MINNEAPOLIS—The Minnesota Broadcasters Association, the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Minnesota and Pearl TV yesterday hosted a celebration to commemorate the launch of NextGen TV in the Minneapolis market.
The August 22 launch had been previously announced.
Five local stations are now delivering ATSC 3.0 signals to over-the-air viewers with NextGen TV receivers in the market. They include Sinclair's WUCW-TV (CW, Channel 23); Hubbard's KSTP-TV (ABC, Channel 5); CBS' WCCO-TV (CBS, Channel 4); Fox's KMSP-TV (Fox, Channel 9); and Tegna's KARE-TV (NBC, Channel 11).
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) along with broadcast executives, other government officials and university students at the stations launching NextGen TV were on hand for the celebration.
"As a vanguard in developing and deploying this revolutionary technology across the country, Sinclair Broadcast Group is proud to be the host station for this collaborative effort with other local broadcasters," said Jerald Fritz, executive vice president for Sinclair's ONE Media subsidiary. "Together we are enabling Minnesotans to experience all that the digital world of TV and data services has to offer."
NAB announced in conjunction with the launch that the Hubbard School will become the host for its PILOT Next Generation TV Fellowship.
