Phil Kurz

Verizon has begun to demo a new approach to delivering video over its vast LTE wireless broadband network that will allow it to mimic and compete with broadcasting.

The technique, which the company calls LTE Multicast, permits Verizon go beyond one-to-one delivery to broadcasting-like, one-to-many delivery. For its most recent demonstration of the technology, Verizon transmitted multiple camera angles of race coverage from the Indianapolis 500 to some crew members in the pit at the track.

The wireless carrier used an undisclosed number of cell sites near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the demo. The crews, which were given Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphones and Sequans tablets enhanced with special LTE Multicast chipsets to receive the Verizon broadcast, used the devices to view specific camera angles of the race and give their drivers a tactical advantage.

The Indy trial of LTE Multicast follows its rollout at a special technology showing in New York City’s Bryant Park as part of the festivities surrounding Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb 2. “This is a very spectrally efficient way to deliver large quantities of data, primarily video, to a particular area,” says Verizon spokesperson Debi Lewis.

Single frequency networks may be the technology that makes it possible for television stations compete with wireless in reaching viewers on their mobile devices.

Proponents say these booster sites can provide strong signals throughout a station’s coverage area. However it comes at a price: capital costs to implement such booster networks could hit $2 million per market.

Sam Matheny, Capitol Broadcasting’s VP of policy and innovation, has several “big buckets” of issues that he says need to be studied and resolved before a successful ATSC 3.0 transition can take place.

Among them are determining the impact of the transition on the audience, the possibility for interference, the duration of the transition, the availability of spectrum and the impact of the transition on direct-to-home satellite, cable TV and telecommunications TV partners.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is moving forward with its plan to develop an alternative "next-generation" TV broadcast standard to the one that the Advanced Television Systems Committee is working on.

Tommy Eng, president of ONE Media, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Coherent Logix, announced in a press release that the Next Generation Broadcast Platform would be a "converged media platform that extends 3GPP LTE standards to incorporate reception from existing tall-tower TV antennas, opening up new business opportunities for broadcasters and overcoming existing mobile DTV reception limitations.”

Mark Aitken, VP, advanced technology, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said ATSC is not up to the task for developing the standard that broadcasters need. “ATSC does not offer a place for how we as an industry can work to shape regulation and work with all of the government bodies to make a next-generation system happen," he said.

Broadcasters are expressing concern that the timetable proposed by the Federal Communications Commission to repack TV spectrum following the auction to wireless carriers is unworkable and that the consequences for failure to meet the deadlines under consideration are too severe.

The proposals include a 39-month window to complete channel relocation following the completion of the auction. Failure by a broadcaster to finish the channel change in that time will result in that station going dark until the work is completed.

Another proposal states that if a station is unable to complete the channel change within a year of going dark, it will be required to forfeit its broadcast license.

The order, expected to go to the commissioners for approval at their May or June open meeting, will address what the reorganized 600 MHz band will look like, provide details about the auction process, lay out the impact of the auction on broadcasters, including the repack, the reimbursement process and time line, and what happens after the repack.

The annual gathering rebounds from recession blues, but are the TV industry and the show equipped to handle new challenges?

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the National Association of Broadcasters’ gathering in Las Vegas is that both the television industry and the NAB seem to have a profound understanding of these questions and are responding in ways aimed at positioning television broadcasters for future success.

Pearl, the consortium of eight TV groups formed in 2010 to investigate and test new digital technologies, will launch a trial of interactive television in Atlanta, Cleveland and Orlando (FL), during live newscasts.

The interactive TV trial, which gives viewers watching on LG Smart TVs in the three markets access to enhanced news content and advertising, will continue.

To access the interactive television content, viewers must first complete a “double opt-in,” by agreeing via the television’s LifePlus smart TV interface and then clicking on screen during newscasts to launch interactive services. The back-channel from the LG Smart TV to station servers providing interactive content will be via the Internet.

Electronics Research, a Chandler (IN)-based manufacturer of radio frequency components, waveguide and antennas, has laid off 22 employees, its entire television-related manufacturing and sales force, an apparent consequence of the Federal Communications Commission's policy aimed at freeing up TV spectrum for the wireless industry.

The laid off workers represent about 16% of the company’s overall workforce, leaving 102 employees focused on RF products for the radio industry. “As long as this incentive auction and [TV spectrum] repack is pending, there is really no capital investment being made by domestic television stations in transmission facilities,” said Bill Harland, ERI vice president of marketing. Harland said the FCC's April 2013 public freeze on both new construction permits and pending applications for modifications to existing facilities has been devastating to the small community of vendors supplying RF technology to US TV broadcasters.