After putting 25 stations on the air with the new transmission technology this year, it says it plans to convert another 20 markets in 2022, bringing its coverage of U.S. TV households with ATSC 3.0 to 50%.
Nexstar Rolls Out NextGen TV At Its WHTM Harrisburg
Nexstar Media Group on Tuesday announced that WHTM, the Nexstar ABC affiliate serving Harrisburg, Pa. (DMA 42), has begun broadcasting with NextGen TV (also known as ATSC 3.0). Harrisburg is Nexstar’s 17th market to begin broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 in 2021.
Over the course of the year, Nexstar deployed ATSC 3.0 at 25 of its stations; close to 30% of all U.S. television households now receive a NextGen TV signal from a Nexstar-owned or -operated station.
Nexstar is a participant in BitPath, a broadcaster-supported consortium creating a network for datacasting, with services launching in 2022. Nexstar’s ATSC 3.0 television stations plan to participate in the BitPath broadcast data network.
“When it comes to the deployment of ATSC 3.0, we think scale is critically important to fostering consumer demand for NextGen TV sets and developing new businesses and services,” said Brett Jenkins, Nexstar EVP and chief technology officer. “Nexstar reaches more television households with a NextGen TV signal than any other local broadcast company. With even more Nexstar television stations deploying ATSC 3.0 in 2022, we are well-positioned to launch broad-based datacasting services to support new businesses in such areas as agriculture, automotive, digital signage, education, location services and public safety. A recent BIA study suggested that these services could generate up to $15 billion in additional broadcast revenue by 2030, and Nexstar will be very aggressive in pursuing the new opportunities presented by NextGen TV.”
Nexstar is planning to convert another 20 of its local television markets to NextGen TV next year, and its station group has set a goal of reaching 50% of U.S. TV households with NextGen TV, powered by ATSC 3.0, by the end of 2022.
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