The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has been given approval by the International Telecommunications Union for its ATSC digital broadcast standard.
ATSC 3.0 is the successor to ATSC, the digital TV standard widely deployed in North America, ATSC 2.0 was never launched and its feature set incorporated into ATSC 3.0.
The new standard is designed to deliver everything from 4K Ultra HD to robust mobile signals.
“With initial US deployments in place, we’re anticipating the first announcements of consumer receivers for the U.S. market in the coming days. The decision by the ITU is yet another signal that digital terrestrial broadcasting has a bright future ahead,” said ATSC Board Chairman Lynn Claudy, Senior VP of Technology for the National Association of Broadcasters.
The next step is to update the ITU Digital Handbook with best practices for implementation of ATSC 3.0. And ATSC members are poised to continue supporting international standards efforts, including through the new ATSC Planning Team 6 on Global Recognition of ATSC 3.0.
“ATSC appreciates the efforts of the U.S. Delegation to the ITU, led by the U.S. FCC, and we congratulate the ITU on its careful review and decision to include ATSC 3.0 as an official ITU standard. The system is currently commercially deployed in South Korea where audiences have been enjoying high-quality Ultra HD video and next generation audio from ATSC 3.0 broadcasts since 2017. US commercial deployment begins in earnest this year,” said Madeleine Noland, President of ATSC.
However, the ITU decision doesn’t guarantee deployment for ATSC 3.0, particularly as an earlier recipient of the international organisation’s approval is well into its deployment phase.
DVB chairman Peter MacAvock observes that the DVB-T2 family of technologies is already a recommended ITU standard and widely deployed around the world. “As a state-of-the-art broadcast system, DVB-T2 matches the features and functionalities of competing systems. Organisations seeking to deploy IP-based systems that interoperate with broadcast and mobile technologies also have DVB solutions available, not least with the recently published DVB-I specification.”
The DVB says its work with 5G networks to ensure DVB-I offers a common interoperable approach to the delivery of media services across any network, broadcast and IP.
It’s anticipated ITU recommendation for DVB-I will follow.