ATSC Ready to Score ‘Winning Touchdown’ With ATSC 3.0, Says Richer

As ATSC enters Q4, and with the progress being made on ATSC 3.0, “I feel like we’re entering the fourth quarter of an exciting college rivalry football game,” ATSC President Mark Richer said Wednesday in a football-laced commentary in the October issue of The Standard, ATSC’s monthly newsletter. With ATSC members having just approved three more standards in the suite that will make up the ATSC 3.0 system, ATSC “is in the red-zone, about ready to score its final winning touchdown,” said Richer. “After three hard-fought quarters, marked by lots of blocking and tackling and some huge plays, victory is imminent. Team ATSC is on track to bring the world’s first Internet Protocol-based television broadcast standard across the goal line.” Richer’s commentary didn't mention the latest delay in elevating ATSC 3.0's A/341 video document to the status of proposed standard because framers haven’t chosen a winning high-dynamic-range system. Nevertheless, “with the fourth quarter upon us, broadcasters, manufacturers and especially consumers are expected to win big with Next Gen TV,” said Richer in his commentary. “Winning in the end will take more than a couple of field goals, but I don’t think it will take any Hail Mary passes either.”