Next-Gen TV Standard On Track For 2015

The Advanced Television Systems Committee’s work on the next-generation broadcast standard — ATSC 3.0 -- is progressing well and should yield a proposal or “candidate” by early 2015 and a final standard by late 2015, according to the technology experts.

As described by Madeleine Noland of LG Electronics, ATSC 3.0 represents a giant leap forward in the kinds of services that broadcasters will be able to provide and in how they can generate money from them. The standard will allow broadcasters to present 4K ultra HD and possibly 3D programming to big sets with fixed antennas in the home and HD programming to mobile devices in the hand or in the car with some degree of interactivity. Such services are made possible by the combination of a “fatter pipe” and “skinnier content, said Rich Chernock of Triveni Digital, who chairs the top ATSC 3.0 committee.