The National Association of Broadcasters will lead a new public-private transition to ATSC 3.0 from ATSC 1.0, an initiative known as “the Future of Television.” Also known as NextGen TV, ATSC 3.0 will bring 4K Ultra High Definition images, two-way interactivity, greater accessibility options, and multi-screen applications to televisions via over-the-air broadcast signals working in tandem with broadband. FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the Future of TV onstage in Las Vegas Monday at the 100th NAB Show. The FCC will work with NAB to bring together industry, government and public interest stakeholders to establish a roadmap for NextGen TV.

“A successful transition will provide for an orderly shift from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 and will allow broadcasters to innovate while protecting consumers, especially those most vulnerable,” Rosenworcel told the NAB 2023 crowd. The FCC adopted rules in 2017 to support a voluntary, market-by-market rollout of ATSC 3.0, which first became available in 2020 in Las Vegas.

“Despite the utopian promise of ATSC 3.0, it has taken many years to get off the ground and remains short of wide-scale market penetration, with availability in roughly 60 percent  of U.S. households,” writes Deadline, explaining that Rosenworcel must implement this change while dealing with the added challenge of presiding over “an FCC that is deadlocked at two Republican and two Democratic members, compared with the usual five-member setup.”

In order for consumers to access NextGen TV signals they must have new, ATSC 3.0-compatible televisions or reception devices, posing cost and accessibility challenges. The FCC said in an announcement it will be “working with industry and non-profit partners to ensure any transition is smooth.”

NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a statement that the NAB and broadcasters “will continue to work tirelessly to pave the way for this exciting new technology, which will revolutionize the way viewers consume broadcast content and enable local stations to better serve their communities.”

NAB is organizing the Future of Television initiative into three working groups to be formed in the coming weeks. Each is designed to address critical components of the transition: addressing existing hardware, the technical aspects of executing the transition, and regulatory issues implicated by the evolution in broadcasting standards.

For the past few years, “a consortium of broadcasters operating as a single unit called Pearl TV has been the driving force behind the roll-out and adoption of ATSC 3.0,” reports Fierce Video, adding that “the group has collaborated on a set standard for ATSC 3.0 host stations (called ‘lighthouses’) that have launched in dozens of markets across the country, as well as marketing and consumer education initiatives for the standard.”