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The FCC Approves the New 3.0 Over-the-Air TV Rollout

This week the FCC voted unanimously to approve the “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to allow broadcasters to roll out the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard on a voluntary market-driven basis.”

What does that mean and what does ATSC 3.0 mean for cord cutters? In short it means good news for cord cutters across the board.

ATSC 3.0 means free 4K is coming to over-the-air TV. ATSC 3.0 allows pinpoint alerts and better accessibility for disabled viewers. These pinpoint alerts mean just the town that is being affected by severe weather, for example, will receive a weather alert.

In short the 3.0 standard will bring new options to cord cutters and better technology for offering customized broadcasts to specific locations.

“We’re delighted that the commission has begun the formal process of approving use of this revolutionary capacity for broadcasters with the significant commitment of Chairman Pai to move quickly to final rules,” said Jerald Fritz, executive vice president of One Media, the Sinclair spin-off company pushing for the advanced standard. (Sinclair was a pioneer in pushing for an advanced, mobile, broadcast transmission standard).

“The opportunities opened are immense, and we’d like to begin providing these enhanced services to our viewers as quickly as possible,” Fritz added. “The convergence of Next Gen deployment and the broadcast station repack marks both a practical and strategic relaunch of the broadcast business model.”

“We applaud the Commission’s balanced and deliberate NPRM,” said Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the American Television Alliance, whose members include cable and satellite MPVDs. “We believe it will provide for a robust discussion of the critical issues and help ensure that the proposed transition benefits all broadcast television viewers regardless of whether they receive those signals over the air or from a pay TV provider.”

Source: TV Technology

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