D j vu: Are we back to Betamax?
Predicting the rate and direction of technology adoption often seems to be as much of an art (indeed, perhaps a dark art) as it is a science. It was nearly half a century ago (!) that one of the first real format wars emerged - where Sony and JVC clashed in the VHS/Betamax battle. Decades of economic analysis have been devoted to the emergence of the war - and its outcomes. For all intents and purposes, Betamax should have been the winner: it offered greater horizontal resolution, lower noise, reduced luma/chroma crosstalk, and overall was visually the better standard. It also had a year more than VHS to penetrate and shore-up its market hold. But consumers are tricky things, and a significant range of what economists like to call network externalities' ended up holding sway on the outcome.
And even with 50 years of observing both consumer and industry behavior in relation to technology adoption, it seems that collectively we're not necessarily any better placed to guess what factors will influence take-up. One only has to look at Zuckerberg's quiet withdrawal away from the multi-billion dollar Metaverse, as his eyes turn to the parallel multi-billion dollar rise of ChatGPT, to see how even the biggest players can't always read the market.
ATSC, as easy as 1,2 3. Right?
So, what does all this talk of tech-take-up rates tell us about the ATSC 3.0 saga? The standard, in development for more than a decade and approved by the FCC for rollout in 2017, still seems to languish in no-man's land, failing to hit its true potential, always on the cusp but never in the limelight.
Well, as with Betamax, it's certainly not any factors pertaining to its technological capabilities holding it back. We've talked about the benefits at some length in our previous blog, but to sum up its benefits in a sentence: ATSC 3.0 has the ability to bring all the advantages of IP to an entirely wireless environment - improving broadcast quality, increasing functionality, augmenting reliability and security, extending reach, and just generally improving everything for broadcasters, for advertisers, and for audiences. Indeed, the benefits really can't be overstated, because although there is a great focus on ATSC 3.0 as Next Gen TV', the truth is it has applications that extend well beyond just broadcast, since it in effect represents more generally a wireless IP distribution platform. Which is quite a big deal really.
So, where's the issue? Broadcasters are champing at the bit to make use of its commercial potential. Consumer manufacturers are (mostly) supporting it. What's the obstacle?
It is, essentially, regulatory. While the FCC was ready to endorse the standard all the way back in 2017, their approach was a tad tepid.
In essence, in 2017, the FCC authorized -but did not instruct -television broadcasters to use ATSC 3.0 if they so wished - meaning it was a voluntary and market-driven approach to adoption. More than this, they implemented a requirement that broadcasters maintainnearly-identical broadcast in the original ATSC 1.0 standard as well. So, broadcasters could choose to move to ATSC 3.0, but only as well, not instead. While that requirement was due to sunset' this year, it appears to have been given a stay of execution: broadcasters are still having to devote dual resources to ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 outputs, despite being eager to move forward properly with the latter.
Note how much this differs from the approach taken in the transition from analog NTSC to ATSC back in 2007 - 2009, which was mandatory. Indeed, it's almost the inverse of it - since with the NTSC/ATSC switch they actually requiredbroadcasters to stop broadcasting analog in 2009. So there's a marked difference in approach here: in the NTSC/ATSC transition, the FCC actively pushed for the end of an old standard, and the harkening of a new one. Now, in this new era of ATSC 1.0/3.0 transition, the FCC is actively pushing the maintenance of an old standard, and crippling broadcasters in their adoption of the new one - not just in terms of operational inefficiency, but the undue occupation of huge swathes of the broadcast spectrum.
Arguably then, it has nothing to do with the technology, and nothing to do with the market - and all to do with the regulatory handcuffs that the FCC has imposed.
None-the-less, the FCC argues it is on the side of progress. In April, FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said: Today, we are announcing a public-private initiative, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, to help us work through outstanding challenges faced by industry and consumers. This Future of Television initiative will gather industry, government, and public interest stakeholders to establish a roadmap for a transition to ATSC 3.0 that serves the public interest. A successful transition will provide for an orderly shift from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 and will allow broadcasters to innovate while protecting consumers, especially those most vulnerable.
The pressure is on
It is clear in Rosenworcel's statement that the FCC's motivation to push forward comes strongly from pressure being put on them by the NAB. And in turn, the NAB is feeling that pressure from below, because the market seems set to undergo another seismic shift. What do we mean by that?
Well, streaming hit the industry hard and fast, and by all accounts appeared to fundamentally change the paradigm. Every article you read in, say 2010, declared the death of Linear TV and conventional advertising. But a decade on and the streaming market looks very different; fragmented, with lower subscription numbers, greater frustration from audiences regarding commissioning and content creation strategies, a lack of transparency, and an apparent need to resort to more traditional profit models, in
North America Stories
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
11/06/2026
Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...
11/06/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...
11/06/2026
Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...
11/06/2026
FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...
11/06/2026
ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...
11/06/2026
The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering
In...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...
11/06/2026
Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards)
By Lucy Spicer
It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...
11/06/2026
MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026
LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...
11/06/2026
Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...
D j vu: Are we back to Betamax?
