ATSC 3.0 Live World Series Broadcast Hailed as 'Defining Moment' in TV's Future

WJW-TV, Tribune Media's local Fox affiliate in Cleveland, planned Wednesday to run the first live ATSC 3.0 broadcast of a major professional sporting event, beaming Game 2 of the World Series between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs from Cleveland's Progressive Field, said NAB and several technology partners in the experiment, including LG Electronics and GatesAir, in a Wednesday announcement. WJW has played host to ATSC 3.0 field trials in Cleveland since last year (see 1507130007). LG had two prototype receivers in Cleveland to receive the ATSC 3.0 World Series broadcast as a simulcast of the Fox network HD feed, spokesman John Taylor told us Wednesday. LG planned to have a 65-inch OLED TV at Progressive Field and a 55-inch set at WJW headquarters to showcase the ATSC 3.0 broadcast, he said. Both TVs have real ATSC 3.0 reception chips built into the sets, he said. LG in the field trials used the Futurecast modulation system to demo over-the-air reception last year to stationary TV receivers and terrestrial antennas mounted inside a conference room at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum on Cleveland's lakefront. The World Series broadcast is a "defining moment" for the future of television, said ATSC Chairman Richard Friedel in a statement. Friedel is executive vice president-general manager, Fox Networks Engineering and Operations.