Discover new business opportunities for terrestrial broadcast

However, terrestrial broadcast is not just about entertainment. With the introduction of our new transmitter series, it's possible to reshape the understanding of connectivity. Imagine seamlessly broadcasting public safety alerts, traffic updates, and IoT data to smartphones and connected vehicles.

Rethinking broadcasting to mobile devices

Consumers today expect to watch what they want, wherever they are, and streaming and mobile internet has developed to deliver this objective.

Smartphones and tablets have certainly developed into excellent viewing devices, but significant obstacles remain for mobile media consumption. Connectivity may be severely limited in remote areas, and in urban environments the limited capacity of mobile networks cannot support unrestricted media consumption.

If large numbers of people want to stream content simultaneously, whether that is a sporting event or the latest reality television sensation, it will frequently lead to network congestion. People paying to view the content will suffer low video quality at best, and potentially no signal at all.

According to Ofcom, in the United Kingdom broadcast television still reaches 79% of the audience. In the United States, Neilsen still sees a 50% share for linear TV – but it is still a central part of the media economy and provides a consistency of coverage that cellular and streaming technology cannot support.

New transmission technologies also open the prospect of localized services. Sports venues could replicate the home television experience for fans in the stadium by broadcasting replay channels and special features between the action. Music festivals could include previews, links to other stages and interviews between sets.

Whatever the scale, broadcasting to mobile devices gives consumers a reliable, high-quality experience.

New Media Applications

More important for the future is to look beyond digital television channels, and consider what else can be carried over ubiquitous multicast delivery – meaning broadcasting to specifically targeted consumers.

If large numbers of people want to watch the same streaming content at the same time – a key popular sports match, for example – it leads to network congestion, resulting in low video quality, or even no service available for paying customers. The suitable technology specifically for peak load scenarios is multicasting. 5G Broadcast has the capabilities and the potential to create a win-win-situation for consumers as well as network operators. For consumers – because they will reliably experience high-quality services; and for network operators – because mobile networks do not need to provide the unicast capacity for peak loads; they can be dimensioned according to average load models.

As well as the wide-area broadcast of popular content, 5G Broadcast is ideally suited to localised transmission. Sports venue owners could go a long way to replicate the television experience for fans in the stadium by broadcasting replay channels and special features between the action; music festivals could add close-ups of the band to live performances and additional content between sets.

All these media applications are suitable for multicasting, and therefore perfect for terrestrial transmission. With the next generation of transmitters, adding 5G Broadcast outputs is a simple matter. High profile demonstration programming over 5G Broadcast has already been delivered.

Broadcast delivery beyond media

Providing even coverage of a wide area, terrestrial broadcast is the ideal platform to disseminate data as part of the internet of things. It can broadcast public safety alerts and warnings like severe weather or Amber Alerts directly to smartphones. As vehicles become more intelligent, automotive technology will increasingly rely on the reception of data around traffic and road conditions, for example.

Traditional GPS systems face limitations, particularly in areas with poor connectivity. With ATSC 3.0, vehicles can, in the future, depend on BPS for precise positioning without GPS or cellular signals. BPS (Broadcast Positioning System) utilizes Next Gen TV broadcast signals to calculate accurate receiver positions, offering seamless navigation experiences even in challenging environments. Imagine effortless journeys with real-time updates delivered through terrestrial broadcast technology.

Using one-to-one cellular connections for this data distribution is an enormous waste of the limited bandwidth available. The ability to provide a broadcast solution, using an existing transmitter network, is an excellent business opportunity, bringing the promise of new revenues

Pioneers in proven standards

The technology to support these scenarios is proven and available. ATSC 3.0 is largely pioneered and supported by Rohde & Schwarz together with Broadcast Network Operators and provides high quality delivery to broadcast devices from existing transmitter installations and the path for IoT data.

This state-of-the-art transmission standard is matched by the latest generation of agile, software- defined transmitters. With far more flexibility in signal processing, the Rohde & Schwarz transmitters provide the capabilities needed to go beyond traditional linear TV. They unlock new opportunities for service delivery and for revenue generation. All the elements are in place for the “traditional” television transmitter to serve new consumer paradigms and new industries.

The terrestrial television transmission technology remains the most practical and eff ective way to reach large numbers of receivers simultaneously at a predictable cost, for any kind of data.

Regardless of which challenges may arise, by seizing the opportunities off ered by new digital services enabled by ATSC 3.0, the industry has the potential for genuine growth and a prosperous future beyond “merely” delivering television to the home. Rohde & Schwarz supports ATSC 3.0, to meet the specific needs of this market.