FLINT, Mich.—The first NextGen TV broadcasts in Flint Michigan have started at WJRT-TV (the Allen Media Group-owned ABC affiliate), WNEM-TV (the Gray Television-owned CBS affiliate), WSMH (the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate), WEYI-TV (the Howard Stirk Holdings-owned NBC affiliate) and WBSF (the Cunningham-owned CW affiliate).
To prepare for the launch, WBSF, owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, converted to ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) transmissions.
WBSF is broadcasting its own programming, as well as the programming of the other participating stations, in NextGen TV format.
All the programming of each participating station will continue to be available in the existing DTV format, which all modern television sets can receive. BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning process and coordinated efforts across the five television stations.
This latest deployment marks the 47th market to launch ATSC 3.0 in the U.S. Approximately 45% of U.S. TV households are within range of receiving ATSC 3.0 with that percentage expected to grow to 75% by the end of 2022, according to the ATSC.
CTA estimates that 3 million NextGen TV compatible TV sets have been sold in the U.S. so far and predicts sales of 4.5 million of the sets to be sold by the end of 2022.
TV Tech has been tracking all the markets that are planning to or have launched ATSC 3.0 broadcasts here.
For more information, visit TV Tech's NextGen TV page.
