ATSC 3.0 Built for Global Deployment, Says Newly Released ‘Master’ Document
Though ATSC 3.0 for now is earmarked for deployment only in South Korea first and the U.S. next, its suite of standards “anticipates application in different regions of the world, and is therefore designed to intrinsically accommodate regional variations,” says ATSC 3.0’s A/300 document, just approved as a candidate standard and posted to the ATSC website. ATSC President Mark Richer at last year’s NAB Show previewed the A/300 “master document” as the “mother of all standards” because it “points to all the other documents” in the ATSC 3.0 suite (see 1604180080).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
ATSC 3.0's physical layer design allows operation in TV “channelization schemes” using 6-, 7- or 8-MHz bandwidths, and “electrical power service” of either 50 or 60 Hz frequencies, says A/300 on the easy adaptability of ATSC 3.0 to other TV broadcast systems throughout the world. Such harmonization in terrestrial broadcasting “benefits manufacturers, broadcasters, regulators and consumers,” says the document. A/300's candidate-standard period expires July 31, and its posting on the ATSC website is seen as a sure sign the suite of ATSC 3.0 standards is well on its way toward completion.
Manufacturers of broadcast equipment and TVs can produce goods “that can be sold worldwide with few regional design differences,” says A/300. “Producers can maintain fewer video file formats, and distribution of content is streamlined. Innovation on spectrum usage requested by numerous regulators around the world can be addressed with a single standard. Worldwide travelers watching television on mobile devices can receive local TV programs all around the world.”
Because ATSC 3.0 is built to be the basis for a "common world standard," ATSC 3.0 also includes an “anti-obsolescence mechanism,” says A/300. “The need for worldwide agreement and regulatory efforts makes it inefficient to change standards frequently. The worldwide television system is conceived for the long term, allowing ready adaptability for integrating new kinds of devices, products or services that may become available in the future.”
As ATSC’s Richer predicted at last year’s NAB Show, A/300 is the first document publicly to spell out the designation of Dolby AC-4 as the ATSC 3.0 audio codec for North America and MPEG-H for South Korea. “All ATSC 3.0 terrestrial and hybrid television services emitted within a given region shall use one audio system selected for that region from those defined in A/342 Parts 2 and higher,” it says in reference to ATSC 3.0's three-part audio document. Part 1 of A/342 describes the “common elements” of ATSC 3.0 audio and was approved Jan. 24 as an ATSC 3.0 standard. Part 2 contains the physical description of AC-4 and was approved Feb. 23 as an ATSC 3.0 standard. Part 3 contains the physical description of MPEG-H and is currently out for ballot among ATSC members for elevation to the status of a proposed standard.
“Broadcast organizations” in North America selected AC-4 “as the audio system for use in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.,” but the Telecommunication Technology Association chose MPEG-H “for use in South Korea,” says A/300. TTA, based in Seongnam, South Korea, is “a private-sector-driven international IT standardization association, offering a one-stop service for creation of new standards in telecommunication industry, establishment of standards in diverse IT fields, and testing as well as certification and authentication services for new IT products,” its website says. Apportioning MPEG-H for South Korea and AC-4 for North America was the result of a compromise brokered within ATSC to break the months-long impasse to choose between the two competing systems, ATSC-watchers told us last year (see 1604210053).
A/300 delves much into the discussion of using ATSC 3.0 for audience membership tools, as ATSC 3.0 advocate Sinclair frequently touts (see 1611020025). “To address current trends in advertiser and consumer behavior, the system enables a variety of new advertising means,” says A/300. “Targeted advertising is available within both the primary television content and the secondary content displayed on companion devices.” It describes “triggering mechanisms” that can be embedded in the content “so that the time, duration, placement and type of ad is identified to the device.”
Deciding which ad to deliver to which consumers “can be managed via a variety of processes, including monitoring of viewing patterns such as favorite channels or programs, requesting advertising preferences from the viewer, monitoring social interactions between viewers, or receiving information from viewing devices such as time of day and geo-location,” says A/300. In a nod to the possible privacy implications of that capability, “such monitoring and targeting may require viewer consent,” says the document. “A viewer may be able to opt out of targeted advertising in exchange for a subscription fee.”
Sophisticated audience measurement techniques are possible, “including demographic information about the viewers,” again “subject to viewer opt-in for such data collection,” says A/300. “New forms of measurement are particularly important for mobile devices, where traditional ratings systems may not properly reflect mobile viewing,” it says. “In a mobile application environment, a substantial amount of end-user viewing telemetry could be collected via the device’s wireless IP connection. This promises not just estimated viewership, but actual recorded viewership, along with viewing time and program choice. This hard data can be useful to broadcasters in their relationships with advertisers.”