ATSC 2.0-Compatible CE Products Expected by Year-End
ATSC 2.0 will emerge as a new candidate broadcast standard early this year with a goal of deploying it in CE products by year-end, Richard Chernock, chairman of the ATSC technology and standards group, told us. The candidate standard designation is a precursor to formal implementation of ATSC 2.0, he said.
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The new standard, under development for 18 months, is designed to blend broadcast TV with the Internet in providing a variety interactive capabilities such as pushing news alerts to Internet-capable TVs much as they are delivered to smartphones via wireless networks, industry officials said. The standard also would allow for in-home viewing of broadcast content on mobile devices like tablets, industry officials said.
The proposed standard has the strong backing of LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony and manufacturers have developed ATSC 2.0-compliant TVs, said Chernock, who also is chief technology officer at Triveni Digital, which develops systems for monitoring, managing and distributing data and metadata in DTV transport streams. LG, Sony and Samsung officials weren’t available for comment. Panasonic is said to have played a smaller role than it did in drafting the original ATSC standard.
The standard allows for scripted or hyperlinked references to Internet sites and content and communications with broadcast servers, industry officials said. The communications are achieved via triggers sent to signal ATSC 2.0 content. Triggers link to data that define ATSC 2.0 content and can also signal to run, stop or pause that data, industry officials said. ATSC 2.0 also includes new codecs, digital rights management, audience and second-screen applications.
A key aspect of ATSC 2.0 is non real-time (NRT) delivery of content in advance to be stored for later viewing, Chernock said. NRT allows the delivery of on-demand content and also enables deployment of targeted ads based on a user’s personal data interface, Chernock said. The NRT standard includes support for fixed and mobile broadcasts, he said. It also has IP transport layers and file delivery over unidirectional transport and support for application-level forward error correction. There also are browse-to-download, push and portal services.
"Broadcasters are one voice in the wilderness of possibilities and one thing they need to address is how do they stay relevant,” Chernock said. “Broadcasters are not now part of the Internet value chain, but ATSC 2.0 provides new business opportunities. It gives a means for broadcasters to remain relevant in part of the connected TV world and control interactions with content and drive revenue."
With CE manufacturers being “very involved” in creating ATSC 2.0, the rollout of the new standard is going to “happen very quickly,” Chernock said. The candidate standard initially was expected to be available by mid-2012, but the introduction of it early this year will allow broadcasters and manufacturers to “tweak” it before being fully implemented, Chernock said. CE suppliers are eager to get the new standard deployed as it could provide means for restoring some profit to the TV business, he said.