After recently agreeing to a partnership with television broadcasters, the FCC is now moving to help accelerate national adoption of the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard, or NextGen TV, notes MediaPost. NextGen TV holds the promise of mobile reception, Inside Towers reported.
The Commission issued an order to modify its ATSC 3.0 rules to allow for preserving over-the-air (OTA) television viewers’ access to “the widest possible range of programming” while “supporting television broadcasters’ transition to the next generation of broadcast television technology.”
Most OTA users are still using equipment compatible with the ATSC 1.0 transmission standard. The 3.0 standard is not backwards-compatible without a new television set or an adaptor.
The FCC requires broadcasters to simulcast their primary programming streams in 1.0. But because 1.0 and 3.0 signals can be simulcast from the same station, the agency will now allow stations broadcasting in 3.0 to contract with other TV stations to deliver the 1.0 simulcast signal. It is also temporarily allowing broadcasters to do the same with multicast signals.
National Association of Broadcasters President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt praised the changes. “Next Gen TV holds the potential to offer tremendous benefits for viewers,” LeGeyt said. “To unlock that potential, broadcasters are undergoing a complex and challenging transition. The steps the Commission has taken to facilitate the hosting of multicast programming and provide an end date to a rule mandating identical ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 broadcasts will help make that transition possible.”
NAB lobbied for years to get more help from the FCC to accelerate the transition to 3.0 in the face of infrastructure and other challenges, notes Media Post.
Large television-owning media companies have invested in the necessary equipment and even cooperated with one another, with long-term paybacks in mind, including mobile reception on NextGen-equipped smart TVs and other connected devices. But broadcasters have said that growing competition from virtual multichannel streaming video providers could derail NextGen TV if it does not rapidly become the nationwide de facto standard.
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