President’s Memo

Posted on February 1, 2016 in ATSC News

Making Broadcasting Great Again

To borrow a phrase from the 2016 presidential campaign, ATSC 3.0 is poised to “Make Broadcast Television Great Again.” America is embarking on the third Golden Age of Television.  The first one brought us the first live TV broadcasts, The Lone Ranger, Jackie Gleason and the advent of color.  The second one brought us Monday Night Football in HDTV, multicasting and new networks.

In the second half of the second decade of the new millennium, the competitive landscape is drastically different than in broadcast television’s last Golden Age with ATSC 1.0 two decades ago.  Today, cable and satellite are the primary delivery pipes for linear digital HDTV and the Internet. Over-the-top providers are streaming content to all screens, big and small, and wireless carriers are delivering on-demand video to handheld devices, anytime, anywhere.

Now, thanks to ATSC 3.0’s new capabilities, terrestrial broadcasting is poised to become an essential part of the next-generation content delivery network.  By leveraging broadcasters’ highly efficient one-to-many architecture and Internet protocol transmission, ATSC 3.0 will enable new over-the-air services such as 4K and HDR, immersive audio and targeted advertising, mobile TV and advanced emergency alerting.

CES 2016 previewed how ATSC 3.0 will usher in the future of broadcast television – with two live 4K HDR broadcasts using the Phy Layer Candidate Standard, as well as compelling 3.0-related audio demonstrations.  My quote in USA Today put this into perspective: “CES marks the beginning of an important new phase for ATSC 3.0 as manufacturers and broadcasters begin demonstrating products and services based on the core Candidate Standards adopted last year.”

Looking ahead to the NAB Show in April, we expect to see real-world demonstrations of even more ATSC 3.0 capabilities.  With the lion’s share of the standard completed and remaining items, like audio and interactivity, wrapping up in the months ahead, we’re on target to finalize the entire suite of ATSC 3.0 standards for next-gen broadcasting this year.

ATSC members should take great pride in our collective role in defining the future of television. Together, we are indeed Making Broadcasting Great Again!

Mark Richer, ATSC President

Posted in ATSC News