Why Some Are Already Hating ATSC 3.0
ATSC 3.0 The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
For those not all that familiar with OTA (Over The Air) Television, ATSC 3.0 is the next standard currently being rolled out by broadcasters. And this will change how a signal is broadcast over the air to a TV antenna and received by your TV set.
The good news is, your current antenna will work perfectly fine to receive this new transmitted signal and it will be in 4K. But there is also some bad news. And this is a reason some are angry and hating on ATSC 3.0 already. Because current TV sets will not work with this new technology.
This means if you bought a new TV in the last few years, your current TV won't be able to receive the additional channels and cool features that ATSC 3.0 will have to offer.
It's not as bad as it sounds though. And for those that were around when the last big change happened in ATSC TV technology. When broadcasters changed from ATSC an analog signal to ATSC 1.0 which was all digital and it allowed broadcasts over the air up to 1080p HD. At that time any televisions that did not have a compatible ATSC tuner built in, needed a small box attached to the TV that converted the analog signal to digital. And this was needed instead of having to buy a new TV.
Cost To Migrate To ATSC 3.0
New tuners should not be all that expensive. And once this technology has become mainstream. The ATSC 3.0 tuners and converter will be readily available everywhere. And hopefully won't be too expensive. These boxes may also include additional features like digital recorders built in.New televisions being sold soon will be ATSC 3.0 ready. This will eliminate the need to sacrifice an HDMI port for another external signal converter.
Here's What ATSC 3.0 Has to Offer
The technology is pretty complicated and will offer far more than our current OTA broadcast television standard. If you like reading all the nitty gritty details, be sure to visit the ATSC Org site.In a Nutshell Here is What ATSC 3.0 Will Bring:
- ATSC 3.0 Supports 4K UHD Broadcasts. The current ATSC 1.0 Standard Only Supports 1080p
- Enhanced Real-Time Live TV. Plus support for On-demand Content
- Support for both pay-per-view (PPV) and Subscription TV Channels
- Ability to offer protected access through Digital Rights Management (DRM)
- Ability to broadcast a signal to both Televisions and Mobile Devices
- Dual Content Delivery via both broadband Internet and Over The Air Antenna
- Targeted Advertising to Individual Preferences as Compared to Today's Shotgun Approach
Here's Why ATSC 3.0 Is A Little Scary
With these new capabilities, we may one day be living in a world where Free over the air will no longer be free. Or only have a limited amount of Free content that we take for granted today. Because once local broadcasters have the capability to put their content behind a paywall, many may choose to do so once ATSC 3.0 rolls out.The fear some have is as the new ATSC 3.0 technology becomes widespread and completely replaces the older ATSC 1.0 OTA standard. This could once again increase the cost of watching TV and make Free TV from an antenna a thing of the past.
The most likely outcome is there will be a mix of free and paid content. As advertisers embrace this new technology, Free TV will still play a big part. Although, we can undoubtedly expect to see many more targeted ads, and advertisements for premium services that content providers will be pushing hard to sell.
Here's How ATSC 3.0 Will Work
Since ATSC 3.0 uses both a Broadband Internet Connection and also a TV antenna connection, it means you won't need to run splitters and antenna cables to every TV in your home. Instead, your televisions and mobile devices can be connected to a single ATSC tuner by an Ethernet cable or WiFi.At some point, we may even see broadband modems being sold with ATSC 3.0 tuners already built-in. Each current TV will require an external converter box to be added. And new televisions will eventually come with an ATSC 3.0 TV tuner already installed.
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Change Won't Happen Overnight
Rest assured, that even though changes in OTA broadcast technology will begin to happen soon. The entire transition probably won't happen very fast. Your current antenna will continue to work long after the technology is implemented. Even though some hardware will need to upgraded or added the cost to consumers should be minimal. And hopefully this new ATSC 3.0 technology leaves us with more than it takes away.
