Evoca

Broadcasters kept their focus largely on a NextGen TV narrative headed into this week’s CES in Las Vegas, where around 100,000 attendees are expected. Sinclair is discussing its own flurry of ATSC 3.0 developments, while the demise of pay TV service Evoca was one setback in the NextGen saga.

Evoca TV, a Meridian, Idaho-based start-up that provided virtual pay TV service using ATSC 3.0 broadcast instead of the internet, shuttered on Dec. 31, after a last-ditch effort to secure additional funding failed. Evoca told customers they can keep their leased Android TV-powered receivers, which are still useful for receiving local NextGen TV broadcast signals.

Evoca, the hybrid OTA-OTT pay TV service that leverages the ATSC 3.0 standard for content delivery, today announced a partnership with Sling TV that allows its subscribers to add Sling Blue, Sling Orange or both to their Evoca subscriptions. Subscribers who add the Sling offerings to their Evoca package of more than 60 channels, which includes live local sports and family programming, will receive a $5 bundle discount, Evoca said.

Evoca, a newcomer that’s using a blend of IP-based ASTC 3.0 broadcast signals and traditional broadband streams to deliver pay TV packages, will soon go up against incumbent cable operator Charter Communications, along with Dish Network and DirecTV, in Traverse City, Mich. There, Evoca has teamed up with Heritage Broadcasting to launch a pay TV package next month for the introductory price of $25 per month.

Evoca, a multichannel TV service built on NextGen TV broadcast technology, is launching its service, which includes the Altitude Sports regional network, in Denver. For $25 per month plus a receiver — which costs $5 per month to rent or $250 to buy — with no contract and a guaranteed price for two years, new Evoca subscribers will get access to live games from the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche along with Colorado State University and University of Denver games. The service also includes NFL Network, Game Show Network, Curiosity Stream, Bloomberg and other channels along with access to ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates through a provided antenna.

Evoca TV, which is using the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard to broadcast its all-IP OTT pay TV service in smaller markets using low-power TV’s, is looking to power up through the FCC’s upcoming auction of new TV station construction permits.

Evoca, a live TV service that delivers channels via ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology, says that Sinclair has refused to negotiate on carriage for its Bally Sports regional networks. For about the past year it has been trying to get Bally Sports Arizona so the Phoenix homes that watch over-the-air broadcast TV can watch their local professional sports teams. Bally Sports Arizona carries live games from the Phoenix Suns, the Arizona Mercury, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Arizona Coyotes.

It debuts its new pay TV service — the first such subscription-based NextGen TV service — over low-power KBSE-LD and KCBB-LD in Boise, Idaho.

A roundup of the NextGen TV applications station groups and startups are delivering today.

Evoca, a broadcasting-based multichannel pay service, is launching in Boise this summer with confidence it won’t meet the fate of two previous similar ventures because of its reliance on NextGen TV with its IP interoperability, expanded capacity and superior receivability.