NextGen broadcast TV, also known as ATSC 3.0, is progressing more rapidly than predicted, with coverage in more than 40 markets that account for approximately 45 percent of the nation’s population, with a summer household target of 75 percent reach, according to Pearl TV, a coalition of U.S. broadcasters fueling the advance. The debut at CES 2022 by Chinese manufacturer Hisense of its first ATSC 3.0 TV sets — joining LG, Sony and Samsung — was well-received, as were showcases for ATSC 3.0 automotive broadcasts and fabless semiconductor firm MediaTek’s steps to hasten market delivery times for new ATSC 3.0 TV sets.

“NextGen TV enhances broadcast TV and is a critical technology to the preservation of free, over-the-air local news,” Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, was quoted as saying in TV Tech.

Among the initiatives touted by Pearl TV at CES was the “Motown 3.0 Open Test Track,” a sandbox for in-car ATSC 3.0 applications designed to power a better viewing and listening experience for consumers in transit while also providing advanced emergency alert information to mobile viewers in future vehicles equipped with NextGen TV receivers.

At CES, Pearl teased Motown 3.0 test data that TV Tech collected by Sony Electronics using its CXD2885 (“Clover”) chip on the Test Track.

Among Sony’s findings, expected to be published in a forthcoming white paper: audio/visual media files transmitted to devices traveling at highway speeds were successfully received, while connectivity transitioned smoothly between transmitters addressing the moving vehicles. In December, five local Detroit stations jointly launched NextGen TV in the nation’s 14th largest TV market.

The station list is provided in an ATSC press release.

“The edge of a 3.0 network has to be smart, and at the edge is the receiver — not necessarily a TV but also an IoT device, a set-top box, what’s embedded inside a car dashboard and other devices,” TV Tech wrote in a separate article predicting “2022 Will Be A Breakout Year” for NextGen TV.

The article quotes Gaian Solutions founder and CEO Chandra Kotaru calling the technology “a money-making machine in terms of every possible facet of how NextGen TV can bring new revenues to existing broadcasters, existing content operators and existing services as well as through … services like in-vehicle music streaming, HD Radio [and] IoT.”

Kotaru was interviewed by Schelle at CES 2022, where he provided an early demo of Gaian’s new receiver stack.

In other news, Taiwan’s MediaTek plans to provide a turnkey ATSC 3.0 solution to reduce cost and speed the implementation by smart TV manufacturers.

Hisense also took the ATSC 3.0 plunge with three new ULED 4K TVs introduced at CES: the U9H, U8H and U7H. The high-end U9H will retail for $3,200 beginning late summer, preceded by the U8H and U7H models, for $1,100 and $800, respectively.

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