ATLANTA—Gray TV is now offering NextGen TV, as it announced its first station to use the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard, WNXG in Tallahassee, Fla., launched on Dec. 2.
WNXG is a low-power TV station serving Tallahassee. It now simulcasts five programming services that Gray broadcasts in the market on its ATSC 1.0 full-power TV stations, WCTV and WFXU: CBS, Me/My, Circle, Ion and Justice.
Gray says that the ability to stream four HD (CBS, Me/MY, Circle and Ion) and one SD (Justice) stream exceeds the current technical capability of the ATSC 1.0 standard.
“We constructed this low power station with the NextGen TV transmission standard using off-the-shelf components and our own internal engineering and IT professionals in order to gain valuable first-hand knowledge about this exciting new technology,” said David Burke, Gray TV’s chief technology officer. “Over the coming months, we will be putting WNXG through numerous experiments to test the capabilities and versatility of the NextGen TV standard to further understand how we might implement better services for our local viewers and advertisers.”
Gray TV expects to transition more of its TV stations to NextGen TV in 2021.
NextGen TV, powered by ATSC 3.0, has already deployed in markets across the country, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and more. The goal, according to ATSC, is to reach more than 60 markets (including the top 40 markets) by mid 2021.
