HUNT VALLEY, Md. & ARLINGTON, Va.—In an notable development that could help more public broadcasters get on the air with NextGen TV services, Sinclair Broadcast Group and America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) have announced that in markets where Sinclair has deployed a NextGen TV Broadcast Service (aka ATSC 3.0) and a public television station has not, Sinclair will provide free carriage of a virtual channel from that public television station.
Carriage of a broadcast-enabled virtual channel involves transmitting programming data within the NextGen signal that allows over-the-air viewers with NextGen TVs to see and select the channel in their programming guide and access the channel seamlessly over the Internet.
Under this arrangement, Sinclair will provide hosting at no cost to the public television station. The public television stations will also have the option to pass through programming in high dynamic range (HDR), significantly enhancing the video quality to the viewers. Technologies such as Advanced HDR by Technicolor will allow content to be visually enhanced on NextGen TVs that support the improved picture format.
“America’s Public Television Stations are pleased to partner with Sinclair to offer more NextGen service to more public television viewers,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS. “We are proud to have helped public television stations in almost 30 markets make the transition to the NextGen TV broadcast standard. This partnership with Sinclair will help serve local communities while we work with other public television stations to transition to NextGen TV to advance their public service missions.”
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with America’s Public Television Stations to help bring the next generation of television to all viewers,” said Rob Weisbord, Sinclair’s chief operating officer and president of Broadcast. “For public television stations that face challenges in launching NextGen service, we hope that this offer will help get them in the advanced TV game and set the stage for their eventual launch of this spectacular service over the air.”
To date, Sinclair has launched ATSC 3.0 service in 43 markets, 36 of which do not yet have a public television station transmitting in ATSC 3.0. Public television stations interested in this offer can work directly with APTS to learn more.
More information is available at www.apts.org.
