Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

HPA Tech Retreat: Can Next Gen TV Make Broadcasters vs. OTT a Fair Fight?

26/02/2020

HPA Tech Retreat: Can Next Gen TV Make Broadcasters vs. OTT a Fair Fight? Panelists examine the potential of the ATSC 3.0 standard for over-the-air television By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - 11:11 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

The rise of ATSC 3.0, or Next Gen TV, took center stage on the annual Broadcasters Panel at the HPA Tech Retreat last week. With the promise to enable interactive features, higher-quality picture, better sound, and lower latency, the Next Gen TV standard promises to give over-the-air broadcasters a level playing field with the ever-growing number of OTT streaming services. However, without the government mandate that went along with the transition to digital broadcasting (DTV) in 2009 and with ATSC 3.0 TVs and mobile devices yet to proliferate on the market, Next Gen TV has yet to garner widespread momentum.

Matthew Goldman, Mediakind. Photo: Morningstar Productions

Chaired by Matthew Goldman, SVP, technology, Mediakind and featuring Dave Folsom, consultant, Pearl TV; Richard Friedel, EVP, engineering, operations and technology, Fox Television Stations; Del Parks, EVP/CTO, Sinclair Broadcast Group; and Skip Pizzi, VP, technology education and outreach, NAB, the panel provided an update on the ATSC 3.0/Next Gen TV transition and how the Phoenix Model Market beta program is serving as a test bed for the Next Gen TV ecosystem and examined the role the cloud will play and the business opportunities it could create.

What's the latest on the Next Gen TV transition, and how will it be completed without disrupting the current ATSC 1.0 audience?

Folsom: It's going to take a little bit of legerdemain. The ATSC signal that we have now is occupying the frequencies and channels that are given to us by the FCC. There is a little bit of extra bandwidth there, and, if we can essentially clear one channel at a time of those individual services and move them over and share them on other channels, there will not be any difference to the viewer. Everything will appear the way it did [to the viewer], but it will free up a channel, and that freed-up channel can then carry up to five services at a time in ATSC 3.0/Next Gen TV. [That is] because the new codecs that are available are four to five times more efficient than the current ones. We will be able to fit many services on a single channel. And that will provide the mechanism, on a rolling basis, to clear the space to have alternative services on the air without losing your ATSC 1.0 audience because we have to keep paying the bill as we transition.

Del Parks, Sinclair Broadcast Group. Photo: Morningstar Productions

Why should the industry care about Next Gen TV, and what opportunities will it create for the business?

Parks: Syndicated entertainment television isn't going anywhere. Most of the shows produced now are produced for a streaming service. The linear-TV business is migrating to live broadcasts. The future will be very local and very live [with] sports and news and the local programming. It's just not viable for Hollywood to produce syndicated programs like they used to [for broadcast television].

Pizzi: [Next Gen TV] is something that the internet isn't: OTT is anything but live and local. So broadcasters really are maintaining that service for consumers, who, we believe, will use [Next Gen TV] in addition to the mix of other media services [they have access to]. Now this live/local-focused service can coexist on a more even parity with those [OTT services] - in terms of both quality and interactivity. Next Gen TV gives broadcasters a level playing field to compete going forward.

Richard Friedel, Fox Television Stations. Photo: Morningstar Productions

Friedel: I think people in the [media industry] will care because there are going to be a lot more business opportunities, there's more capacity, we'll have better quality of pictures and sound. These are going to be the things that impact your businesses and impact the creative industry. I think it's a really exciting time for everybody in Hollywood.

Pizzi: Fox did the Super Bowl [in 4K HDR] this year, but it was available only on alternative [streaming] platforms or in special [4K HDR] channels on the MVPDs. We think that will be the last year that that is the case; a UHD version of the Super Bowl will be available to a lot of people in the U.S. and more every year we host thereafter over the air and on unfree TV based on Next Gen TV.

Parks: When you look at the traditional TV business and how our business is going to transform, over-the-air is just one distribution method we have. There's also OTT, and there's mobile. We've always believed that mobile is a really big business for us, especially for Next Gen TV, which we think is a mobile-first [platform]. This standard will allow you to receive pictures where you've never received them before. Even ATSC 1.0 was built around putting an antenna that rose 30 ft. above your house. Over-the-air is a big piece of it, but it's also about how we transform our industry to make our content available across all of the outlets where consumers want to look at our content.

Dave Folsom, Pearl TV. Richard Friedel, Fox Television Stations. Photo: Morningstar Productions

What is the Phoenix Model Market, and how is the program progressing thus far?

Folsom: At first, of course, was the issue of how do you make that happen? We decided at Pearl, which is made up of nine large station-owner groups, to create a model station in Phoenix as an example of how it could be physically done without adding spectrum. When we had the transition from analog to digital, the FCC kindly gave us extra spectrum to take advantage of and allow for the transition. Not so [in this case]. We had to figure out a way of mechanically doing that.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2020/02/26/hpa-tech-retreat-can-next-gen-t...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

03/06/2026

SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Inflight Connectivity on Viva Airlines

SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...

03/06/2026

CFP, ESPN, and TNT Sports Announce 2026-27 College Football Playoff Broadcast Schedule

The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...

03/06/2026

RED Digital Cinema to Host Panels and Demos at Cine Gear Expo 2026

RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations. P...

03/06/2026

Roku Launches Soccer Zone for FIFA World Cup 2026

Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...

03/06/2026

Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies Renew Multi-Year Partnership

Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership, with Wasabi continuing as the club's official cloud storage...

03/06/2026

Sky News Australia Deploys Grass Valley AMPP for Cloud-Based Newsroom Production

Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP as part of the relocation of its n...

03/06/2026

Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks

The Riedel Group has announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 201...

03/06/2026

Clear-Com Deploys Arcadia Central Station and FreeSpeak II at Itaka Arena in Poland

Clear-Com has announced the deployment of its intercom solutions at Itaka Arena ...

03/06/2026

Scott Coker Announces Six Executive Hires for New MMA Promotion

Scott Coker has announced six senior executive appointments for his new global MMA promotion, which launched earlier this year with $60 million in financing. Ad...

03/06/2026

Telemundo Announces Digital and Social Media Plans for FIFA World Cup 2026

Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has announced its digital and social media programming for the tournament, running Ju...

03/06/2026

Bundesliga Launches AI Assistant 'Captain' in Official App, Developed With AWS

The Bundesliga has announced the launch of Captain, an AI assistant built into t...

03/06/2026

Anthony James Partners Serving as Technology Consultant for UNC Kenan Stadium Modernization

Anthony James Partners (AJP) is serving as technology consultant for a moderniza...

03/06/2026

Audio-Technica Presents 2025-26 Samurai and Presidents Awards

Audio-Technica has announced the recipients of its annual sales rep firm awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The awards were presented by Jim Schanz, Executive ...

03/06/2026

iodyne to Demo Multi-Cam Ingest and Color Workflows With RED and Adobe at Cine Gear Expo 2026

iodyne will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 alongside RED Digital Cinema and Adob...

03/06/2026

Women's College World Series 2026: ESPN Brings Out Cinematic Cameras, POVORA CapCams for All-Texas Championship

The broadcaster will deploy 39 cameras for game coverage, six cameras for studio...

03/06/2026

How Comcast Xfinity Made RealTime 4K, Multiview a Reality for World Cup Fans with Vito Forlenza

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is providing a great opportunity for not only Fox Sports...

03/06/2026

Sonys New PTZ Cameras Deliver 4K 60p; New STARVIS Sensor Meets Low-Light Demands

Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p compatible PTZ Auto Framing camera that uses Sony's proprietary AI to automatically recognize and tra...

03/06/2026

NBA Finals 2026: ESPN's 1080p HDR Experience Drives San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks Title Series

Game Creek Video's Flagship A, B, C, and D unit will wind up its first year ...

03/06/2026

New Sponsor Spotlight: Caretta Researchs Evangelos Vrysellas Says Booming Sports-Rights Market May Be Hitting the Brakes

According to Caretta Research, the sports-rights market may be hitting the brake...

03/06/2026

Film Festival Watch: Catch These 11 Must-See Sundance Institute-Supported Films at Tribeca 2026

Retrieval still courtesy of Tribeca. By Jessica Herndon This year, the Tribeca...

03/06/2026

Beat Panner from Sound Particles

Step sequencer-style panning tool revealed Alongside their flagship self-titled sound-design platform, Sound Particles offer an array of creative effects an...

03/06/2026

Eventide to launch the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2

Now features full H90 algorithm library Eventide have announced the upcoming launch of the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2, a new and improved version of their hugely p...

03/06/2026

Aim Audio's Essence price drop

Significant discount available until 1 October 2026 Aim Audio have just announced a promotion that sees a significant discount applied to their Essence micr...

03/06/2026

Clarification: SBS's position on definitions of antisemitism

Clarification: SBS's position on definitions of antisemitism 3 June, 2026 Media releases Statement by Mandi Wicks, SBS Director of News and Current Aff...

03/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz to supply CERTIUM advanced communications system to Memmingen Airport

Rohde & Schwarz to supply CERTIUM advanced communications system to Memmingen Ai...

03/06/2026

Clear-Com Powers Itaka Arena with Arcadia Central Station and FreeSpeak II beltpacks

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...

03/06/2026

Comcast Xfinity to Deliver 4K Coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Sony to Show New PTZ Cameras at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Oklahoma City Thunder Tops Nielsen Ranking of Most Viewed NBA Teams

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

SmallHD Introduces OLED 16 4K Production Monitor

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

ANDREW WILSON DELIVERS AUTHENTIC SOUND FOR FILM USING NU...

For more than three decades, Re-recording Mixer Andrew Wilson, AMPS, CAS, has helped bring the natural world to the screen with exceptional audio enjoyed by mil...

03/06/2026

From Stadiums to Campuses to Corporate Studios- Telestrea...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will showcase its latest innovations for modern AV production environments at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N...

03/06/2026

DPA ADVANCES INTEGRATED AUDIO SOLUTIONS FOR PRO AV ENVIR...

DPA Microphones will present a comprehensive portfolio of integrated audio solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of today's professional AV environm...

03/06/2026

Lightware Expands Gemini GVN With Full-Featured USB-C

Lightware announces the GVN-HC-TX220AP, a new transmitter in the Gemini GVN 1G AV-over-IP family that introduces full-featured USB-C for professional 1Gb AV-ove...

03/06/2026

Minno Teams with Evergent to Enhance Faith-Based Streamin...

Evergent, the customer management and monetization leader for streaming and digital subscription businesses, and Minno, the global leader in faith-based content...

03/06/2026

Alfalite brings its LED technology to RTVE iconic Teatro...

Alfalite, Europe's only LED display manufacturer, has completed a new broadcast installation with the deployment of two UHD Finepix 1.5 MATIX AlfaCOB LED di...

03/06/2026

Broadcast Solutions delivers new Ultra HD outside broadca...

Broadcast Solutions, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is completing a contract to build eight...

03/06/2026

NAB Launches Merkhet Solutions to Advance Deployment of BPS

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

FCC Kicks Off First Spectrum Auction in Four Years

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Utopai Studios Launches Pai 2.0, Cinematic Storytelling AI System

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Roku Introduces NHL Zone

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Study: Record Revenue Expected for FIFA World Cup 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Frequency Launches In-Scene Advertising

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/06/2026

Creamsource Introduces Vortex2 and Vortex2 Soft

Creamsource, known for its tried-and-true Vortex Series of cinematic lighting, has announced the Vortex2 (V2) and Vortex2 Soft (V2S), two compact additions to t...

03/06/2026

Do not read this media release! Andy Lee's smash-hit show returns to ABC this July

Do not read this media release! Andy Lee's smash-hit show returns to ABC thi...

03/06/2026

Faster, More Flexible AI Matting Fuels Boris FX Silhouette

Faster, More Flexible AI Matting Fuels Boris FX Silhouette Jessie Electa Petrov June 2, 2026 0 Comments The 2026 release helps artists tackle complex ...

03/06/2026

La Tl's National League Hockey Expansion Powered by Blackmagic Design

La T l 's National League Hockey Expansion Powered by Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 2, 2026 0 Comments Blackmagic Videohub 120 120 12G provi...