Killer App for NextGenTV (ATSC 3.0)?

Since the initial announcements regarding ATSC 3.0 and the understanding of its potential, many have wondered what the “Killer App” would be. Phil Kurz in his excellent opinion piece in TV Technology (https://www.tvtechnology.com/opinion/can-nextgen-tv-find-its-killer-app), asks that very question. And, the highly informative “Tech Leadership Summit” recently had panelists talk about that very topic.

A few years back at the PBS Technology Conference I was on a panel discussing ATSC 3.0  and was quoted in Current magazine (https://current.org/2018/04/station-leaders-at-techcon-weigh-moving-ahead-with-atsc-3-0/) “What’s in it for the consumer?  I think we see a lot of what’s in it for us”. Interestingly we continue to grapple with this a bit in our industry.

First and foremost, I am a huge fan and advocate of ATSC 3.0/NextGenTV. Utilizing our tall tower, high power broadcast capability PBS North Carolina covers nearly all the state with our signal. Improvements made as part of the Spectrum Auction repack where we maximized power at several transmission sites as well as post repack work at many of translator sites, we are delivering higher signal levels in most areas of the state.  With our initial ATSC 3.0/NextGenTV broadcast in cooperation with Capitol Broadcasting Company in the Raleigh/Durham area and our planned conversion of WUNK-TV/Greenville, NC, later this Spring, PBS North Carolina is firmly committed to bringing this technology to our state.

So, what will it do? What is/are the killer app(s)? First and foremost, the consumer benefit will be better pictures, better sound, better reception, potential mobile reception for stations who chose to add that capability, and potential interactivity.  I have real life experience now with this. February’s “Big Game” was broadcast on the local CBS station’s ATSC 1.0 channel and on the shared ATSC 3.0 transmission facility. I tried to watch the game on their 1.0 channel but, as has been the case with 1.0 from its inception, I had a less than favorable experience. Even though I am a mere 17 miles away from the transmission tower complex southeast of Raleigh, I had severe tiling, loss of signal, freezes, etc.  But I also had one of the SiliconDust HD HomeRun receivers I was testing and tuned to the 3.0 broadcast of the game, from tower in the same complex.  Perfect reception and exceptional video quality resulted in one happy football fan.

For PBS North Carolina we see many other applications that will not directly improve the consumer viewing experience, but it may very well improve their lives. We have been working on an effort to utilize the robust ATSC 3.0 broadcast signal to deliver emergency messages to first responders. We are delighted that the United States Department of Homeland Security funded a Small Business Innovation Research Grant specially focused on our efforts in North Carolina. We will use our WUNK-TV transmission site for field testing as this effort continues with the hope that the Small Business partner will successfully bring this to market, and to save lives.

PBS North Carolina has also joined efforts with several other PBS local stations and statewide efforts to address the broadband gap greatly affecting students, educators, and families during the Covid-19 crisis. Millions of households around the United States are without internet connectivity, nearly 200,000 here in North Carolina. And that does not speak those who may have access but simply cannot afford it.

A group of Public Broadcasters have created the Public Media Education Platform (PMEP). PMEP’s mission is to leverage current (ATSC 1.0) and future (ATSC 3.0) broadcast technologies to deliver critical educational content to students not connected to the internet. Numerous projects are in progress in several states utilizing ATSC 1.0.

PBS North Carolina is focusing on ATSC 3.0/NextGenTV to address this concern. We have invested to build our NextGenTV lab to test public safety and educational applications, first in a closed-circuit environment, and then later to bring those to our WUNK-TV transmission facility for large scale field testing. Our initial testing would suggest a substantial portion of the available broadcast IP bandwidth could be used for services beyond our traditional broadcast TV offerings. We will be exploring various configurations to both improve traditional broadcast reception for our viewers but to also tune the broadcast stream to make available as much bandwidth as possible for these other services.

We at PBS North Carolina are confident that we are working on not just a singular “Killer App”, but multiple applications that will serve our communities in ways never imagined.