Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

HPA: NextGen TV Can Give Broadcasters a Level Playing Field'

21/02/2020

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. A Broadcasters' Panel has been a fixture at the HPA Tech Retreat program for years, with representatives from networks, station groups and industry organizations sharing their thoughts on contemporary TV industry developments and issues. This year was no exception, with Dave Folsom from Pearl TV; Fox TV's Richard Friedel; Del Parks from the Sinclair Broadcast Group; and the NAB's Skip Pizzi assembling to field questions from moderator Matthew Goldman of MediaKind in a Wednesday morning session.

Topics this time ranged from the Phoenix Model Market project to the evolution of IP and cloud for broadcasters.

Goldman kicked off the discussion by asking Folsom to describe the Phoenix Model Market and explain why it was important in the effort to rollout NextGen TV.

It's the result of the FCC in the late fall of 2017 coming out with a Report and Order allowing broadcasters to make use of the newly-developed ATSC 3.0 standard, replied Folsom. How do you make that [initiation of 3.0 service] happen? Pearl, which is made up of nine large station groups, decided to create a model market, or model station, in Phoenix to see how this transition could be done without adding spectrum. We also provide a forum for manufacturers of technical equipment for the new standard to test their equipment, as well as for receiver manufacturers to test their products.

Goldman asked how NextGen TV would be implemented, as TV broadcast spectrum space is at a premium now with the loss of channels in connection with the current repack.

Matthew Goldman served as moderator of the Broadcasters Panel' discussion. (Image credit: James ONeal) When we went from analog to ATSC 1.0, this was mandated by the government, said Goldman. That's not happening now. Without the aid of additional channels and bandwidth, how will the transition to the new service be possible without negatively impacting over-the-air service?

It's going to take a little bit of legerdemain, said Folsom. There is a little bit of extra bandwidth in [the ATSC 1.0] signal that we have now. If we can, by market, essentially clear one channel at a time of those individual services and move them and share them on other channels, to the viewer there will not be any difference.

This will free up a channel, and this channel can carry up to five services because new codecs are much more efficient, Folsom continued. This will provide the mechanism on a rolling basis to clear spectrum for new services without losing your ATSC 1 audience.

With so many options for video delivery available now, why should consumers even care about a new over the air broadcast standard, Goldman asked the panel.

For the consumer, one of the largest impacts that [NextGen TV] will have is that it finally addresses the idea of broadcast and broadband convergence, Pizzi said. Today, smart TV's are already connected to the internet and a conventional television source, but you're switching between the two. ATSC 3.0 puts those two together in a continuously variable way.

It's about better pictures and sound, Friedel added. This is really going to impact the industry. There will also be a bunch of new business opportunities to capitalize on.

Sinclair's Parks thought that NextGen TV would return television broadcasting to a more local and live presence.

When you look at where entertainment syndicated television is going, it's really not going anywhere, said Parks. Much of the shows produced are for streaming services. Linear TV is migrating to live broadcast very local and very live sports, news and local programming. It's just not viable for Hollywood to produce syndicated programs like they used to. It just doesn't work.

OTT is anything but live and local, said. Pizzi. This live, local-focused service [brought about by NextGen TV] can co-exist on a more even parity in terms of quality and interactivity with those other services said Pizzi. NextGen TV really gives broadcasters a level playing field going forward.

THE MOVE TO DATA

The discussion then shifted to the relationship of NextGen TV to cloud and its relevance to broadcasting.

I think the cloud is very important, replied Sinclair's Parks. I don't believe we'll get to a NextGen TV distribution system without moving to the cloud. NextGen is not just about delivering pictures, but about delivering data. The cloud is extremely important to our operation.

Pizzi added that NextGen TV was about delivering data both to and from the consumer and he saw the cloud serving as a collection point for this data, which could be used for rating programs and other functions.

The panel then turned to the difficulty in finding qualified broadcast engineering personnel, as stations and production facilities alike move further and further into IP.

They aren't making broadcast engineers anymore, said Friedel. The truth is that we're really building our own, and I think everyone else is too. We try to find bright young people and we teach them. We don't have much of a choice.

The good news is that it's allowing us to change the diversity of our employment too, he continued. A lot more women are attracted to the IP industry [than to broadcasting]; the same is true of minorities too. This will help us create better programming and better serve our communities.

The discussion ended with Goldman asking how broadcasters were faring in light of the move to streaming and away from conventional television.

Business is still pretty strong, said Friedel, citing viewership for the recent Super Bowl. The economics are there. We're still delivering an audience. I hate to bring up politics, but Bloomberg is spending a lot of money in targeting his advertising, and you see his poll numbers are just
LINK: https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/hpa-nextgen-tv-can-give-broadcasters...
See more stories from tvtechnology

North America Stories

30/04/2026

PWHL Reports Record Growth in Third Regular Season as Playoffs Begin April 30

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) concluded its third regular season on Saturday, reporting growth across attendance, viewership, digital engage...

30/04/2026

NBC Sports Launches National Sunday MLB Coverage Beginning May 3

NBC Sports will air national MLB coverage on Sundays beginning May 3, with MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock and NBCSN at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by the debut of th...

30/04/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Brian Grahn and Ben Turnwell to New Roles

Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live. Grahn joined Cle...

30/04/2026

ARRI Introduces cforce MAX Lens Motor for Hi-5 Lens Control System

ARRI has introduced the cforce MAX, a new lens motor for the Hi-5 lens control system. The cforce MAX is twice as fast as the cforce plus motor it replaces whil...

30/04/2026

Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE to Present Integrated Control Room Solution at Airspace World

Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE will jointly present an integrated control room solu...

30/04/2026

The CW Network and ESPN to Stream CW Sports Live Events on ESPN App

The CW Network and ESPN have announced an agreement to make the ESPN App the exclusive streaming home for all CW Sports live events. CW Sports will continue to ...

30/04/2026

Sennheiser Spectera Deployed on Ed Sheerans The Loop Global Stadium Tour

Ed Sheeran's The Loop' tour launched in Auckland in January 2026 before moving on to Australia, with South America and the United States to follow late...

30/04/2026

Audinate Launches Dante Preset Creator for Offline Network Configuration

Audinate has announced Dante Preset Creator, a free online tool for configuring Dante network settings before hardware is available on site. Presets created in ...

30/04/2026

Yahoo Sports Appoints Jarrod Schwarz as General Manager

Yahoo Sports has announced the appointment of Jarrod Schwarz as General Manager of Yahoo Sports. Schwarz will oversee product, design, and technology; revenue a...

30/04/2026

Nielsen: U.S. Viewers Spent 79.8 Billion Minutes Watching Soccer in 2025

Nielsen has released a new report, Get Ready with Media Intelligence: 2026 FIFA World Cup Edition, examining U.S. soccer viewership trends, fan engagement, and ...

30/04/2026

USA Lacrosse Names SportsEngine Preferred Youth Sports Management Platform Partner

USA Lacrosse and SportsEngine have announced an expanded partnership, naming Spo...

30/04/2026

Telos Alliance To Appear at MPTS 2026 Across Multiple Partner Booths

Telos Alliance will participate in the 2026 Media Production and Technology Show (MPTS), taking place May 13-14 at Olympia London. Rather than exhibiting from a...

30/04/2026

DAZN Bolsters U.S. Ambitions With ViewLift Acquisition, Targets Evolving Regional Sports Landscape

The global streamer buys the U.S. DTC platform solutions provider for a reported...

30/04/2026

Tigo Sports Upgrades Video Infrastructure with Ateme Technology

Tigo Sports, Paraguay's leading sports broadcaster, has upgraded its video infrastructure with Ateme solutions for live encoding, multiplexing, and signal c...

30/04/2026

World Rugby and IMG Announce Long-Term Media Rights Partnership

World Rugby and IMG have announced a long-term media rights partnership focused on growing rugby in the United States ahead of the Men's and Women's Rug...

30/04/2026

NWSL & Overtime Re-Up Gen-Z Focused Content Partnership

For the second year in a row, Overtime and the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) are teaming up through a renewed content partnership to bring fans even...

30/04/2026

ESPN Executive Vice President David Roberts Set To Retire

The 22-year ESPN vet's responsibilities will reportedly be taken over by SVP Mike Foss...

30/04/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 13: Anaheim Ducks' Scott Fausneaucht - Skating with the Ducks of Orange County

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

30/04/2026

Prime Video Announces Multiyear Agreement with Duke Mens Basketball

Amazon and Duke University have announced a multiyear agreement for Prime Video to present exclusive coverage of three Duke Blue Devils men's basketball neu...

30/04/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA Playoffs Return to NBC Sports up 38%; UFL Viewership up Midway Through Regular Season

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

30/04/2026

L3Harris Technologies Reports Strong First Quarter 2026 Results

MELBOURNE, Fla., April 30, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) reports first quarter 2026 results. Highlights Orders of $7.8 billion; book-to-bill of 1....

30/04/2026

CPI Media Leverages QuickLink StudioCall for Integrating...

STA VENERA, MALTA, APRIL 29, 2026 CPI Media, a voluntary organization within the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) and a leading media house dedicated to p...

30/04/2026

Hitomi Broadcast Presents UK Debut of MatchBox Panorama a...

New software platform delivers comprehensive timing measurement across production workflows...

30/04/2026

Cutting edge British innovation leads at BroadcastAsia 20...

Once again, the UK Pavilion in Hall 5 of BroadcastAsia 2026 will feature the latest and best in technology specifically developed and tailored for modern media ...

30/04/2026

Avid powers faster workflows and next-generation immersive audio with latest Pro Tools release

Avid powers faster workflows and next-generation immersive audio with latest Pro...

30/04/2026

Ocean Blue Software Launches ATSC 3.0 Inspector for Smart TVs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

Digital Azul positions Lisbon as a remote production hub...

Scalable broadcast-grade production over public internet, replacing traditional OB workflows...

30/04/2026

V Nova Brings DTV Deployment LCEVC Ecosystem Progress and...

Live demonstrations highlight LCEVC ecosystem momentum, AI-powered video pipelines, and expansion across broadcast, streaming, and social media. DTV (TV 3.0) ...

30/04/2026

Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon

Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon The dual major shares his path from community college to Berklee, and how his heritage influences his work. April 29, 2026 B...

30/04/2026

Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals

Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals As part of the Berklee Popular Music Institute, students will perform at Lollapalooza, Governors Ba...

30/04/2026

Study: Rokus Low-Cost, Ad-Free Howdy Streamer Hits 1 Million Subs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

MLS Innovation Lab Selects AI Partners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

NRB Files FCC Complaint Over Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Monologue

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

D.C. Court Denies Emergency Stay of Nexstar/Tegna Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

NAB Criticizes FCC for Ordering Early Renewal of ABC-Owned Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

FCC Approves Station Swaps Between Scripps and Gray Media

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/04/2026

Telestream Introduces Pulse - a Software-Defined Test an...

A flexible monitoring platform designed to simplify ST 2110 operations, consolidate vendor tools, and support modern live production environments. See it at NAB...

30/04/2026

Langlev Takes Run Amok to Sundance with Zeiss Supreme Pri...

Sundance-premiering Run Amok is an expressive, unconventional take on today's teen experience, replete with musical numbers. When cinematographer Shachar ...

30/04/2026

Studio Technologies Elevates Jacksonville State Universit...

JACKSONVILLE, AL, APRIL 29, 2026 Jacksonville State University, known as Jax State and a proud NCAA Division I member of Conference USA, has transformed its a...

30/04/2026

Knowledge Network selects ThinkAnalytics to launch AI-pow...

Transforming viewer and content data into real-time intelligence to deliver relevant streaming experiences at scale ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in AI-pow...

30/04/2026

Sports Production, Delivery is Big Biz at NAB

Sports Production, Delivery is Big Biz at NAB Andy Marken April 29, 2026 0 Comments Hero image source: NAB One of the neat things about trade shows i...

30/04/2026

WideOrbit at NAB 2026: WO Aurora Takes Center Stage

NAB Show 2026 was a big one for WideOrbit. From a live broadcast on the show floor to a Best of Show award, our team had an incredible few days in Las Vegas. We...

30/04/2026

Telos Alliance To Highlight Audio Processing, Intercom, and Workflow Solutions at MPTS 2026

Telos Alliance To Highlight Audio Processing, Intercom, and Workflow Solutions ...

30/04/2026

'The Map of Longing' Arrives on Netflix Next July 17

Back to All News The Map of Longing Arrives on Netflix Next July 17 Entertainment 30 April 2026 GlobalSpain Link copied to clipboard WE ARE ALL MADE OF SM...

30/04/2026

Saif Ali Khan Anchors a Story of Duty and Dilemma, Red Chillies Entertainment's Next with Netflix, Kartavya'; Out on 15 May

Back to All News Saif Ali Khan Anchors a Story of Duty and Dilemma, Red Chillie...

30/04/2026

Netflix has released the trailer for Emi Martnez: The Kid Who Stops Time, which premieres on May 28

Back to All News Netflix has released the trailer for Emi Mart nez: The Kid Who...

30/04/2026

A Bunch of Goofy Misfits Out to Save the World: Netflix Releases Main Trailer for The WONDERfools'

Back to All News A Bunch of Goofy Misfits Out to Save the World: Netflix Releas...

30/04/2026

Introducing Exciting New Ways to Find and Enjoy Your Next Favorite on Mobile

Back to All News Introducing Exciting New Ways to Find and Enjoy Your Next Favorite on Mobile Product 30 April 2026 Global Link copied to clipboard Downlo...

30/04/2026

It's Gonna Be May: 16 Games Hit the Cloud This Month, With More NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Power

It's gonna be May - and the cloud's in full festival mode. 16 games ar...