

· KPHO (Channel 17), Meredith Local Media Group’s CBS affiliate;

· KTVK (Channel 24), Meredith Local Media Group’s independent;

· KASW (Channel 49), Nexstar Media Group’s CW Network affiliate;

· KTAZ (Channel 39), Telemundo Station Group’s Telemundo station

· KPNX (Channel 12), Tegna’s NBC affiliate;

· KFPH-CD (Channel 35), Univision’s UniMas station; and

· KTVW-DT (Channel 33), Univision.

Phoenix will serve as a testbed for the business models and the consumer testing needed to prepare go-to-market strategies for next-generation television, said Schelle.

Among those are over-the-air delivery to fixed receivers, mobile –especially for the automotive market—as well as interactivity and MVPD retransmission.

An equally important thrust is to demonstrate the viability of the lighthouse approach to keeping legacy DTV on-air while broadcasters transition to 3.0, she said. The approaches taken in Phoenix can serve as a model to the entire industry.

Schelle said she envisions channel sharing beyond what she calls “self-sharing,” or duopolies, as part of the effort in Phoenix.

“All of this demonstrates to the market the seriousness of broadcasters [regarding 3.0] and the need for the entire ecosystem to invest and complete implementations,” she said.

“The standard is near completion. Now it is time to build and get out to the marketplace.”

 

[el bandido]

Wonder who will watch it? No consumer devices support ATSC 3.0

 

[eastof111]

Good question.

 

[el bandido]

One benefit of ATSC 3.0 is uhd or 4k capability.
UHD, 4k televisions have been on the market for sometime, and none of these televisions are ATSC 3.0 capable.
I am in no hurry to purchase a new 4k television because there is very little in real 4k to watch! Seems everything is pretty much stuck at 1080 or less resolution for the foreseeable future.

 

[eastof111]

The current 4k sets that have good up-scaling capabilities, may be worth it to some folks lacking the 4k ota or fta content. Or, other alternatives to spice up the 4k content are Netflix and other providers.

I read that South Korea (Seoul) launched atsc 3.0 in June and will be expanding coverage by December. Plus they are working on converter boxes which eventually may hit these shores.

More info......

November 16, 2017
By Phil Kurz

WASHINGTON—The FCC today by a 3-2 vote along party lines authorized broadcasters to begin on a voluntary basis over-the-air transmission of next-generation television based on the ATSC 3.0 standard.WASHINGTON—The FCC today by a 3-2 vote along party lines authorized broadcasters to begin on a voluntary basis over-the-air transmission of next-generation television based on the ATSC 3.0 standard.

“Today is a promising day for consumers, an exciting day for technological innovation and a historic day for the broadcast business,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement before the commission vote to authorize ATSC 3.0.

Authorization “open the door to substantially improved, free over-the-air broadcast television service and fiercer competition in the video marketplace,” he said.

The vote requires broadcasters choosing to begin voluntary ATSC 3.0 transmission to partner with another broadcaster to simulcast ATSC 1.0 service to ensure OTA viewers of legacy DTV maintain their service.

In authorizing next-gen TV, the agency is requiring 1.0 simulcasts to deliver “substantially similar” programming as the 3.0 channel for five years. However, the vote provides for certain exceptions, such as ads, promos for upcoming programs and programming features that takes advantage of new 3.0 capabilities.

The FCC vote maintains mandatory carriage rights of the legacy DTV simulcast on cable and satellite TV systems, but does not require it for broadcastersÂ’ next-generation TV service.

The vote adds ATSC /321:2016 system discovery and signaling (bootstrap) and A/322:2017 physical layer protocol standards to the FCC rules for the purpose of interference calculation. The new rules require broadcasters use A/322 only for their primary streams and opens the possibility of sun-setting the requirement after five years.

The vote imposes the same public interest obligations required of existing TV broadcasts on next-generation TV service. It also requires broadcasters to provide on-air notifications to educate viewers about next-gen TV deployment and simulcasting.

LPTV and translator stations will be allowed on a case-by-case basis to seek waivers to the simulcast requirement if no viable simulcast partner is available.

In opposing authorization, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn took issue with the lack of backwards compatibility of the next-gen TV standard with ATSC 1.0. Consumers’ existing TVs and cable equipment “will not be able to receive a next-gen signal.”

“If you are an over-the-air viewer, you will either need to purchase a new television set or some sort of converter, and if you are a pay TV viewer you would need to purchase a new set-top box,” she said.

While acknowledging “there is a lot to be excited about” when it comes to next-gen TV, such as UHD pictures, immersive audio, advanced emergency alerts and innovative interactivity, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel echoed Clyburn’s concern about the lack of backwards compatibility with ATSC 1.0 and the cost to consumers.

“I think the way the FCC plans to proceed is no great boon for consumers: it’s a tax on every household with a television,” she said, calling upon the agency to go back to the drawing board and find “a less disruptive way to facilitate broadcast innovation.”

However, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly took issue with viewing ATSC 3.0 as a tax on consumers. “I believe this item [the ATSC 3.0 authorization rulemaking] has taken great care to ensure that is not the case,” he said. “Indeed, if this is a consumer tax, so is every new tablet or smartphone a consumer decides to purchase.”

The “parade of horribles and hypotheticals” some have offered up over the past few weeks that will stem from next-gen TV authorization are “divorced from reality because broadcasters have every incentive in the world to make sure their viewers do not lose signal during and after any transition to 3.0,” said O’Reilly.

In his comments before the vote, Commissioner Brendan Carr pointed out the FCC has been “moving steadily away from dictating” use of specific technologies in the standards setting process. He pointed to the wireless sector as an example where the agency has adopted flexible-use licenses and other market driven advancements that steer clear of using specific devices.

“Today, we move slowly in that direction by allowing broadcasters to use a new standard for next-generation TV known as ATSC 3.0. By granting their request, we give broadcasters the freedom to innovate,” he said.