ATSC demonstrates ATSC 3.0 at SET Congress and Expo in São Paulo

Broadcast Standards Association ATSC Demonstrates International Reach Of ATSC 3.0 During Latin America’s Largest Media And Entertainment Event

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Next week in Brazil, TV 3.0, the country’s next-generation broadcast system, which includes many ATSC 3.0 components, will take center stage at SET Congress and Expo in São Paulo, the region’s largest gathering of broadcasting, media, and entertainment executives. SET—the Brazilian Society of Television Engineering—stages its annual conference and exposition in Brazil’s financial heart each August.

Last month, Brazil’s Fórum do Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital Terrestre (SBTVD Forum) recommended to the Brazilian government the selection of the ATSC 3.0 “physical layer” as the over-the-air transmission system for the country’s upgrade to next-generation broadcast terrestrial “TV 3.0” services. The long-awaited recommendation follows extensive testing in Brazil to meet market demands for the country of more than 200 million people, and it reaffirms the previous selection of several other ATSC technologies for the Brazil TV 3.0 system.

“Eight countries representing over a billion viewers are now deploying, planning launches, or experimenting with the suite of ATSC 3.0 broadcast technologies, and the recent recommendation from the SBTVD Forum underscores that Brazil is looking forward to all of the possibilities for enhanced broadcasting in a country with hundreds of millions of viewers watching over-the-air broadcasts,” said Madeleine Noland, President of ATSC, the Broadcast Standards Association.

“ATSC 3.0 broadcasts are being tested in India, Canada and Mexico, and Brazil has identified key ingredients of the ATSC 3.0 system for their next-generation system, joining South Korea, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S., which are on-air or planning near-term launches. Viewers in 75% of U.S. TV markets now have access to ATSC 3.0 transmissions. We are excited to demonstrate our support to the SBTVD Forum for its ongoing development of TV 3.0 specifications, recommended practices and conformance documentation at SET Expo,” Noland said. Brazil’s deployment of TV 3.0 is expected to begin in 2025.

SET Expo Showcase & New Business Models for Broadcasters

ATSC will showcase the capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standards at its SET Expo exhibit, in Stand 29 of the Distrito Anhembi convention center throughout the three-day event.

On Tuesday, August 20, ATSC is sponsoring the SET Expo Cocktail Party following the Convention’s Opening Ceremony in the Celso Furtado theater of the convention center, and ATSC will also present an educational session on ATSC 3.0 in the SET New Horizons Arena on the exhibition floor.

ATSC President Madeleine Noland has been invited to participate in two SET Congress sessions during SET Expo about Brazil’s move to TV 3.0 and the evolution of digital broadcasting. On Wednesday, August 21, Noland will speak as part of a “New Business Models in TV 3.0” discussion, where she will deliver an update of the many different approaches on using broadcast TV technologies to deliver content direct to mobile devices. The same session will also feature a presentation by ATSC board of directors member Mark Corl from Triveni Digital about the use of next-generation broadcasting for a Broadcast Positioning System.

Additionally, Brazil’s Mirakulo software will sponsor an in-booth reception at the ATSC exhibit on Wednesday, August 21 beginning at 5:30PM.

On Thursday, August 22, Noland joins another panel that will elaborate on “Development and Implementation of TV 3.0.” The panel will address the next steps in developing this technology and its implementation. ATSC’s Noland will be joined by other speakers from Brazilian network broadcaster TV Globo and from Brazil’s Ministry of Communications.

Several ATSC member companies will exhibit in The Broadcast Standards Association booth at SET Expo, including:

• DigiCAP will exhibit DigiCaster, an ATSC 3.0 air chain that is now deployed in over half of all ATSC 3.0 markets in the United States, and the company’s Enterprise Monitoring system for remote monitoring of facility ATSC 3.0 transport functions for station groups. DigiCAP built the world’s first ATSC 3.0 Air Chain in 2017 in preparation for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
• ENENSYS is showcasing its comprehensive “TV 3.0” solutions. Among the products featured is MediaCast ATSC, which offers Service Signaling for Linear TV and non-Linear services, delivers DASH segments from a VVC encoder over ROUTE, interfaces an EPG server to generate ESG content, and manages the delivery of datacasting, DRM and EAS services. Also shown will be broadcast gateway SmartGate ATSC, which encapsulates ROUTE streams into an ATSC 3.0 multiplex, inserts synchronization data for SFN broadcasting, allocates data into the different Physical Layer Pipes, and generates STLTP packets over IP.
• ETRI and Cleverlogic will jointly exhibit the latest ATSC 3.0 physical layer technology to meet Brazil’s TV 3.0 requirements. The ATSC 3.0 physical layer is efficient, flexible, and extensible, and it introduces several advanced technologies: Layered Division Multiplexing (LDM) innovatively overlays two signals within the same RF channel for efficient spectrum usage to simultaneously provide robust mobile and high-capacity fixed reception; Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) utilizes 2×2 cross-polarized antennas to improve data capacity and signal quality through spatial multiplexing; Channel Bonding aggregates two RF channels to provide double data capacity and frequency diversity; and Transmitter Identification (TxID) uniquely identifies individual transmitters within a Single Frequency Network.
• Saankhya Labs stands at the forefront of innovation in broadcast technology, revolutionizing the landscape with its cutting-edge Direct To Mobile (D2M) Broadcast solution. Offering uninterrupted video content delivery anywhere, the Saankhya system optimally utilizes spectrum for superior indoor reception, accommodating an unlimited number of users simultaneously. With a robust infrastructure comprising the Broadcast Radio Head (BRH), ATSC 3.0 scheduler, encoder, and USB receiver, the system ensures seamless connectivity and enhanced coverage. Its versatility extends to hybrid architecture and gap-filling applications, making it indispensable for emergency alerts, remote education, and live content delivery.
• Triveni Digital will demonstrate the award-winning Station Manager, designed to give broadcasters a competitive edge in early deployments of TV 3.0 by simplifying the operation and delivery of new services. The solution boasts an industry-first management system, which provides a single interface for the configuration, control, and monitoring of TV 3.0 Broadcast. Also on display will be Triveni Digital’s SkyScraper XM Datacasting System, to simplify the delivery of revenue-enhancing datacasting services, and ATSC 3.0 Translator which efficiently repeats or translates existing TV 3.0 signals without the need for an entire broadcast chain.