The transition to Next-Gen TV broadcasting will be voluntary for broadcasters and TV makers and won’t disenfranchise consumers who receive current-generation over-air DTV broadcasts.
That’s what the consumer electronics and broadcast industries have in mind in a petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The Next-Gen TV standard, also known as ATSC 3.0, is a more efficient IP-based DTV-broadcast standard that would deliver UHD TV, advanced emergency alert information, more channels, interactivity, data casting and object-based audio. It would also deliver better in-building reception by indoor antennas, ability to receive broadcasts in vehicles moving at high speed, and extended range via the ability to broadcast a signal from multiple towers at a time in a geographic market. Next-Gen TVs could also retransmit ATSC 3.0’s IP broadcasts over Wi-Fi to tablets and to other smart TVs that lack an ATSC 3.0 tuner.
The new standard is seen by broadcasters as helping them compete better with pay-TV and OTT services.
Under the proposal to the FCC, ATSC 3.0 transmission would be optional for broadcasters, and ATSC 3.0 tuners would be optional in TVs.
