President’s Memo: ATSC is Swimming Like a Duck

Posted on February 21, 2024 in ATSC News

Have you ever watched a duck swim? By all outwards appearances, they appear calm, collected, just swimming along. But beneath the surface, they are paddling their feet at a feverish pace just to keep going. And, that my friends, is ATSC right now!

We have just completed another amazingly successful show at CES 2024 and are furiously paddling back to Las Vegas for the NAB Show in April and then on to our very own Annual Members Meeting and ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference returning to Washington, DC in June.

The success of these tradeshows and conferences is in no small part to the amazing team at ATSC – our staff, our event management team, and especially our members who support ATSC by sponsoring, exhibiting and attending these events.

NextGen TV at CES 2024
CES 2024, with a reported 130,000+ attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center, was again filled with exhibitors and industry people from the moment the show opened until the closing bell.

The ATSC booth created a central point of NextGen TV information, allowing those interested in ATSC 3.0 to easily find the latest news and developments, as well as provide a visible forum for product and service debuts – and there were plenty of new developments for TV viewers to learn about at this year’s ATSC CES booth.

Set-top-boxes were also making news with the addition of Stavix to the group of companies offering products, Zinwell announcing a new device that handles content protection without an internet connection, the ADTH box by Tolka now available at Walmart.com, and Zapperbox displaying their DVR-featured box.

Other product news included the entry of TCL into the group of manufacturers offering NextGen TV capability in 2024 models, and it was great to see NEXTGEN TV signage on display in the TCL booth. The expanded number of TV brands with ATSC 3.0-equipped models is welcome news not only impacting US viewers, but also boding well for other countries, such as Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Brazil, transitioning to ATSC 3.0 technologies.

Visitors to the ATSC booth could check out the prototype smartphone and accessories that are being developed to support India’s new Direct-to-Mobile services (D2M) being launched in 19 cities on Prasar Bharati (India’s public broadcaster) infrastructure. With some 1.2 billion cell phones in the country, these devices are the primary screen that people watch TV on in India.

This year’s CES showed major strides in the development of exciting content offerings powered by NextGen TV
Great pictures and sound were front and center in the ATSC booth. Demonstrations of HDR10+ and Advanced HDR by Technicolor were supported by logos of major league sports franchises, including the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz NBA teams, which have transferred games from regional sports networks to broadcast. Dolby demonstrated immersive audio and audio accessibility in a dedicated acoustic room within the booth.

A special display of NextGen TV apps available from broadcasters garnered a lot of attention. A sports stats and betting app was shown, along with an “IP Channels” demonstration. IP Channels are stations that are accessed via the electronic program guide but are delivered via the internet. Viewers can “channel zap” between these IP Channels and over-the-air channels, just as if they were all delivered over-the-air. Shown live on-air in Las Vegas was a local station app, offering access to a wide range of the station’s content on-demand via a menu-driven UI.

Two app demos in particular drew a lot attention at the show. One showed “start over” TV, which has proven to be an audience favorite in Europe. Imagine tuning into a program a few minutes after it started and having the option to restart the program from the beginning, and then return to live viewing at any time – all with the click of the remote. The other was a live on-air music video service called ROXi. The service is accessed via the over-the-air electronic program guide and can be selected like any other channel. The consumer has the option of skipping a particular song or even selecting a completely different genre and more, all within the UI of the traditional OTA experience. Post CES articles heralded these two services as “killer apps.”

While the focus of CES is on products and services available to consumers in 2024, ATSC took the opportunity to present a vision of two future services. People know NextGen TV as the consumer-facing moniker in the US for the new television services powered by ATSC 3.0. But this new system enables a broad range of possibilities in addition to better and better TV. Music services represent one such use case, and a full radio service line-up delivered to a car was on display. And the seemingly limitless possibilities of ATSC 3.0 were showcased in the NexusConnect area envisioning a rich “marketplace” ecosystem where people come together to build smart, successful, sustainable communities with datacasting as a central pillar.

Thank you to those who supported ATSC at CES, those who attended, and we’ll see you at CES 2025!

The 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas
We are also gearing up to exhibit at the 2024 NAB Show. ATSC will be in the West Hall (booth #3056) where we will be showcasing both near-term and long-term applications of ATSC 3.0. Exhibitors in ATSC’s booth will be highlighting the Consumer Applications transmitted by local stations, IP-delivery of new channels and services, enhancements like HDR, and longer-term options for broadcasters and other businesses to utilize the wireless capability of ATSC 3.0 for new applications, including automotive features.

We have created an event page where you can stay up to date on our booth, exhibitors, sponsors, events and more. Make sure to bookmark this and check back as we get closer to the Show!

Save the Date for the 2024 ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference
Following on the heels of the NAB Show, ATSC will return to Washington, DC for our Annual Members Meeting and NextGen Broadcast Conference. ATSC Members can participate in 3 days of events, networking, the ATSC Annual Members Meeting, and a vibrant conference schedule. Non-members and the media are invited to join us for the conference portion of the program.

ATSC member organizations represent the broadcast, broadcast equipment, motion picture, consumer electronics, computer, cable, satellite, and semiconductor industries. Conference attendees are mid- to senior-level executives within the ATSC 3.0 and NEXTGEN TV ecosystem. There will be numerous demonstrations and exhibitors showcasing the latest in ATSC 3.0 technologies, products and services.

Please visit our conference website for details about venue, conference program, pricing, and more. The hotel room block at the Washington Marriott Marquis is now open; registration for the conference will open on Monday, March 4th – so mark your calendars!

There are lots of opportunities to partner with ATSC, whether it’s membership, tradeshow sponsorships, or attending our conference, and I hope you will make it to at least one of our events. I’m always energized by the networking, and I enjoy seeing each and every one of you in person as we share our challenges and successes in an exciting, evolving industry. Through it all, ATSC keeps on paddling! 🦆

Madeleine

Posted in ATSC News