NAB’s Top Tech Sees 3.0 OK Coming Soon

The NAB’s chief technology officer says he is hoping for FCC approval of the long-awaited ATSC 3.0 standard some time in “2017-2018.” The CTO, Sam Matheny, also an EVP with NAB, outlined the regulatory steps that still remain toward the goal of establishing the new transmission standard.

He made his remarks at a session titled “The State of Next Gen TV” at TVNewsCheck’s TV2020 conference on ATSC 3.0 at the NAB Show in New York today.

The three principal steps in the process, according to Matheny, are completing work and testing of the system by the ATSC itself (the committee of engineers, broadcasters and equipment manufacturers that has been developing the new standard since 2010); broadcasters’ filing of a petition with the FCC to change the current standard; and then the FCC’s issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking that would then lead hopefully to adoption of the new standard.

Reflecting the NAB’s position in favor of the new standard, Matheny was gung ho on the new technology and its potential for “opening up a world of opportunities for broadcasters.”

“ATSC 3.0 will be the first IP [internet protocol]-based broadcast transport system in the world,” he said. 

“It is being designed, it is being written to be totally integrated — to be an internet-connected standard that uses broadcast and broadband,” Matheny said, positioning the new system as a perfect blend of broadcast and broadband capabilities that will meld and exploit the best characteristics of each.

He described how tests of aspects of the system have been under way in several markets under the supervision of the committee and the NAB, including specially built test facilities at Tribune’s WLW Cleveland and a Sinclair station in Baltimore.

Answering a question from the audience, Matheny offered a very rough estimate of the costs TV stations could incur if they decide to retool their facilities to convert to the new system — anywhere from “$250,000 to $700,000” per station, he said.

The wide range in his estimate was due to different stations having different needs, where the conversion process is concerned. In other words, some stations will have to do less than others, depending on the characteristics of the equipment they already have in place, he explained. “Every station is set up differently,” he said. “Some things may not require an upgrade.”

A conversion from the ground up — in other words, basically building a new station around the new technology — could cost anywhere from $1.8 million to $3.8 million or more, he said, although he didn’t expect that that level of investment would be necessary for most (if not all) broadcasters.

Like other speakers at the TV 2020 conference, Matheny is enthusiastic about all of the esthetic enhancements that will become possible with the new transmission system — among them, picture resolution far greater than today’s HD, and audio quality being described in the ATSC “industry” as “immersive.”

In addition, the system will give stations greater capacity for transmitting data of all kinds, opening up new opportunities for new revenue streams, Matheny said. “There is no end to what may be possible.”

See all of TVNewsCheck’s TV2020 coverage here.