NextGen TV - Free 4K broadcast TV expanding in 2021

tahoebum

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2021 will see NextGen TV(ATSC 3.0) expand to more markets - right now, about 23 markets have over the air 4k, and by the end of the year, it will be in almost 100 markets. I can't wait to watch sports like the Masters and football in 4k for free from an antenna. You will likely need an external box or new TV and they are about $200 but prices will come down.



Here's more detail on the rollout by city/market.


And more info on the technology. I'll likely buy a tuner in the fall when it becomes available in my market.

 
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intriguing. but I can't imagine either cable companies offering up the channels they own for free on the service, or the channels that charge a subscription fee (like PGATour, Disney Discovery+ etc) suddenly offered for free.

But the quality might be better, for sure.
 
intriguing. but I can't imagine either cable companies offering up the channels they own for free on the service, or the channels that charge a subscription fee (like PGATour, Disney Discovery+ etc) suddenly offered for free.

But the quality might be better, for sure.
This is network TV. ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, CW, etc. Anything you can get free on an antenna right now.
 
intriguing. but I can't imagine either cable companies offering up the channels they own for free on the service, or the channels that charge a subscription fee (like PGATour, Disney Discovery+ etc) suddenly offered for free.

But the quality might be better, for sure.

It's more about quality as most of what all of us watch now is not in 4k unless it's from a 4k Blue Ray, a 4k gaming system or a few slect movies/shows from Netflix and other streaming providers. It will also give more choices to more people and the added competition will be a good thing.

 
As I wrote in another thread relating to this topic: Be careful what you wish for.

"NextGen TV" (ATSC 3.0) will indeed improve OTA TV but don't think for a minute the broadcasters have the interests of anybody but themselves in mind in doing this. ATSC 3.0 will also allow them to add DRM (Digital Rights Management) to their content. Broadcasters have hated the idea that consumers could watch their shows when they, the consumers, wanted to, and hated even more that consumers could skip commercials. They tried to kill the VCR for those reasons. (Congress slapped them down.) With DRM they'll finally be able to realize their long-sought goal of again gaining control over their content.

The industry is carefully avoiding any discussion of it, but my belief is that after ATSC 3.0 is firmly entrenched and the current standard, ATSC 1, is obsoleted, it will be only a matter of time before broadcasters begin DRM'ing their content. Current OTA TV DVRs will not be be able to record DRM'd content. Eventually, I expect, all "desirable" content will be DRM'd. I expect the bigger players, such as TiVo, will survive. The other OTA TV DVR manufacturers will fall by the wayside, as the hill to climb for DVR certification and licensing is very steep and, for most of them, prohibitively expensive.

I'm further betting those OTA TV DVR suppliers that survive will be prohibited from allowing consumers to even FF past commercial content, much less employ automatic commercial skip.

Additionally: Broadcasters have watched how Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. have monetized the collection of consumer data and want a piece of that. Another thing NetGen TV will give them is the ability to do just that. Again: Not something they want to discuss a lot, but my other guess is that certain programming, perhaps eventually all "desirable" programming, will not be available unless your receiving device, be it TV, converter box, what-have-you, is connected to the Internet so it can send back to them what you're watching, and when. (Plus God-knows-what-else they'll try to harvest?)

(I've already informed my wife that, at that point, I'll be taking the OTA TV antenna off the roof and we won't be watching any OTA TV anymore.)

To add insult-to-injury: You may not even get 4K TV out of it. Even now, few stations are transmitting even 1080P (2K) on any of their channels. The vast majority of them have cut their data rate down to 720P in order to make more room for more sub-channels. Truth is: Most consumers don't care about the lack of image resolution and they can use the bandwidth thus freed-up for more sub-channels.

If you're wondering why they'd want to do all that, the explanation is simple: Broadcast TV is on life support and has been for years. If they don't find a way to improve their bottom lines, and soon, the industry is destined for the trash heap of media history. (I can explain why this is, too, if anybody's interested.)
 
As I wrote in another thread relating to this topic: Be careful what you wish for.

"NextGen TV" (ATSC 3.0) will indeed improve OTA TV but don't think for a minute the broadcasters have the interests of anybody but themselves in mind in doing this. ATSC 3.0 will also allow them to add DRM (Digital Rights Management) to their content. Broadcasters have hated the idea that consumers could watch their shows when they, the consumers, wanted to, and hated even more that consumers could skip commercials. They tried to kill the VCR for those reasons. (Congress slapped them down.) With DRM they'll finally be able to realize their long-sought goal of again gaining control over their content.

The industry is carefully avoiding any discussion of it, but my belief is that after ATSC 3.0 is firmly entrenched and the current standard, ATSC 1, is obsoleted, it will be only a matter of time before broadcasters begin DRM'ing their content. Current OTA TV DVRs will not be be able to record DRM'd content. Eventually, I expect, all "desirable" content will be DRM'd. I expect the bigger players, such as TiVo, will survive. The other OTA TV DVR manufacturers will fall by the wayside, as the hill to climb for DVR certification and licensing is very steep and, for most of them, prohibitively expensive.

I'm further betting those OTA TV DVR suppliers that survive will be prohibited from allowing consumers to even FF past commercial content, much less employ automatic commercial skip.

Additionally: Broadcasters have watched how Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. have monetized the collection of consumer data and want a piece of that. Another thing NetGen TV will give them is the ability to do just that. Again: Not something they want to discuss a lot, but my other guess is that certain programming, perhaps eventually all "desirable" programming, will not be available unless your receiving device, be it TV, converter box, what-have-you, is connected to the Internet so it can send back to them what you're watching, and when. (Plus God-knows-what-else they'll try to harvest?)

(I've already informed my wife that, at that point, I'll be taking the OTA TV antenna off the roof and we won't be watching any OTA TV anymore.)

To add insult-to-injury: You may not even get 4K TV out of it. Even now, few stations are transmitting even 1080P (2K) on any of their channels. The vast majority of them have cut their data rate down to 720P in order to make more room for more sub-channels. Truth is: Most consumers don't care about the lack of image resolution and they can use the bandwidth thus freed-up for more sub-channels.

If you're wondering why they'd want to do all that, the explanation is simple: Broadcast TV is on life support and has been for years. If they don't find a way to improve their bottom lines, and soon, the industry is destined for the trash heap of media history. (I can explain why this is, too, if anybody's interested.)



I agree with all of this. It's not complicated, as always you just follow the money. I'm in the minority as I mostly just care about the resolution/picture quality especially on the much larger(86"&75") TV's that I own compared to 5 years ago and have been frustrated that so little of TV content is available in 4k. Most is still 720p or as you say 1080p which is a big step down in quality from 4k UHD. For someone like me if they take away the ability to time shift TV content, my OTA TV viewing will be reduced to a few golf tournaments and football games each year.
 
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Here in Monterey, the free to air stuff is still in black and white, so by the time we get 4K everyone else will probably have hologram tv LOL.
 
2021 will see NextGen TV(ATSC 3.0) expand to more markets - right now, about 23 markets have over the air 4k, and by the end of the year, it will be in almost 100 markets. I can't wait to watch sports like the Masters and football in 4k for free from an antenna. You will likely need an external box or new TV and they are about $200 but prices will come down.



Here's more detail on the rollout by city/market.


And more info on the technology. I'll likely buy a tuner in the fall when it becomes available in my market.

I hope this becomes a thing.

I will watch free over the air 4K sports and the commercials that they come with.
 
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