HOLLYWOOD The broadcast in Sinclair Broadcast Group is morphing into something more than TV. It has to, according to Mark Aitken, SBG's vice president of Advanced Technology. Aitken delivered a keynote at this year's SMPTE conference in the heart of Hollywood.
We don't see ourselves simply as televisioners, he said of SBG. We see ourselves as having a platform to provide services, and one of those services is television.
Aitken noted how the technical side of broadcasting is occupied with 4K, high-dynamic range, frame rates and so forth, while regulatory issues and business objectives are treated as entirely separate matters. Yet those very issues are determining the industry's future, and they are legion, he said. Ownership limits, public inspection file rules, Aereo, the CALM Act, closed captioning, EAS, indecency, the incentive auction, tower and antenna issues, white spaces, the UHF discount the list goes on.
Engineers believe the technology is driving the business, he said. We as engineers are not taking a broad look at the surroundings in which we live, and taking the initiative to do the kinds of things to determine where broadcasting is going. 4K, HDR, immersive sound we have all these beautiful potential entrapments of a consumer. But without understanding the business objective, there's little to be gained.
Aitken said broadcasters are in a state of war.
War has been declared. Google has declared war on the TV ad industry. If your competitors believe they're engaged in war with us; if we don't acknowledge that, we're going to lose. They are decidedly after what we've got viewers, advertisers, content they after making lots of money.
You see a massive migration of content to the Internet; to the wireless industry. If you're a content producer, you're doing the right thing, looking for a distribution platform that generates the most revenue.
I ask why is it not a status quo that content isn't coming to broadcasting? We exist as islands. We don't function as an industry. The broadcast industry really has to unite, at least in a virtual sense. So what can we do to become a viable competitor in the marketplace?
Ad dollars are leaving local broadcasting, he said, not at a rate where broadcasting will die in 10 years, but will be in bad shape.
This is a reversible trend, he said, but one that requires an immediate response. The wireless guys are ramping up LTE-broadcast. (See Verizon's Wireless Network Ready' for LTE Multicast )
Phone companies' appetite for TV is not entirely new. They've been after the business for years. Aitken recalled how, in 2007, he went to a poker game fundraiser held by the late Alaska senator, Ted Stevens.
There were our or five tables. I was one of the last people to walk in. I got to my table, introduced myself. This young kid looked at me and said, it's great to have another broadcaster here.' I said, who do you work for?' He said, Verizon.'
LTE-broadcast evolved without the type of standards constraints that hold back broadcasting, he said.
Today, the standard does not have the flexibility to do multiple things, which is why we find ourselves developing ATSC 3.0. Broadcasters have been slow to the table to identify what their wants and needs are. The goal of many is the same as it was in 1994 when ATSC was being deployed. Those managers doing nothing but selling spots, who view revenues in a very small silo, don't look at those opportunities because they don't exist for them.
One new opportunity looming large is the incentive auction. Sinclair and the National Association of Broadcasters are challenging the Federal Communications Commission's Incentive Auction Report and Order on the grounds that it violates congressional intent.
We believe broadcasting is being marched, quite literally, to the cliff, he said.
The spectrum auction legislation contains the concept of flex-use, which is left #ff0000. For Sinclair, it opened the door to experiment with a new transmission standard. Sinclair subsidiary One Media is launching the group's next-generation transmission platform in Austin, Texas, next month.
As broadcasters, there's a growing voice saying we need the same opportunity as wireless providers, instead of being locked into doing just one thing, he said. The challenge is thinking about what broadcasting could be.
Sinclair's answer and it has been for years is mobile. Particularly the mobile-connected tablet. Aitken called it the consumptive device of the future.
In 1999, 2000, we worked with Nokia. We based the DVB-T standard on high-arc modulation. We had three tablets. They like several bricks bolted together. They were capable of receiving mobile television. This industry did not believe there was an opportunity in mobile 15 years ago.
Tablet computers are now expected to generate more mobile data traffic in 2017 than the entire global mobile market in 2012.
When the Advanced Television Systems Committee did finally issue a mobile standard, it fell flat. Aitken more or less declared it dead.
The failure of ATSC mobile was a failure on the part of not all broadcasters embracing it as an opportunity, he said. It was a massive failure because an industry did not put its will behind it. And because there was not a uniform roll-out, and no tough discussions with rights holders, consumers never had the opportunity to see it, and device makers never had the incentive to build devices.
There is still an opportunity in mobile data offload, he said.
There is real money in the broadcast distribution in data. There is a reason for LTE-broadcast. The Internet of Things' is all about the mass distribution of data to specific devices, measured today in billions
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
HOLLYWOOD The broadcast in Sinclair Broadcast Group is morphing into something more than TV. It has to, according to Mark Aitken, SBG's vice president of Advanced Technology. Aitken delivered a keynote at this year's SMPTE conference in the heart of Hollywood. 
