The US’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted special temporary authority (STA) to Malachi Media to undertake 5G Broadcast trials over the next few weeks.
According to several reports, Malachi Media is the licensee of the the low-power TV station WWOO-LD in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and will partner with XGEN Networks LLC, Qualcomm and others to provide traditional TV programming using 5G Broadcast.
It will also use 5G Broadcast to work with first responders to provide enterprise video and data services, as well as emergency alerts.
WWOO-LD currently provides two digital programming streams, namely AntennaTV and NewsNet, and during the test period they will be aired in an ATSC 1.0 format over commonly owned station, WVCC-LD in Westmoreland.
In a statement, the FCC said: “Upon review of the application, we conclude that the request complies with the Commission’s requirements for an experimental authorization and the public interest would be served by grant of Milachi’s request.
“We find that Milachi has proposed a definite program of research and experimentation; stands ready to proceed with such research; is not expected to cause any objectional interference; and the experiment is likely to provide valuable information to allow broadcasters to better understand how 5G Broadcast can be used not only for traditional television services, but also new and innovative video and data services”.
