NBCUniversal is hoping to kickstart NextGen TV by rolling out a more personalized, hyperlocal viewing experience using ATSC 3.0 in four owned and operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami. The new service features extra video content and, for advertisers, hyper-targeted buy-in opportunities, dynamic ad-insertions and improved “real-time” audience measurement, the company said at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. NBCU says there are plans to expand NextGen outreach to additional NBC and Telemundo stations in the months ahead, and it will likely feature in NBC’s Paris Olympics summer telecast.

In addition to “access to a greater amount of content along with video streaming-like capabilities,” NBC station viewers in the four markets will be able to “access both local and network content from newscasts, live sports and entertainment shows, including on-demand capabilities, video clips of programs and alternate feeds,” according to Forbes.

Additional perks include localized weather information (in the form of radar maps and forecasts) and real-time alerts via The Weather Channel and, for public safety bulletins, through Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) channels.

NBC and NBC Spot On SVP of Business Development & Strategy Shawn Makhijani called the launch “a considerable milestone for broadcast television” that “demonstrates the immense potential and possibilities NextGen TV has for viewers, programmers, stations and advertisers.”

NBCU, which Forbes says “touts itself as the leader with NextGen TV capabilities,” developed the new service in partnership with Fincons, Ease Live (an Evertz company) and Pearl TV.

StreamTV Insider describes Pearl TV as “a consortium of partners, representing major U.S. broadcasters, and including Google which develops the RUN3TV web platform on which broadcasters can build hybrid TV services.”

“Up until now, content for viewers of NextGen TV,” which ATSC began exploring in the mid-1990s, “has mostly been limited to simulcasts of a local station’s primary 1.0 signal,” writes TV Technology, which says NexGen TV’s interactive enhancements “have been promised but not realized until now.”

NBCU’s implementation “which automatically launches when viewers tune into a NextGen TV over-the-air channel — is now available on NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations in the New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami markets,” per TV Tech.