Billions Of Dollars At Stake In ATSC Next-Gen Effort

The companies vying to have their technology adopted or at least incorporated into the next-generation TV broadcast transmission standard by the Advanced Television Systems Committee all have their reasons. Consumer electronics manufacturers like LG Electronics, Sony and Samsung know that a new standard -- ATSC 3.0 -- could fire up consumer demand for millions upon millions of new TV sets and other electronic devices. Sinclair-backed ONE Media believes its system, if adopted, will rejuvenate broadcasting by allowing stations to broadcast to mobile devices, offer targeted advertising and enter new data businesses.

But, according to one ATSC insider, the proponents all have another powerful motivator -- the mega-bucks that will flow to them in the form of royalties from whatever patented technology they can squeeze into the new standard. “It’s billions of dollars,” the source said of the potential size of the total ATSC 3.0 patent royalty pool.“The primary participants in that [ATSC] room are there for one reason: They are looking at their future revenues, and more and more of those are being driven by patents and royalties,” the source added.