ATSC 3.0 Broadcast App in Use in Some Markets, Draws on HbbTV

Multiple stations are using Sinclair's open-source broadcast app and it's being used to offer ATSC 3.0 viewers interactive content, said Rob Folliard, Gray Television senior vice president-government relations and distribution, on an NAB Show panel Tuesday. Folliard said Florida stations are using the app, and So Vang, One Media vice president-emerging technology, said it's running on every Sinclair 3.0 station. When the app is in use, “essentially a browser appears on your TV set,” Folliard said. U.S. broadcasters are looking to Europe for use cases and applications that can be adapted to 3.0 from Europe’s hybrid broadcast broadband TV (HbbTV) internet television standard, said Francesco Moretti, CEO international for Italy-based Fincons Group. HbbTV has close similarities to 3.0 and its IP backbone, so systems built for the European standard can be made to work with 3.0 in just a few days, said Kerry Oslund, E.W. Scripps vice president-strategy and business development. The app also enables broadcasters to collect data on viewers and to create “flash channels” offering specialized or geotargeted information for consumers that choose to use them, said Vang. Such channels could be used to convey weather warnings to a small segment of a broadcaster’s market, or offer a secondary camera view of live sports, said several broadcasters. Interoperability between the app and MVPDs is still being tested, Folliard said.