Verance will partner with Fincons Group to speed and expand the development of ATSC 3.0 in the U.S. and HbbTV in Europe, said the companies Tuesday. ATSC adopted the Verance Aspect audio watermark technology for 3.0 nearly four years ago (see 1504030030), and Aspect "is currently being adapted for use within the HbbTV ecosystem," they said. Fincons is a systems integration company that partnered to develop several over-the-top service offerings in Europe, including the Mediaset Play OTT platform launched in Italy during last year's World Cup. The companies' initial projects will focus on accelerating “readiness” of 3.0 and HbbTV in both markets, they said: “Examples include the identification and development of leading consumer offerings, business modeling, proof of concept and market trial management, retailer education, and service lifecycle management and operations.” By deploying Aspect, “programmers gain cross-platform audience measurement data and new revenue opportunities such as audience targeting and addressable advertising,” said Verance. “Viewers gain more personalized and interactive experiences; device manufacturers gain a new opportunity to market and sell TVs; and advertisers gain linear measurement and attribution capabilities.” Without Aspect, the "reach and scale" of "Next Gen TV experiences" will be "significantly smaller," said Verance. "In 2020, only 20% of ATSC 3.0-enabled connected TVs in the U.S. are expected to be able to receive Next Gen TV experiences without Aspect. This is because the metadata and triggers required for these experiences are not carried by cable operators due to their different transmission protocols. Aspect enables this information to be automatically recovered by the TV regardless of distribution path."

“Consumer lab” testing in the ATSC 3.0 Phoenix model market (see 1812060027) found “strong appeal” for next-generation TV features that could increase broadcast TV viewing and drive sales of new 3.0-capable TVs, said Pearl TV Tuesday. Pearl commissioned Magid to test consumer reaction to the new service and found 3.0 likely could induce viewers to start watching broadcast programming, even if they don't currently do so, said Pearl. The testing found the “combination” of 4K video, HDR and immersive audio has “the broadest appeal," said Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle. Other findings: (1) 91 percent of consumers said they would be "interested" or "very interested" in using a service like 3.0; (2) Consumers said they find 3.0's “enhanced audio” features especially appealing, including the ability to “customize audio tracks”; (3) 80 percent of consumers said they would be “interested" or "very interested" in buying a 3.0 TV or add-on device.

Though ATSC 3.0 TVs for the U.S. market weren't featured at CES, the “ingredients” for a 3.0 launch in 2020 “were prominent in private demonstrations and press coverage,” wrote Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-research and standards, in Wednesday's ATSC’s newsletter, The Standard. Examples he cited included Sony’s demonstration, “with a focus on ATSC 3.0,” of a TV remote-friendly “application-authoring environment that allows broadcasters to share a common user interface while integrating individually customized digital services from broadcast and broadband,” said Markwalter. The demo showed “integration of captured RF sources and encapsulated data” from digital over-the-top services, “illustrating how customization for individual broadcasters is possible with a common user interface and application-development framework,” he said. The system supports use of all application programming interfaces prescribed in A/344, said Markwalter. That's the 3.0 specification document that describes a receiver’s interactive content functionalities.

Sinclair, Korean carrier SK Telecom and car electronics maker Samsung's Harman signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop connected car technology based on ATSC 3.0., Sinclair announced Thursday. The companies will work together to build a platform that would allow drivers to receive in-vehicle HD broadcasting, firmware updates and map updates through Sinclair stations. “The technology will also be deployed in other geographies as local broadcast facilities become available,” the company said. The automotive platform and tech will be revealed at the NAB Show 2019, they said.

Sinclair is establishing a joint venture with Korean mobile operator SK Telecom to develop broadcasting products for ATSC 3.0 in the U.S. and internationally, Sinclair announced Tuesday. The jointly funded and managed company begins in Q1. The commercial 3.0 offerings created by the joint venture are expected to hit the U.S. market in 2019. SK and Sinclair signed a memorandum of understanding at CES 2018 to work together on 3.0 technology. Sinclair's One Media disclosed launch of a “universal demodulator chip” that supports 3.0 tech for set-top boxes, TVs and “automotive and mobile applications." Saankhya Labs, VeriSilicon and Samsung Foundry also worked on the chips. Two versions were announced, for linear TV applications and for mobile and portable devices. “These mobile 3.0 chips validate the ‘sea change’ in over-the-air distribution of, not only television but all digital data,” said One Media President Mark Aitken.

Comparing their goal to the same local targeting capabilities TV broadcasters will see from ATSC 3.0, radio technology interests met with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and with Media Bureau representatives to push for an NPRM for an update of radio rules. The sought-after FM booster rule change was subject of a 2012 Geo Broadcast petition for hyperlocalized broadcast content like advertisements or weather. The company and others pushed geo technology for simultaneous transmission of different content to different parts of a station's license area through a network of synchronous boosters. They noted field test results that indicate it wouldn't require amending or waiving interference regulations. Also represented were BIA Advisory Services and Goldman Engineering, said the docket 17-105 post Friday.

MPEG LA continues to "move forward" toward forming an ATSC 3.0 patent pool, "with hopes of having a pool license out early next year," emailed spokesperson Tom O'Reilly Tuesday. More than a dozen companies expressed interest in joining a 3.0 pool, O'Reilly told us earlier this year (see 1802170001). MPEG LA announced a call for 3.0-essential patents, the first step in the patent pool formation process, nearly 16 months ago.

The FCC should include broadcasting and ATSC 3.0 in consideration of actions to accelerate deployment of 5G-related services, said One Media President Mark Aitken and Executive Vice President-Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz in a meeting Thursday with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. “The ATSC 3.0 standard was designed to be part of the 5G ecosystem,” said A filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. ATSC 3.0 “will permit broadcasters to provide efficient services needed as part of a robust 5G distribution chain,” said the Sinclair affiliates.

The Phoenix market is “up and running” with ATSC 3.0, and Dallas in about 60 days should launch a “3.0 signal with a full single-frequency network around it, so that would be a first of that sort of deployment,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley on a Wednesday earnings call. “There’s a lot of work going on in the background right now amongst all the various broadcast groups, agreeing on a deployment plan for the rest of the country, and how channels will be shared,” said Ripley. “That’s probably the most complicated part of the organization, getting everybody to agree to that, but we’re making great headway there. Things are moving along, and we still expect deployments to happen as the repack rolls through the industry.” Sinclair's proposed Tribune Media buy is expected to break up Thursday under an agreement that allows Tribune to walk away without incurring termination fees. Ripley at the top of the call declared all discussion and questions about Sinclair/Tribune off limits, but did say developments were expected soon. Tribune hastily scheduled an earnings call for 8 a.m. Thursday to discuss Q2 financial results.

The FCC Media Bureau will complete changes to its licensing and management system to accept applications for ATSC 3.0 licenses, but not until early 2019, said a public notice Wednesday. Applications for ATSC 3.0 test markets and product development can be filed under the experimental license rules in the meantime, said the notice. An FCC notice earlier this week in the Federal Register said the commission got Office of Management and Budget approval for three years on information collection requirements for Form 2100 for the move to 3.0 (see 1807160014).