Rohde & Schwarz transmitters used by first ATSC 3.0 broadcaster

World’s first commercial ATSC 3.0 broadcast in South Korea with Rohde & Schwarz transmitters

In December 2016, SBS, a privately owned broadcasting company in South Korea, aired its first broadcast in the ATSC 3.0 UHD standard. The sporting event – a world cup short track speed skating race – was terrestrially broadcast from the transmitter station on Kwanak Mountain where Rohde & Schwarz installed a liquid-cooled R&S THU9 transmitter system. It was the first transmitter to go on air using the ATSC 3.0 standard. The countrywide network will be expanded by adding stations on Namsan, Yongmoon and Gwanggyo Mountains. SBS plans to use Rohde & Schwarz technology to set up a terrestrial TV network and broadcast the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in UHD.

In August 2016, SBS decided in favor of an SFN-based transmitter network from Rohde & Schwarz that features a 1+1 passive standby configuration with ATSC 3.0. SBS chose Rohde & Schwarz because of the company’s top technical expertise and long-standing professional support with T-DMB, ATSC 1.0 and FM transmitters. During the evaluation phase, SBS also used Rohde & Schwarz transmitters to conduct SFN trials with the new ATSC 3.0 standard.

From cinema and post production, live encoding, multiplexing and broadcasting to T&M solutions for signal monitoring and quality control, Rohde & Schwarz offers a complete line of products and solutions to help the broadcast industry roll out the high-resolution 4K standard. Specifically for ATSC 3.0, the company offers a simple and effective solution for updating existing transmitters.