LG, Korean Broadcasters Beam World’s First End-to-End 4K Broadcast in ATSC 3.0

LG Electronics teamed with Korean broadcasters MBC and SBS and other partners to beam the world’s first end-to-end 4K broadcast in Korea using the ATSC 3.0 standard, the companies said in a Tuesday announcement. Also working on the test broadcast were the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea, Korean conditional access firm DigiCAP, French broadcast equipment supplier TeamCast and American video software supplier Media Excel, they said. The first end-to-end broadcast of 4K Ultra HD “represents a significant development, because past demonstrations have simply used pre-recorded material loaded directly to a transmitter,” the announcement said. This test broadcast featured a live camera feed with real-time IP transmissions from the SBS network studio in Mokdong to the broadcaster’s Gwanak Mountain transmitter. The IP signals transmitted over the air on Channel 53 were then received using a simple antenna and decoded in Ultra HD by an LG ATSC 3.0 receiver, it said. The success of the trial “highlights the potential for Korea’s launch of terrestrial UHD TV commercial services using ATSC 3.0 in February 2017,” it said. "And the fact that Korean companies are playing such an important role in ATSC 3.0 provides a good opportunity for Korean equipment manufacturers to advance in the U.S. market.”