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It has been 11 years since the Advanced Television Systems Committee called for proposals to upgrade the current digital terrestrial transmission system (ATSC 1.0) to a significantly improved level — ATSC 3.0 — and just over six years since FCC rules regarding deployment of 3.0 became final. Broadcasters stepped up to deploy this innovative new service that now reaches over 75% of the country’s population while consumer electronics manufacturers have now provided well over 10 million TV sets enabled to receive the new tech.
This is tremendous progress. But so much still needs to be done to unleash the full potential of 3.0 for both consumers and broadcasters. The full potential of 3.0 is hobbled by our inability to access capacity now dedicated to the exact same thing that viewers already receive.
Broadcasters need an urgent jolt to unleash this revolutionary new technology.
What does that jolt look like? Four shocks:
Accelerated NextGen TV deployment – a 1.0 sunset. Flooding the market with affordable/ubiquitous dongles. Offering better quality programming. Demonstrating that money-making datacasting is here now.
As to accelerated NextGen TV deployment, CTA predicts there will be 35 million TV sets sold in 2028 plus 86 million already sold by then. That’s more than 120 million sets in use. That’s a good start. But there is a symbiotic relationship between receivers and transmission. Broadcasters must commit to deploying the 3.0 standard and CE manufacturers