President’s Memo

Posted on March 3, 2015 in ATSC News

Laying the Foundation

March is coming in like a lion for the ATSC where our journey toward the ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standard this year is progressing as planned.  Hundreds of ATSC volunteers are laying the foundation for the overall standard – first with the standardization of the “Physical Layer” transmission system.  Decisions are being made on system building blocks. Consensus is building. Things are moving fast.

A lot of thought is being given to extensibility and evolvability to help make the system as future-proof as possible.  Broadcasters are engaged, and various companies are collaborating on key system elements.  The bottom line is that we’re on track for the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer Candidate Standard this spring.

A number of ATSC members will be demonstrating key elements of the emerging ATSC 3.0 standard at next month’s NAB Show, both in the sold-out ATSC Technology Pavilion and in their own booths on the show floor.  We’ll be in Las Vegas that week, too, meeting with key stakeholders, particularly broadcasting executives, to share perspectives on television’s future. We look forward to meeting with many of them in our informal ATSC roundtables. A highlight of the show will be the “Building the Next Generation Television Service” ATSC 3.0 Tutorial during the Broadcast Engineering Conference, April 12 from 3-6 p.m.

Looking ahead, the agenda for the 2015 ATSC Broadcast Television Conference – entitled “Tune In to the Future” – is coming together nicely.

Please mark your calendars for May 15 at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington for this full-day conference that will address the business opportunities enabled by next-generation television broadcasting. For those more technically inclined, the ATSC 3.0 Boot Camp on the eve of the conference (May 14) will provide a deep technical dive into the emerging standard. Registration for both events is now open.

As we move ahead with ATSC 3.0, the foundation is being laid brick by brick.  Our progress is a tribute to the dedication and talents of hundreds of individuals working toward our collective goal of defining the future of television. With sincere thanks,

Mark Richer, ATSC President

SPOILER ALERT: What do the eclectic folk music of Suzanne Vega, the hard-rocking vocals of Robert Plant and a cowbell have in common?  They’re among the 60 clips that experts selected for specialized audio content to be used in the upcoming subjective listening tests of the proposed ATSC 3.0 audio systems.  A highlight of this issue of THE STANDARD is an insider’s look at the audio test material selection process led by ATSC Audio Testing Co-Coordinator Skip Pizzi of the NAB.  This is particularly timely, because the three ATSC 3.0 audio system proponents are expected to submit their detailed technical proposals to the ATSC by March 9.

ANOTHER TIMELY NEW DEVELOPMENT is the official launch of a new ATSC Implementation Team for Advanced Emergency Alerting as a compelling application for ATSC 3.0. You’ll find information about this new I-Team and how to get involved in the March edition of THE STANDARD.

Posted in ATSC News