A consortium of leading television broadcasters in the United States are investing in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority’s (A3FA) Run3TV platform, which will develop new applications that leverage the benefits of the next-generation digital broadcast technology known as NextGen TV.
A3FA is principally responsible for the development and deployment of the NextGen TV application platform called Run3TV, which allows broadcasters to offer over-the-air viewers enhanced features like localized emergency alerts, the ability to restart in-progress TV shows, weather forecasts and live traffic information.
Run3TV also benefits broadcasters by allowing them to take advantage of next-level audience measurement tools afforded by the NextGen TV standard, which couples over-the-air signals with Internet connections on receivers and smart TVs.
This week, a consortium of leading independent broadcasters affirmed their commitment to invest money and resources into the development and deployment of Run3TV. Those broadcasters include the E. W. Scripps Company, TEGNA, Gray Television, Hearst Television and Sinclair, Inc., with A3FA expecting more broadcasters to join the effort in the near future.
Two other firms — Nielsen and Comscore — are joining the effort to help develop best practices for audience measurement using NextGen TV technology. Nielsen has already provided the NextGen TV broadcaster consortium Pearl TV with certain data watermarking over ATSC 3.0 signals. Comscore has helped Pearl TV aggregate data from various multichannel video programming distributors like cable, satellite and streaming cable-like services.
What They’re Saying
Pat LaPlatney, CEO, Gray Television: “Our investment in Run3TV and ATSC 3.0 is a strategic endeavor for local broadcasters like Gray, bringing additional, measurable value to local stations by providing more choices for our viewers. Run3TV improves over the air viewership measurement, but it also gives our viewers more options at the touch of a button to engage deeper with their local stations.”
Chris Ripley, CEO, Sinclair, Inc: “By integrating our applications into the Run3TV platform, we’re committed to uniting the industry toward enriching the viewer experience, including offering more interactive services and essential public services like emergency alerts.”
Paul LeFort, Managing Director of Local TV Business, Nielsen: “Nielsen is pleased to evolve our longstanding relationship with Pearl TV as we jointly explore the use of OTA (over-the-air) big data in our local TV measurement. OTA households have been a critical element of our local TV service for decades, and this latest development around Run3TV is an exciting step in potentially being able to harness the power of OTA broadcasting data sources, which will only enhance our local TV measurement.”
Brian Pugh, Chief Information Officer, Comscore: “Our partnership aims to enhance audience measurement precision with big data capabilities for over-the air, contributing to the industry’s growth and innovation. Comscore eagerly anticipates the rollout of Run3TV by broadcasters, as it will allow enhanced return path data capabilities, increasing the customer satisfaction and value of measurement.”
What Happens Next
Run3TV is just one of several initiatives involving ATSC 3.0 and NextGen TV that will be announced in the coming days. Pearl TV, the ATSC 3.0 consortium and independent broadcasters are expected to reveal more partnerships and features at NAB Show in Las Vegas, which starts on Monday and runs through the week.
