Broadcasters Launch NextGen TV in Birmingham

(Image credit: David Mark from Pixabay)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Seven leading television stations serving the Birmingham television market have announced that they have started NextGen TV broadcasts.

The launch included WABM (Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate) and WDBB (Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation-owned ABC and CW affiliate), WIAT (Nexstar-owned CBS affiliate), WBRC (Gray Television-owned Fox affiliate), WVTM-TV (Hearst Television-owned NBC affiliate), WTTO (Sinclair-owned CW affiliate), and WSES (Howard Stirk Holdings-owned Heroes and Icons affiliate).

As part of the launch, WTTO and WSES have converted to ATSC 3.0 transmissions. Those stations will broadcast their own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in NextGen TV format.

All programming of all participating stations continues to be available in the existing DTV format, which can be received on all modern television sets. BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the seven television stations.

TV Tech has been tracking all of the launches of NextGen TV broadcasts around the county, with a full list of deployments available here.

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.