The new ATSC 3.0 next-gen over the air TV standard is quickly coming and PBS wants to be ready. Now a group of PBS station have teamed up to be ready for the next gen in 4K over the air TV.
The new group called Public Media Venture group will work together to develop a plan for moving to the new 3.0 over the air TV stations as they still offer the current over the air TV standard. They will also look at opportunities to promote educational services, emergency communications, new program streams, and more interactive content.
“Stations participating in the Public Media Venture Group believe that Next Gen TV is just as exciting for public television stations as it is for commercial television. The new system offers public television stations the opportunity to create innovative and exciting new public services, to improve operations, save costs, generate new revenue, and invest more money in content and services that will better serve local communities,” said Marc Hand, CEO of Public Media Company.
Stations involved in the Public Media Venture Group include:
• Alabama Public Television, Alabama
• Iowa Public Television, Iowa
• KCET, California
• KVIE, California
• Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi
• Nebraska Network, Nebraska
• Nine Network of Public Media, Missouri
• Rocky Mountain PBS, Colorado
• UNC-TV, North Carolina
• Utah Education Network, Utah
• Vegas PBS, Nevada
• WCTE, Tennessee
• WFYI, Indiana
• WGBH, Massachusetts
• WJCT, Florida
• WNET, New York
• WOSU, Ohio
• WTTW, Illinois
“Next-gen TV is not just TV. It’s a great, big giant data pipe with TV being one kind of data that can go over it,” Fritz said.
Some over the air TV companies like Sinclair have already announced plans to push into 3.0 over the air TV starting next year. These PBS affiliates have yet to state when they plan to start their push into 3.0. Likely though in the next few years you will start to see them move into the new 3.0 over the air TV standard that will bring 4K and better coverage to viewers.
Source: FierceCable
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