Local television station owners including Gray Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Hearst Television, Tegna and the E.W. Scripps Co. have invested in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, whose Run3TV platform can provide detailed data about over-the-air broadcast viewership.

Run3TV also creates apps that provide NextGen-enabled TV sets that give viewers additional features and programming. 

Pearl TV, the organization formed by broadcasters to push adoption of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, said it anticipates more broadcast groups will get involved in the Run3TV venture.

Comscore and Nielsen have been working with Pearl TV on local media measurement since 2018.

“Our investment in Run3TV and ATSC 3.0 is a strategic endeavor for local broadcasters like Gray, bringing additional, measurable value to local stations by providing more choices for our viewers,“ Gray Television CEO Pat LaPlatney said. “Run3TV improves over the air viewership measurement, but it also gives our viewers more options at the touch of a button to engage deeper with their local stations.” 

Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

"By integrating our applications into the Run3TV platform, we're committed to uniting the industry toward enriching the viewer experience, including offering more interactive services and essential public services like emergency alerts," added Chris Ripley, CEO of Sinclair, which previously had not been part of the Run3TV coalition.  

Also Read: Detroit Stations Launch Start Over, Datacasting To Boost NextGen TV

NextGen TV sets that are hooked up to both an antenna and the internet can opt in to provide stations with viewing information. That information can be used to enhance the local TV measurement services offered by Nielsen and Comscore.

"Our partnership aims to enhance audience measurement precision with big data capabilities for over-the-air, contributing to the industry's growth and innovation,“ Comscore chief information officer Brian Pugh said. “Comscore eagerly anticipates the rollout of Run3TV by broadcasters as it will allow enhanced return path data capabilities increasing the customer satisfaction and value of measurement.”

Paul LeFort, managing director of Nielsen’s local TV business, said: “Nielsen is pleased to evolve our longstanding relationship with Pearl TV as we jointly explore the use of OTA ‘big data’ in our local TV measurement. OTA households have been a critical element of our local TV service for decades, and this latest development around Run3TV is an exciting step in potentially being able to harness the power of OTA broadcasting data sources, which will only enhance our local TV measurement.”

TVB, the broadcast-TV trade organization, said its CEO Steve Lanzano weighed in on the development: “TVB and its members continue to advocate for new solutions that enhance local broadcast television audience measurement. The RUN3TV platform is a critical step in moving our industry forward through its ability to harness the data-rich capabilities of ATSC 3.0 technology to more accurately capture local, over-the-air viewership. TVB is a strong supporter of Pearl TV and their efforts to advance NextGen TV for the benefit of consumers, brand managers and advertisers.”

Television stations in Chicago began the transition to NextGen TV, the new broadcast TV format.

CBS-owned WBBM-TV is transmitting signals using ATSC 3.0 technology. The signal will carry WBBM programming, in addition to programming from Fox’s WFLD-TV, NBC’s WMAQ-TV, Nexstar Media’s WGN-TV and Univision’s WGBO-TV.

WBBM’s ATSC 1.0 signals are being split up among the other participating broadcasters in the market, enabling viewers with sets using the legacy digital broadcast format to continue to watch. Eventually, when enough people have bought Nextgen capable sets, ATSC 1.0 is expected to be be sunsetted.

NextGen TV promises to provide free over-the-air viewers 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR) video, consistent volume across channels, dialogue enhancement, movie theater-quality sound, internet content on demand, advanced emergency alerts and information, expanded and hyperlocal news and dual language capabilities

“America’s third-largest TV market is riding the NextGen TV wave, with the addition of new capabilities for broadcasters and viewers.  We’re especially appreciative of our partners, Heartland Video Systems and LTN and their commitment to getting broadcasters on-the-air, said Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV group of TV broadcasters that coordinated the Chicago launch.

“Chicago will get the most out of live news and sports programming,” Schelle.said. NextGen TV will transform the fan experience with immersive features such as brilliant color and personalized, interactive bonus content.” 

Hisense, Sony, LG and Samsung already make TV sets with NextGen tuners. TCL plans to join them later this year. 

There are more than 100 models of NextGen TV set available with prices starting at $600, according to Pearl.

The participating Chicago stations have worked together to ensure that current programming remains available to all viewers, regardless of whether their television service is provided over-the-air or by a cable or satellite company, Pearl said. Antenna viewers can simply rescan their TV sets to ensure full service.

Stations in New Orleans began the transition to NextGen TV.

Tegna’s WUPL, cooperating with five other stations in the market, began transmitting signals using the ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast format.

In addition to its own programming, WUPL is using ATSC 3.0 expanded capacity to broadcast streams carrying the programming of sister stations WWL, Gray Television’s WVUE, Hearst Television’s WDSU, and Nexstar Media Group’s WGNO and WNOL.

The other stations will shift to ATSC 3.0 as more of New Orlean’s 660,000 homes purchase TV sets capable of receiving NextGen TV broadcasts.

Also: Local News Close-Up: Easy Does It in New Orleans

NextGen TV promised a better picture, improved sound and access to broadband programming. The ATSC 3.0 signal can also carry other digital services.

“Local broadcast stations play an important news and information role in the communities we serve,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, an organization formed by broadcasters, including Cox Media Group, Graham Media Group, Gray, Hearst, Nexstar, Sinclair Broadcast Group, E.W. Scripps Co. and Tegna.

“With changes in the broadcast television market over time, the value in bringing more innovation to newsrooms and viewers with smart solutions like NextGet TV is crystal clear,” Schelle said. “Launching NextGen TV enables broadcasters to deliver the latest news and emergency alerting information, which is critical in a geography such as New Orleans, where extreme weather events are common and local news updates and information is vital.”

NextGen TV is now available in more than 50 markets and is expected to reach 60% of U.S. TV households by the end of the year.

Pearl TV said that MediaTek and iWedia will be launching digital products that take advantage of ATSC 3.0 in the first quarter of 2023. ■

ATSC 3.0 coalition Pearl TV has partnered with iWedia, a division of Belgian video middleware developer Zappware, to offer NextGen TV-centric system-on-a-chip solutions to companies making smart TVs and other streaming devices powered by Google's Android TV OS.

“Android TV is one of the most versatile operating systems in existence, powering smart televisions and streaming boxes for nearly a decade,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, in a statement sent to Next TV a day later than most other competing B2B news outlets. 

“With a loyal, tech-savvy and content-loving consumer base, this platform enables Android TV manufacturers to onboard quickly and accelerate their introduction of compelling NextGen TV consumer features with sophisticated SoC technology powered by iWedia," Schelle added. 

Pearl TV is the coalition of broadcast company's leading the industry's transition to ATSC 3.0, aka NextGen TV, the first major tech overhaul for broadcast receivers since 1996, 

According to Pearl TV, there are currently around 110 ATSC 3.0-capable smart TV models available at retail, offered by Hisense, Sony, Samsung and LG starting at $599.

“NextGen TV has proven to be one of the fastest growing new technologies introduced to consumers and this partnership with Pearl TV opens up a seat at the table for Android TV manufacturers,” said Hans-Juergen, CEO of iWedia. “We are proven pioneers in Android TV, recently surpassing six million operating system deployments, and we’re thrilled to partner with Pearl TV and help manufacturers who want to streamline and accelerate their introduction of products with this cutting-edge broadcast technology.” 

Pearl TV, the consortium of TV stations advancing NextGen TV, took aim at cable operators in a meeting with FCC commissioner Nathan Simington.

That is according to a Federal Communications Commission document on the meeting.

Pearl TV was pitching a National Association of Broadcasters petition to clarify the application of the FCC’s ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) rules to multicast streams. Those are the extra channels broadcasters got in the switch to digital.

Also: ATVA Says FCC Should Mandate HD Before Allowing Broadcast Internet

“The proceeding is a narrow, technical one, that clarifies broadcasters can partner with each other to enable hosting of multicast streams (as only primary streams are addressed in the current ATSC 3.0 rules), and that multicast streams can be transmitted in either ATSC 1.0 or ATSC 3.0, without a simulcast requirement,” Pearl TV said. “Comments and reply comments are in, and they show remarkable consensus that the FCC should adopt the core principles of the proposed rule. The Commission should disregard self-serving comments that clearly do not seek to benefit the public, such as the limitations on the number of multicast streams that ATVA and NCTA are asking the Commission to impose or to turn this proceeding into a relitigation of the debate on retransmission consent.”

In November 2021, the FCC tentatively concluded that NextGen TV broadcasters — ones with signals in the ATSC 3.0 standard — should be granted a sublicense of sorts to allow them to contract with another “host” station or stations to carry their simulcast multicast streams, whether that is in ATSC 3.0 or the current 1.0 format.

The FCC is allowing stations to partner on distribution arrangements so that broadcasters can continue to deliver a primary TV station signal stream in ATSC 1.0 given that ATSC 3.0 is not backward compatible with current sets.

The National Association of Broadcasters, in that petition for declaratory rulemaking, wanted the FCC to declare "that various multi-station arrangements for hosting and originating multicast streams in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 are OK."

But cable operators represented by NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, want the FCC to limit the number of multicast streams a station can host for another station.

In addition, the American Television Association (ATVA), which comprises cable and satellite operators and others, said the FCC should explicitly prohibit non-simulcast multicasting to become de facto affiliation swaps that "either created new local duopolies, automatically raised retransmission consent prices, or both." Currently FCC rules do not prevent two top-four network-affiliated station signals being delivered by one station owner if they are multicast fees."

ATVA told the FCC that “just as the nonsimulcast multicast regime should [not] become a new tool to evade the local media ownership rules generally, it should not become a tool to evade the affiliate-swap rule more specifically.” ■

Pearl TV, a coalition of U.S broadcasting companies making the transition to NextGenTV, said it launched Run3TV, a web platform that brings interactivity and other streaming content to over the air viewers.

“An industry first, Run3TV gives broadcasters the ability to leverage the new ATSC 3.0 A/344 Interactive Content broadcast standard to create television applications that enhance over-the-air viewing with interactive and on-demand content delivered over broadband,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. “With NextTV and Run3TV, broadcasters can now bring the OTA environment into the digital world.”

Also: Sinclair To Demonstrate Latest Version of Hybrid TV Broadcast App at NAB

With Run3TV’s, stations can develop offerings at the application service layer and stay in control of the product vision, audience engagement and customer experience. Viewers are expected to spend additional time engaging with content and generating new revenue from viewers watching live broadcasts, including advanced advertising and premium content distribution opportunities.

Station groups have pointed to estimates by BIA Advisory Services that businesses using the new ATSC 3.0 technology to generate as much as $15 billion in incremental revenues for stations.

NextGen TV is currently available in about 60 markets with about 70 television models capable of receiving ATSC 3.0 signals available at retail.

“NextGen TV is scaling rapidly on connected TVs, creating a new advanced advertising marketplace. Display, lead-gen, and dynamic ad insertion capabilities will be game changers for broadcasters and help level the playing field among other digital providers,” said Kerry Oslund, VP of strategy and business development at The E.W. Scripps Co. “Run3TV creates an underlying framework that puts broadcasters in the driver's seat on what they create and how they provide content that matters to viewers. Run3TV has just scratched the surface of what is possible for the broadcast community.” ■

A campaign aimed at getting consumers to buy new TVs able to receive NextGen TV signals will launch on Black Friday, Nov. 26, and run through Jan. 30, 2022.

Commercials will emphasize the Dolby-enhanced sound quality NextGen enables. Using the slogan “Sound Decisions,” the spots show how it is easier to hear dialogue over background noise and that viewers encounter volume spikes.

The integrated marketing effort will appear on over-the-top programming, social media and on promo spots run on participating stations, according to Pearl TV, an organization with members including Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media Group, Tegna, Gray Television, CMG and E.W. Scripps Co. 

Also: ATSC 3.0: Everything You Need to Know About the New Broadcast Standard

In addition to improved sound ATSC 3.0, the broadcast standard behind NextGen TV, can deliver higher definition 4K, High Dynamic Range video, internet content on demand and other digital services.

“Delivering unprecedented entertainment, information, and engagement opportunities to consumers, NextGen TV is revolutionizing viewers’ interactions with their screens,” stated Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. “With NextGen TV today and in the future, their experience is more immersive, visually and audibly better, and will continue to be enhanced as more features from broadcasters and set manufacturers become available. The traction garnered in marketplace adoption has been remarkable in a relatively short time since the first commercial launch in early 2020.”

TV manufacturers including LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony are expected to ship more than 2 million sets to retailers by the end of 2021 at price tags starting as low as $599.

Also: Stations in Hartford Launch NextGen TV Broadcasting

Stations in 34 markets have already started NextGen TV broadcasting, Pearl TV expects to have 42 markets up and running by the end of the year. Another 40 plan to launch next year, including New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.

As NextGen is launched in a market, last year’s commercial touting “The Future of Television” will air.

The NextGen TV signals are expected to reach 45% of U.S. households by the end of the year, with 75% lit up by next summer.■

The numbers for NextGen TV look good right now:

• Broadcast stations in 16 more markets are lighting up their ATSC 3.0 signals this summer, bringing the total to 47 metro areas. 
• About 150 stations are involved, with many of them transmitting multiple channels. 
• Sales forecasts envision two million receivers this year, four million next year and 11 million in 2023 plus a new line of 3.0 set-top boxes.

With those ATSC 3.0 data points in hand – plus the looming Washington, D.C. multi-station launch, which will provide a political tech showcase -- the new platform’s cheerleaders are enthusiastic. 

"NextGen TV signals now reach 22% of households in our stations' footprints,” said Mark Aitken, VP of advanced technology at Sinclair Broadcasting Group and president of its ONE Media subsidiary. Aitken said every market Sinclair launch offers "Advanced HDR (high dynamic range) by Technicolor" content and “hybrid TV” is also in the works across the company's stations. 

Overall, according to FCC data, one-third of U.S. homes will be within range of a NextGen TV signal as of mid-August when Atlanta stations light up. 

Sinclair’s “hybrid TV” approach includes STIRR, the ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service. “We’ll have OTA (over-the-air) and OTT (over-the-top) brought together in our hybrid environment,” Aitken said.

Separately, Pearl TV is “laying the groundwork for future opportunities.”

“We’re 100% focused on scale,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, the broadcast group consortium supporting the all-internet protocol delivery platform. “This is not your grandmother’s [digital] transition. The economics are much different. … Scale will happen a lot faster.” Schelle said each market rollout has a viewer education plan in which the consortium runs a three-week promotional campaign with stations running 10-, 15- and 30-second spots inviting viewers to look at the website to learn about the new technology. Pearl TV is coordinating with local retailers who are selling the new receivers.

Patrick Butler, president of America’s Public Television Stations, proudly points out that about a dozen public TV stations have transitioned to 3.0 and that New Mexico PBS is the first to carry all five public TV programming streams in the new format. 

But Butler also acknowledges that many public TV stations are “stymied by the cost of conversion.”

“We have requested that Congress provide funds to accelerate this conversion,” Butler told B+C. He’s hopeful for the support because “the new broadcast standard means not only better pictures, sound, signal strength and mobility but also a major opportunity to enhance our remote learning capabilities, public safety communications, and other ancillary and supplementary uses of our spectrum, as Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have been encouraging us to do for years.”

Analysts are maintaining a realistic attitude about the adoption of NextGen TV. Stephen Baker, VP industry analysis at the NPD Group, observed that, “We’re barely in the infancy” of NextGen TV.

“Until the costs [drop] and availability becomes more widespread, then whatever the tech and software bring doesn’t mean a lot,” said Baker, who follows consumer electronics for the market research firm. 

Moreover, there are still questions about the status of the non-broadcast services that NextGen TV promoters have promised: digital capabilities that will provide new business options. 

“We’ve worked hard not to look like a bunch of TV stations with a side hobby, but rather a data network that incidentally relies on TV stations for high power transmissions,” said John Hane, president of BitPath, a joint venture of Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group (both of which are Pearl TV members). Hane characterized BitPath’s main mission as “to create data broadcasting services that are profitable and serve the public interest.” To do that, he said, it’s necessary to have 3.0 capacity “on the air,” and he expected “to be on at least 25 sticks this year” and to provide service via more than 100 stations by the end of 2022. 

But Hane, too, admitted that BitPath is “just at the beginning of the process.”

“We came up with a model hosting agreement and a transition process … and we created sophisticated back-end systems to support multiple ongoing transition planning,” he said.

Expanding Data Services

Since May, NextGen stations have popped up in these markets: Atlanta; Baltimore; Charlotte; Grand Rapids; Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City; Little Rock; Orlando; Sacramento; St. Louis and West Palm Beach. In Phoenix, where the “model market” launch has been underway for more than a year, single frequency network (SFN) transmissions started in July. 

Stations are already developing and testing data applications, some of which are based on “Run3TV,” the new name of the app formerly known as the A3FA Framework Application. The app is built on top of Pearl TV’s common app framework.

At Scripps-owned WXYZ-TV in Detroit, a local development team customized it to match the look and feel of the station’s branding of WXYZ and supplied the framework with VOD content that viewers can access via their NextGen TV remote control.

“The content includes categorized news video packages along with daily weather forecast from their local weather meteorologists,” said Bryan Dunbar, VP and CTO at E.W. Scripps Co. He said the “beauty of the framework is that we are now able to leverage this same software package and re-skin/brand it for all of other stations.”

New Mexico PBS transitioned its flagship digital station KNMD to ATSC 3.0 in late June, covering the Albuquerque/Santa Fe metros, which reaches about half the state’s population. Although the original station KNME (which reaches most of north and central New Mexico via translators) will continue to transmit in ATSC 1.0, the new NextGen TV transmitters will simulcast the full public TV line-up. That makes it the first public station to carry all five network streams -- PBS, PBS Kids, FNX, World and Create -- in ATSC 3.0, according to Franz Joachim, CEO and general manager of NMPBS.

Joachim said that the stations are considering a 4K broadcast test (“an idea in its infancy”) and they are looking for ways “to monetize the [3.0] spectrum to support our mission.”

“We have been pushing datacasting on both KNME and KNMD pretty hard and are interested in the possibility that the ATSC 3.0 datacasting for the bulk of New Mexico’s population can provide the bandwidth to take the load off rural areas where bandwidth is a real challenge,” he told B+C.

Catherine Badalamente, VP & chief innovation officer at the Graham Media Group, has also focused on supplementary interactive content. She credits the Pearl framework as a “solid base” for developing livestreams, video-on-demand and data-based services such as weather updates and “personalized content.”

“In the markets where we’ve launched our NextGen TV signals, we see rapid and persistent adoption,” Badalamente said. “When we compare the growth trajectory of NextGen TV adoption with the earlier Roku streaming box adoption, we see even faster audience growth for NextGen TV than we did for Roku. This suggests significant opportunities exist.”

“Additionally, we have been working with Google to experiment with addressable advertising – initially within the supplementary content, but as we find solutions, we hope to directly monetize the broadcast ad breaks with addressable advertising.” Badalamente said. 

She explained that Graham Media has leveraged the Pearl framework applications. “We have been able to launch applications to run alongside our broadcasts. This means we get to distribute digital-exclusive content to our broadcast viewers with very little overhead.” 

“We are delivering libraries of additional content to our viewers as well as secondary lean-back channels they can watch,” she added. “Being able to distribute these experiences seamlessly through the ATSC 3.0 signal is a fantastic opportunity.” She said the Graham team is building more capabilities as part of a broader focus “on membership and insider programs for broadcast television.” 

Graham is also participating in the Detroit Automotive Test Track.

Hoping for Answers at Late August Conference, then CEDIA and NAB

Following a year of pandemic-induced virtual development, the NextGen TV community will plunge into a new round of personal meetings in coming months. Among the issues confronting them are operations and competitive digital services. Supporters hope that many of the concerns will be addressed and resolved during the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s 2021 NextGen Broadcast conference, a live annual event in Washington, D.C. Aug. 25-26.

Also read: NextGen TV Delivering Remote Learning in Washington, D.C. 

Sinclair plans to show its first mock-up of a network operations center for 3.0, with an eye toward bringing stations together to operate effectively as a distribution network, said Aitken. 

Also on the agenda is the Consumer Electronics Design and Installation Association’s CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis on Sept. 1-3, where NextGen TV hopes to make inroads – prior to its next pitch to the CE industry at CES in Las Vegas in January. 

By the time of the NAB Show convention Las Vegas in October, Sinclair plans to show off SFN and also its mobile applications on “true consumer phones.” Aitken said that Sinclair’s chip subsidiary Saankhya Labs has made a deal with one of the handset makers (which he declined to identify) that supplies devices to Verizon. 

Another landmark in the ATSC 3.0 rollout will be the launch of a special NextGen TV showcase in Washington in September. It will focus on the coordination of signals from two sticks: WHUT-TV (public TV channel) is handling several of the signals and the new WIAV-CD (a Class A station that Sinclair acquired late last year) will transmit channels. Program details and promotional (including political focus) are still being developed.

Bringing the Signals Home

CTA’s semi-annual products forecast, published in late July, foresees an “inflection point” in 2023 when 11 million new TV sets will include NextGen TV receivers (representing about one quarter of all set sales), then “maturity” in 2025 when 73% of new TV sets (31 million devices) will have NextGen capability. Meanwhile, add-on set-top 3.0 receivers will become available in the coming year, enabling viewers to pick up signals for display on their current monitors. CTA expects about 1.5 million 3.0 STBs to be sold in 2022, climbing to 7.5 million units in 2024, then dropping off as more new TV sets include the ability. 

CTA’s forecast for 2021 envisions 2.1 million NextGen TV in the distribution pipeline, representing about $3.9 billion in revenue. Nearly 40 different models and sizes from a handful of TV makers are in that line-up now, and Schelle of Pearl TV expects more TV makers to enter the market by yearend. The current CTA data puts the median wholesale price for a new receiver at just under $2,000 – well above the $500 most Americans pay for a new TV set, according to NPD’s Baker. But Schelle said that the current pricing for NextGen TV receivers ranges from $599 to nearly $20,000 (based on screen size and other factors), with the costliest models skewing the median upwards. Like most technologies, the prices will drop rapidly with scale, she added.

Broadcast stations in 16 more markets are lighting up their ATSC 3.0 signals this summer, bringing the total to 47 metro areas. About 150 stations are involved, with many of them transmitting multiple channels in the NextGen TV standard. 

Since May, NextGen stations have popped up in Atlanta; Baltimore; Charlotte, North Carolina; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City; St. Louis; Little Rock, Arkansas; Orlando and West Palm Beach, Florida; and Sacramento, California. 

In Phoenix, where the “model market” launch has been underway for more than a year, Single Frequency Network (SFN) transmissions started in July. 

Following a year of pandemic-induced virtual development, the NextGen TV community will plunge into a new round of personal meetings in coming months. Among the issues confronting them are operations and competitive digital services. 

Supporters hope that many of the concerns will be addressed and resolved during the Advanced Systems Committee’s 2021 NextGen Broadcast conference, a live annual event in Washington, D.C., Aug. 25-26.   

Sinclair Broadcasting Group, part of the Pearl TV broadcaster consortium that also includes Nexstar Media Group, plans to show its first mock-up of a network operations center for 3.0, with an eye toward bringing stations together to operation effectively as a distribution network, Mark Aitken, vice president of advance technology at Sinclair and president of its ONE Media subsidiary, said. 

Also on the conference calendar agenda is the Consumer Electronics Design and Installation Association’s CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis on Sept. 1-3, where NextGen TV hopes to make inroads – prior to its next pitch to the CE industry at the Consumer Technology Association's CES 2022 in Las Vegas in January. 

Looking further into the future, by the time of the NAB Show convention Las Vegas in October, Sinclair plans to show off SFN capabilities and also mobile applications on “true consumer phones.” Aitken said that Sinclair’s chip subsidiary Saankhya Labs has made a deal with one of the handset makers (which he declined to identify) that supplies devices to Verizon. 

Another landmark in the ATSC 3.0 rollout will be the launch of a special NextGen TV showcase in the nation's capital in September. It will focus on the coordination of signals from two sticks: WHUT-TV, the public-TV channel, is handling several of the signals and the new WIAV-CD (a Class A station that Sinclair acquired late last year) will transmit channels. Program details and promotional plans (including political focus) are still being developed. 

Six months into its pilot project, Pearl TV’s “Motown 3.0 Open Test Track” in Detroit — which involves the city’s five major broadcast channels — has begun transmitting in-vehicle entertainment as well as software programming data updates and is adding services for rental cars, car-sharing fleets, school bus operators and long-haul trucks, including autonomous vehicles. At the same time, it is still recruiting non-U.S.-based manufacturers to participate in the field trials, according to Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, the consortium of nine broadcast groups which is promoting uses for ATSC 3.0 technology, also called NextGen TV. 

Schelle said that Pearl TV expects “to have a bigger update by summer.” Afterwards, the automakers — “Each one has different use cases” — will determine original equipment and aftermarket opportunities,” she added. 

All of the 3.0 signals are carried on subchannels of WMYD-TV: digital channel 31, virtual channel 20, part of E.W. Scripps Co.’s Detroit duopoly.

“We share spectrum on the WYMD stick as part of a joint agreement,” said Kerry Oslund, VP, strategy and business development at Scripps, whose mantra for the 3.0 project is to “Focus on the highest and best uses of spectrum, regardless of the standard.” 

The stations have agreed “to carve out part of our 3.0 spectrum for exclusive use by the auto industry and its vendors in the hope of introducing them to the affordability and efficiency of the spectrum, Oslund said.

Also Read: Successful 'Technical Integration' at the Core of Year-Old Portland Test of Seven ATSC 3.0 Channels via Comcast

“Let us give you a lot cheaper data, and let us fill your car with entertainment and news,” he told prospective automotive participants. 

The broadcasters’ role is to provide physical layer pipes (PLP) to carry data along with simultaneous audio/video signals. Oslund said that the stations can “adjust more robustly for mobile reception.” 

“We’ve carved out a portion of 25 Mpbs to be reserved for automotive uses,” he explained, making the cost very low. “All we had to do is create a separate PLP for the auto industry.”

Pearl chose Detroit for the automotive trials because of the presence there of U.S. legacy carmakers plus the vendors who supply them. In addition, Schelle said, “We’re talking to Honda, Hyundai, Daimler… and the connected car teams in [the] Bay Area.” European carmakers are looking at file transfer capabilities as well as infotainment, she added. 

The Motown 3.0 project involves five Detroit broadcast stations and is intended to “show automakers what’s possible with ATSC 3.0 [and to] merge automotive applications with NextGen TV,” Schelle said. It builds on “some early testing with Sony in Phoenix,” she added, referring to the Phoenix Model Market, where the Pearl Group established a test site in 2017, which was expanded in 2020. 

The Detroit test has begun offering file delivery for infotainment and is “working with automakers to determine hand-shake files.” In addition to Sony, which has developed a semiconductor, technology participants include LG Electronics and Triveni. The backpath for interactivity is via WiFi or a wireless carrier.

“We’ll use whatever channel is in the car,” Schelle said. 

*Source: B&C compilation of industry data

These technical trials are intended to explore “developmental implementation,” Schelle said. “Then the automakers will determine how to use it.” Pearl TV wants to find the carmakers’ requirements, including security, she added. 

Avis, the rental car firm, and its subsidiary Zipcar, the car-sharing service, are among the automotive firms in the trial. Pearl TV is also working with trucking companies to develop a reference design for truck fleets. 

Oslund said the Motown 3.0 test has no time frame, and confirms Schelle’s assessment that the automotive companies “are super sensitive and secretive” about their plans because they “are so competitive.” He added that advertisers, chip-makers and TV set-makers who want to get into the automotive space have expressed interest in joining the project. 

“As part of our invitation, we promised confidentiality,” Oslund said. “They don’t have to share what they learn. Pearl manages the Test Track, and we help with the technology and spectrum.” 

Scripps is running 3.0 transmissions in seven of its markets now and expects to add two more this summer and another dozen by 2022, Oslund said. Scripps owns or operates 62 TV stations in forty-three markets.

Also Read: Cable Clams Up on Its Next-Gen TV Recalcitrance

“We consider spectrum a shared company resource,” he said, foreseeing a role with the automotive industry that wants nationwide access. “Clients will do what they want with the bandwidth.”

“Ultra-Affordable” Data for “Rolling Computers”

He cited the need of autonomous tractor-trailer rigs as a “new kind of fleet ... with the demand for a great amount of data, a ton of [which] is one-way.”

“We’ve talked to a very interesting autonomous trucking company, big school bus lease operators and rental car fleets,” Oslund said. “The bottom line in all these opportunities is that they’re looking for services that are as reliable as mobile data carriers and ultra-affordable. That’s the secret sauce of broadcasting.” 

Affirming the new automotive characterization of vehicles as “rolling computers,” Oslund said that the automotive industry sees data as a triple play opportunity: backseat entertainment, audio services plus data for car operations as well as digital access for drivers and passengers. 

“Let us give you a lot cheaper data, and let us fill your car with entertainment and news,” he said. 

Neither Pearl nor Scripps is willing to spell out the pricing plans, but Oslund explained that, “We have modeled revenue.” He believes that if broadcasters start with the sums the auto industry now pays for mobile data services, they can “discount that drastically” because of broadcast’s ability to transmit in a “one-to-infinity environment.” 

Also Read: Locast Expands to Detroit

“We look at the amount of bits an auto company will need based on [the] number of files and frequency of the files, so that we have an understanding of what they need for current data delivery,” he explained. “Then we model how the market will grow in the coming year. We’re creating something that is going to be huge.” 

Pearl TV’s Schelle agreed. “They’re all interested, they’re all looking at this new standard,” Schelle said. 

“Our goal is to drive the automotive marketplace,” she added.

Competition from Wireless Carriers

But broadcasters’ NextGen TV venture is not alone in that goal. It is already facing accelerated competition from wireless telecom carriers, who are also speeding up their relationships with automakers. 

Ford Motor Co. said in late May that it would use AT&T’s network for its new “Power-Up” software update program for F-150 trucks and Mustang Mach-E vehicles. Initially, the Ford system will use AT&T’s 4G LTE technology, but the automaker indicated that the plan is to expand the capability via AT&T’s new 5G network to reach millions of Ford vehicles. Ford said it expects to produce 33 million vehicles with Power-Up capability by 2028. 

Ford is also working with Amazon to develop embedded Alexa voice command functionality into a hands-free vehicle experience. Ford expects that 700,000 of its cars and trucks will be enabled with Alexa voice command functionality this year, with “millions more” in coming years. 

A week after the Ford deal was announced, AT&T signed an agreement with Honda Motor Co. (including its Acura luxury division) to provide more in-vehicle entertainment options for passengers through the (for now) AT&T-owned WarnerMedia RIDE app. Honda and Acura vehicle owners who subscribe to AT&T's unlimited in-car Wi-Fi plan can get the service for free; the app lets passengers browse, stream and share premium content including HBO Max, Cartoon Network, CNN, TBS and TNT plus shows from the WarnerMedia library. AT&T’s unlimited in-car WiFi plan (starting at $2O per month) enables a vehicle to become a mobile hotspot and allows passengers to connect up to 10 devices.

The field trial in Portland, Oregon, involving Comcast’s carriage of seven local broadcast TV channels’ all-IP NextGen TV signals – still underway – is being deemed “successful.” 

“We integrated” the ATSC 3.0 technology with the cable network, said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, who has been overseeing the process to identify video, audio and data issues as well to help the Pearl consortium evaluate business factors.

The Portland trial is approaching the one-year mark, and Pearl TV, the consortium that’s managing the broadcast aspect, said it is generating valuable information for future technical integration of ATSC 3.0 signals via cable. Although both sides – Comcast and Pearl TV – decline to reveal specific findings of the project, Schelle said the process is “successful” in helping the Pearl TV consortium (nine broadcast groups, several of which own Portland stations) prepare for future rollouts. 

The seven broadcast TV channels involved in the Portland NextGen TV project are KATU (ABC/Sinclair), KOIN (CBS/Nexstar), KGW (NBC/Tegna), KPTV (Fox/Meredith), KOPB-TV (PBS), KRCW-TV (CW/Nexstar) and KPDX (MyNet/Meredith). See chart.

*Source: B&C analysis of station ownership data

Also Read: Comcast Testing NextGen Signal Over Cable in Portland

Schelle said that Pearl TV is “discussing the technical integration considerations” with CableLabs, Comcast, Cox, and other large MSOs for future implementations of NextGen TV via cable. 

The Portland trial began barely a year after several prominent cable operators and industry groups challenged policies that would require cable to retransmit NextGen TV signals, especially if they duplicated conventional TV channels or offered premium services that exceeded traditional video retransmission or competed with cable’s advanced services. 

Also Read: Cable Clams Up on Its Next-Gen TV Recalcitrance

Schelle characterized the goal of the Portland test as seeking “to develop standards that cable might reference through CableLabs, SCTE” and other industry groups. She said that Pearl TV selected Portland for its technical test site because so many broadcast channels had installed ATSC 3.0 transmitters and because Comcast was willing to cooperate on ways to explore use of its infrastructure. 

“Comcast had facilities there that match up with” Pearl’s objectives, Schelle added, “and it had a team that was ready to go.”

Checking HDR, 4K, Decoder Capabilities

Schelle said that Pearl TV has “been working on the transition with cable companies to make sure … [about] technical integration. Although she declined to reveal interim results, Schelle checked off a list of factors that are being evaluated, such as formatted video and High Dynamic Range (HDR) video (a key feature in 4K television).

By late summer, the group will begin testing over-the-air reception as well as fiber distribution of NextGen TV signals.

“We’ve been working with Synamedia  [3.0 software provider] and others to make sure the decoders” operate successfully, Schelle explained, “to make sure we can get various formats working.” She expects that Pearl TV will run similar technical field trials with other MSOs, but did not spell out any timetable. 

So far, the technical tests have not involved service delivery to cable customers. Schelle acknowledged that she has “no idea about how many Portland homes have 3.0 receivers.”

“These are early days,” she said, noting that Pearl TV is “working with manufacturers” to track actual sales. That will help all parties get a “general idea based on utilization of applications.” She said the Pearl TV participants will eventually be adding more features. 

“There is value in these applications, such as emergency alerts, multilingual service [and] … rich-media alerting,” she said – emphasizing the potential enhancement for cable customers. “As we look at it, there will be applications that are seamless between cable and OTA, such as sports betting and shopping. We’ve developed an applications framework.” She describes the NextGen TV platform as one that will enable “opening up layers to applications developers. This “framework for enhancing content” has not been part of the Portland trial, which has focused until now strictly on technical factors. 

Next on Pearl TV’s agenda – either in Portland or elsewhere – is determining how addressable advertising is compatible between NextGen TV and cable systems. Pearl TV plans to demonstrate its concepts at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas in October. 

“We have to think about this in stages with the cable companies,” she said. “We’re working through the different technical aspects of integration… [including] ecosystems support.” The results of that process will “allow the business folk to have discussions when the time is right around business issues.”

Broadcaster spots from the Pearl TV consortium promoting the ATSC 3.0 advanced broadcast TV transmission standard have drawn consumer interest, according to a Magid survey including over better sound, which has become a major differentiator.

The study found that a majority of respondents (60%) said they were “likely“ to purchase a TV set with NextGen TV technology within the next year after seeing the Pearl TV spots promoting NextGen TV.

Also Read: Everything You Need to Know About Next Gen TV

The ATSC 3.0 standard is not backward-compatible, so viewers will need a new set to get all the new features — interactivity and targeted content, as well as better sound and pictures — though they can still get the broadcast signal on their current sets with an adapter.

Also Read: Pearl TV Campaign Looks to Juice NextGen TV Set Sales

People assume that a better picture goes along with the new broadcast transmission standard, Magid executive VP, media strategy group Bill Hague said during an NAB virtual discussion of NextGen TV, so better sound has actually become more of a differentiator.

Still, when Magid polled consumers about what would drive their next TV purchasing decision, significantly better picture quality topped the list at 77%, followed by cost (68%) and then immersive, theater quality sound at 67% — essentially a statistical dead heat for second place.

Magid's data was based on online interviews conducted in February 2021 with 2,000 adults 18-54 identified as decision-makers and influencers in purchasing decisions who own a TV, including a sample of 400 Hispanics.

Sony VP of business development Nick Colsey said during the discussion that the CE maker was ”seeding“ the market with NextGen-capable TVs as stations roll out the technology. Sony was also looking for stations to do some call-outs of the ATSC 3.0-compatible logo on the packaging , which shows the sets are ready to handle NextGen, as well as the website nextgentv.com, which shows the markets that have already lit up ATSC 3.0 and where consumers can sign up for e-mail alerts to let them know when their market adds NextGen TV.

Also Read: FCC: TV Stations Can Team Up for Broadcast Internet

Tim Carroll, senior director of technology, sound group, for Dolby Laboratories, said among the consumer selling points of improved sound is not only immersive sound, but the ability to, say, turn up the dialogue (Voice Plus dialogue enhancement) if there are problems hearing voices, or dealing with “the other old problem — loud commercials.“

A group backed by major station owners is launching a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at familiarizing consumers with NextGen TV and selling a few of the new sets to early adopters during the holiday season.

Pearl TV, a consortium that includes Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps, Graham Media Group, Hearst Television, Meredith Local Media, Nexstar Media Group, Gray Television and Tegna, aims to run commercials in markets where multiple stations have converted to ATSC 3.0 and viewers can watch multiple networks via NextGen TV.

ATSC 3.0: Everything You Need to Know About the New Broadcast Standard

The spots declare that “the future of television has arrived” and promises stunning video, movie theater quality sound and enhanced internet content. Stations in markets such as Portland, Oregon, are donating some of their promotional time to the campaign, which will also run online and via radio.

At this point, few consumers have heard of NextGen TV, though some are aware something new is coming, said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV.

Schelle said Pearl has done a lot of consumer research. “The messaging that’s in this campaign actually resonated well with consumers,” she said. “The concept of purchasing a television that can bring you better features and functions, that’s upgradable like this one, actually resonates well.”

This year, Samsung, LG and Sony have built NetGen TV into some of their high-end sets. Models with NextGen capability start at about $1,100. Next year, more manufacturers will be releasing NextGen models and, like all new technology, the price will start to come down.

Also Read: Tegna’s KONG-TV Working With GatesAir on ATSC 3.0

Pearl aims to reach 75% of consumers three or four times each to build awareness in markets where the service and some features are available from day one.

One feature that already seems popular has been branded as Voice Plus, which makes a show’s dialogue clearer. “Close to 30% of consumer respondents in surveys, as well as in the lab, when they actually heard it, they [said they] would buy it purely for that particular feature,” Schelle said. 

“TV sets are selling like hot right now, given COVID,” she said. 

NextGen features will be particularly attractive to early adopters, particularly if you’re a video-phile or audio-phile, she said. “If you’re look[ing] at a product side by side with another one, and this one has [a NextGen tuner] in it, and the other doesn’t, why wouldn’t you purchase it?”

The commercials were created for Pearl TV by Hothouse.

“We appreciate the support of broadcasters on this initial campaign,” said Brian Markwalter, senior VP, research & standards, Consumer Technology Association. 

“CTA established the NextGen TV mark to indicate a product’s conformance with NextGen TV testing standards and requirements. At CES 2020, companies unveiled a number of new products optimized for the NextGen TV standard,” Markwalter said. “Now, consumers can simply look for the NextGen TV logo as they shop for new TVs – an easy way to make sure their televisions can deliver all the benefits of NextGen TV.”

After the holiday campaign airs, Pearl TV will do an analysis to see how much awareness was achieved and to see how many TV set sales can be attributed to the ads.

Any adjustments will be made to the campaign before an April reset, when new sets from additional manufacturers will be available and more markets will be live with NextGen signals.

In addition to picture quality and sound, NextGen TV will also have an application in select markets that enhances the local news and information stations deliver.

“Th[is] shows the power of broadcasting in terms of our ability to promote the opportunities that we have,” Schelle said.