• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 21, 2023

The ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard, consumer-branded NextGen TV, realized 22% growth in 2023 in the number of U.S. households able to access it, according to Pearl TV, a consortium of broadcasting companies leading the initiative. 

That growth, and a launch in the Chicago market in early 2024 —prior to the Super Bowl — will make NextGen TV technically accessible by 75% of U.S. households, Pearl reports. 

This year also marked a new partnership with the Federal Communications Commission to try to accelerate NextGen TV’s long-delayed widespread adoption. That has already produced a rules change designed to make it easier for broadcasters to preserve over-the-air/OTA access for viewers who are still using ATSC 1.0 devices during the transition to 3.0. 

In July, Pearl TV estimated that more than 10 million NextGen TV-certified TV sets would be in U.S. homes by the end of this year. 

But insufficient household penetration of ATSC 3.0-capable smart TVs or other devices continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to widespread adoption of the standard. And LG Electronics’ recent decision to discontinue integrating the standard in its 2024 TVs, due to a court loss in a patent dispute, generated speculation that other major smart-TV manufacturers (Hisense, Samsung, Sony) might also jump ship due to patent concerns — possibly endangering 3.0’s future. 

ATSC 3.0’s potential benefits include UHD/4K signals that enable high-quality video and sound, interactive programming and mobile reception, local emergency alerts networks and targeted advertising capabilities. But streaming services and apps are already capable of delivering these, as well as access to local programming and news, while broadcasters have been waiting for sufficient household penetration of 3.0-enabled devices to start transmitting in 4K. 

NextGen TV hopes to use CES 2024 as a platform to generate excitement and solidify commitment among broadcasters, OEMs and other partners, as well as raise awareness of the standard and its benefits among consumers and introduce new features.

Next year is "all about the consumer," said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle.

In addition to touting the household access growth and Chicago and other new markets (as well as “second sticks” in existing markets) to launch next year, NextGen will be debuting enhanced HDR, broadcast IP and expanded OTA sports capabilities, additional interactive features, more accessory options at retail, and more broadcaster applications enabled by the RUN3TV platform.   

Partially addressing the OEM concerns, NextGen is also announcing that Amlogic has partnered with Sony and Alticast to offer a high-performance reference design solution to enable faster time-to-market for hybrid ATSC 1.0/3.0 smart TVs.   

“This turnkey solution is integrated with Sony Semiconductor’s market-leading tuner/demodulator chips, as well as Alticast’s ATSC 1.0/3.0 software stack that has been validated through industry conformance testing,” stated James Xie, senior vice president of corporate business strategy, Amlogic. “This collaboration ensures a seamless and high-performance foundation for next-generation smart TVs.”

Next year is likely to prove pivotal in determining NextGen TV’s path forward. But as Madeleine Noland, president of the Advanced Television System Committee, reminded members back in September, “Every technology transition has its challenges. That’s normal.” This year’s developments have underscored “both progress and growing pains,” she acknowledged.