‘Bold Plans’ Needed for ‘Fully Exploiting’ ATSC 3.0's Benefits, Richer Says

ATSC 3.0, based as it is on Internet protocol, “will enable new business models, giving broadcasters a competitive edge that they haven’t had since leading the HDTV revolution 15 years ago,” ATSC President Mark Richer said Monday in his President's Memo in the April issue of ATSC’s monthly newsletter, The Standard. “But fully exploiting the benefits of next-generation television will require bold plans,” Richer said. “As they sharpen those bold strategies, it’s important for senior broadcasting executives to understand that the major elements of the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards are essentially completed.” At this month’s NAB Show, broadcasting executives who have been hearing about ATSC 3.0 from their chief engineers for a while now “will see first-hand the amazing possibilities enabled by next-gen broadcasting,” he said. In particular, the ATSC 3.0 Consumer Experience exhibit that ATSC is sponsoring with CTA and NAB will showcase “how to monetize next-gen broadcasting with targeted ad insertion, how to enhance their viewers’ experience with high-dynamic range programming (even with 2K broadcasting), how to reach more consumers during emergencies with advanced emergency alerting, and more,” he said. Meanwhile, the theme for the ATSC’s annual Broadcast TV Conference May 11 in Washington is “Countdown to Launch,” to reflect “where things stand on the ATSC 3.0 standard, the spectrum auction and repack plan,” Richer said. For 2016, he said, ATSC also has restructured its ATSC 3.0 Boot Camp conference May 10 and instead will host a daylong “implementation tutorial” titled "Ready-Set-Go! Planning Your ATSC 3.0 Rollout."