BOSTON—In another example of how NextGen TV broadcasts are expanding into major markets in the U.S., six broadcast stations have launched NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 signals in Boston, the 10th-largest television market in the United States serving more than 2.5 million households.
Viewers in the Boston metro area and surrounding areas who have NextGen TV capable TVs or equipment can now watch six channels over-the-air (OTA) providing NextGen TV signals on: TelevisaUnivision's WUNI (Univision; channel 27); Hearst Television's WCVB (ABC; channel 5); Cox Media Group's WFXT (Fox; channel 25); GBH (PBS; channel 2); CBS' WBZ (CBS; channel 4) and NBCUniversal's WBTS (NBC; channel 10).
"Boston will now get the most out of live news, events and sports programming, as NextGen TV merges over-the-air antenna TV with the internet, enhancing its information and entertainment value," stated Theodore Stoner, vice president of distribution technology strategy at TelevisaUnivision. "NextGen TV dramatically improves delivery of our services, ensures that we remain competitive, and meet the challenges of today's evolving digital world. This investment and collaboration enable us to provide a better and more engaging news and entertainment experience for our viewers."
"This launch took an extraordinary amount of collaboration among the six stations involved and demonstrates the broadcast industry's commitment to NextGen TV," commented Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. "NextGen TV exponentially expands the type of content broadcasters can provide and the ways that viewers can engage with their television screens. Boston's launch underscores the excitement we all share as we continue innovating this technology and launching new markets."
The six Boston stations reported that they will build on the growth of the new standard and local interest with a marketing campaign to deepen consumer awareness and engagement. The promotional campaign running through February and the Super Bowl, 2023, will engage with consumers over social media and seek to educate them on the new technology and where they can buy NextGen TV capable sets with the Consumer Technology Association-accredited NextGen TV logo.
As part of the launch LTN is enabling the video transport between the contributing Boston stations. Utilizing the LTN Network, a proprietary multicast IP transport network, it ensures that each station's content is sent to the NextGen transmitter with the highest reliability and lowest latency.
Boston viewers can find NextGen TV-enabled televisions from Hisense, Sony, LG Electronics and Samsung at local and national retailers, starting at $599.
Associated with NextGen TV is the RUN3TV web platform that brings interactive experiences and streaming content to over-the-air viewers. Built by broadcasters for broadcasters, RUN3TV's web-based platform architecture enables stations to develop, innovate, and differentiate at the application services layer, allowing a consistent viewer experience across all NextGen TV devices.
TV Tech has been tracking the deployment of NextGen TV broadcasts around the U.S. Our complete list of where the broadcasts have been launched is available here and out extensive reporting on the technology is available here.
