ATSC 3.0-Next Gen TV
Introduction
I am not an avid TV watcher or sports fan. So I selected over the air (OTA) viewing as all major networks, and many regional channels, provide excellent service coverage at my location for a total of about thirty+ channels. I do have a high speed Internet Service Provider (ISP) for general internet access and subscribe to a couple of internet movie channels. Why? I do not want to pay for cable delivery and watch commercials that pay for the service. There are also many channels in these cable bundles that I would never watch, so why would I pay for them just to get the few that I would?
ATSC 3.0 is the new over the air (OTA) broadcast format that is to replace ATSC 1.0, the current OTA broadcast standard for digital HDTV. It has been designed to compete with cable and internet media delivery, will support 4K UHDTV and is supposed to be extensible in order to grow, develop and meet new technology demands.
ATSC 3.0 or Next Gen TV
So where and what is this new standard and what does it all mean to my fellow OTA viewers, and those of you tied to cable?
Most technical aspects of ATSC 3.0 are now finalized and tests are underway in several markets including Phoenix, Dallas, Cleveland and Raleigh, North Carolina. One of the major advantages touted over ATSC 1.0 is just how robust the transmission path is in low signal areas and in particular its support for mobile devices. It will also be interesting to see how mobile viewer tracking is accomplished. The new standard promises 4K TV at frame rates as high as 120 and better all-round fixed and mobile reception.
The role out of ATSC 3.0 is still a ways off and it is unlikely that we will see suitable TV’s in stores before the end of 2020. Station upgrades to this new standard could take many many years after 2020 depending upon mandates from the FCC. Currently the roll out of ATSC 3.0 is voluntary and will be driven by the market demand. The FCC also requires that all stations continue to broadcast ATSC 1.0 (HD) for at least five years after it adopts ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. No FCC mandate may mean little or no take up by the OTA viewers. If that happens the whole ATSC 3.0 upgrade would be ‘dead in the water’. Generally speaking the FCC, TV manufactures and other hardware manufactures are banking on the public demanding this new standard. I certainly won’t be holding my breath for that!
The use of OFDM broadcast technology instead of 8VSB used in the current OTA system means that potentially there will be better reception indoors and near tall buildings. The HEVC H.265 codec means higher quality and higher resolution signals can be broadcast without an increase in TV broadcast bandwidth. So each TV channel keeps its current allotted 6MHz bandwidth. Not that there is anymore available since the FCC auctioned off all the old TV channels.
This new standard is not just about keeping up with the Blu-ray, Cable and Internet 4K standard. ATSC 3.0 has been developed from the ground up to support both current and future technology innovations, multi-channel audio and also supports web interactivity and a ‘back channel’ or return data path over the Internet to the program providers. YES, even if your not on cable they would like you to have an internet connection so that they can track your EVERY viewing habit. Why? So that they can target you with more useless information (sorry, adds) based upon your viewing habits, ethnicity, area of the country etc. I just hope it isn’t listening to my (our) conversations to ‘big brother’! This back channel connectivity also means that the government, and others, can control your set by turning it on and off for things like Emergency Alerts.
The good news is that you will not need to connect that internet cable to these new sets to make them work. Lets hope that one day they don’t install low power ‘cell phones’ in these new TV’s so that you can’t disconnect them from the ‘Borg Collective’. A bit like these new “SMART” electric and gas meters that communicate over RF, like a cell phone, back to the energy providers telling them exactly what you are consuming and when. (I refused to have one installed and continue to pay the price for that privilege).
By the way, much of this new Smart Technology is easy to hack…..just a heads up!
As mentioned, ATSC 3.0 has the ability to provide you with TV on all your mobile devices. That is IF cell phone manufacturers decide to include TV tuners in your cell phones etc. The inclusion of FM tuners for radio died a death. Why? Providers want you to pay for their data carrying services NOT receive free OTA Radio and TV. That isn’t a good business model for them. Its inclusion would, I suspect, be either a mandated requirement or an option that the user pays for on a monthly basis in order to have it activated. Yes, yet more revenue for the cell phone and ISP providers.
So why is this upgrade to ATSC 3.0 so important to the broadcasters? They are currently loosing vast numbers of viewers to various cable providers like Amazon, Google and Netflix to name just a few. With ISP bandwidths now supporting 1Gbit, 4K and higher multiple feeds can be sent directly to the home from this ever growing range of media and program providers. As the aggregate viewing figures continue to shrink so does the add revenue which all these OTA stations so dearly need to stay in business. These TV stations are banking on this increased data rate, functionality and web connectivity to dig them out of the present ‘data’ hole and position them for the future. I’m just not too sure about that, especially as most of their viewing figures come from cable, NOT OTA which is expensive to maintain and only accounts for about 17% of TV viewing figures. This is despite the continued increase in OTA viewership.
How Much Will It Cost Me?
This new standard doesn’t really impact cable viewers in any significant way. Set top boxes are broadcast standard agnostic, provide constant monitoring of your viewing habits and the only limit on quality is the cable providers desire to get a high return on investment by cramming as many channels as they can, at disgustingly low bit rates, into you set. Unfortunately, ATSC 3.0 is NOT backward compatible with ATSC 1.0. So all ATSC 1.0 OTA viewers will eventually need either a separate tuner or a new TV. The only difference this time is that there will be NO subsidies for the ATSC 3.0 tuners.
The good news in all this is that it took sixteen years to transition from analog SD NTSC TV to digital HDTV ATSC1. I think that the transition period from ATSC1 to ATSC3 may be somewhat faster than the last OTA transition, unless of course you all decide not to bother until the very last minute!
So for now, ATSC 3.0, or Next Gen TV, is looming on the horizon, and is closer than you think with Japan NHK now offering 8K OTA.
This is OTA broadcasts last hoorah as they try to keep their OTA viewers before they all move to cable and the Internet. I for one can do without it, and will, until I am forced to buy a new TV set or tuner if and when they finally turn ATSC 1.0 off for good.
