Six leading local television stations in the Mobile-Pensacola area, including WEAR-TV (ABC), WKRG-TV (CBS), WPMI-TV (NBC), WFNA (CW), WFGX (MyNet) and WJTC (IND), have become among the first in the nation to begin broadcasting with NEXTGEN TV, a revolutionary new digital broadcast technology. Based on the same fundamental technology as the Internet, digital applications, and other web services, NEXTGEN TV can support a wide range of features currently in development, such as immersive audio and video (up to 4K), broadcasting to mobile devices, personalized viewing tools, and advanced emergency alerts providing rich media instead of simple text messages. NEXTGEN TV also allows full integration with 5G and other broadband-delivered Internet content.
Powered by ATSC 3.0, NEXTGEN TV is the most significant broadcast technology upgrade ever developed. This week’s NEXTGEN TV launch in Mobile-Pensacola is one of the first in the country and follows a decade of development of the new technology and months of planning and preparation by the local stations. BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the six television stations.
The participating stations have cooperated to ensure that current programming remains available to all viewers, regardless of whether their television service is provided over-the air or by a cable or satellite company. Antenna viewers can simply rescan their TV sets to ensure full service. Rescan instructions are available at: fcc.gov/rescan. Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.
Read more at ATSC.
